Confused as to the amount of information which had the potential to relate to our class, I began to watch the short film titled, “The Story of Cosmetics: Toxins In, Toxics Out.” The story itself was quite intriguing, however many of the perspectives and facts offered were not surprising to me. The story focused on the regulations of the FDA regarding cosmetic products and the corresponding responses from the cosmetic products producers. Almost all of the beauty products used by men and women everyday feature ingredients that are linked to cancer, learning disabilities and infertility, violating the general rule of cosmetic products: toxins in, toxics out. The narrator of the story looked for ways to stop this problem of deregulation and find ways to promote healthy products or at least honesty on the bottles. She referenced the changes made in Europe, where illegal ingredients are often banned from cosmetic products or are required to be printed on the bottles with the adequate warning. She furthered her argument discussing the website safecosmetics.org and the ways that Americans are banding together to fight against dangerous ingredients in cosmetic products.
It wasn’t until this part of the film that I recognized the relationship between our class content and that of this video. While the surface relationship lies in the fact that there was a website and we are designing websites, there is absolutely an abundance of deeper themes. Most notably, the idea of mass marketing through the web and social media. Rather than using lobbyists and interest groups to appeal to government regulatory groups, the opposition opted for gaining widespread public support and using a public domain, the internet, to push their case. By using the internet as their sole base for their argument, they are allowed to acquire a larger following and push for change with a smaller budget and larger group of people.