Intro to Ecocriticism

Ecocriticism

As a future social worker, social justice is a key component of my field. One lesser known component of social justice is environmental justice wherein the environment and its impact on people is studied and social workers aim to make that impact equally distributed. Ecocriticism uses that environmental justice lens to analyze media. Purdue OWL describes ecocriticism as “believing that ‘human culture is connected to the physical world, affecting it and affected by it’” (Glotfelty qtd. In Purdue OWL). In the Gerrad article, it is also described as  “the study of the relationship between literature and the physical environment” (Glotfelty qtd. in Gerrard). However, more media than solely literature is analyzed today.

Snickers Ad

This was my first time watching the “#SnickersFixtheWorld” advertisement. I must say, I dislike the ad and it did not make me want to buy a Snickers. The singing is so obnoxious and the premise makes no sense. Just like the Peloton ad, I found the Snickers ad unfunny, annoying and unrelatable. It seems like most mainstream marketing just doesn’t do the trick for me.

For a little backstory: the premise for the ad is based off old Snickers ads where people become themselves again after eating a Snickers. This new Snickers ad is related to the environment in that it features people digging an enormous hole in the ground in order to “fix the world by feeding it Snickers.” Nature is represented in the ad as a root of all human issues and somehow burying a giant Snickers bar will fix it all (it worked for people, so it’ll work for the entire plant, right? However, the “problems” pointed out in the ad are human problems, not ecological problems. Instead of feeding the earth a snickers, they should have fed all the humans Snickers. Additionally, all the issues named in the video are only issues to people in developed nations who are wealthy and privileged (e.g. many different types of milk and autocorrect messing up). Why not try to fix problems related to inequality instead of these 1st world problems?  If Snickers really cared, why not make an ad about how they’re giving back or donating to charity? I really don’t see the ad doing any good for the environment. If anything, it will only cause people to blame the earth for societal issues and use “nature” as a scapegoat. The earth itself is not to blame for our human and societal problems. LEAVE MOTHER EARTH ALONE.