The Organic Intern Project
Posted by Josh Lynn on Mon, Aug 08, 2011 @ 06:00 AM
For industry insiders and true believers, the decision to eat organic is no decision at all. We might think of it as a responsibility, a right or a statement. But certainly not a “tough choice.”
So what are we missing? What is it we don’t understand about what it really takes to get a consumer to give up a few extra hard-earned greenbacks to get a little greener, eat a little healthier, do a little more for her family? How do we ask all that of someone who’s not “in the club?”
Enter The Organic Intern Project —The chronicles of organic indoctrination. Pure Branding’s summer intern, Meredith, is blogging every bite while she metamorphoses from conventional to conscious. Sit back, relax, take a sip of the Kool-Aid and experience a firsthand, real-time account of what it’s really like to “Go Organic!”
This June, a couple of Pure team members sat down to interview an incredibly adept internship applicant. Meredith was smart, savvy and well educated. With an ironclad résumé and a quick wit, she sailed through her job interview with flying colors.
Then came the question about her commitment to the cause. “You eat organic?”
Silence.
Slack jawed and circumspect, we stammered. “Seriously? You don’t? What in God’s name is wrong with you, child?”
But then it hit us — we didn’t just have an intern, we had a guinea pig. We wondered what would happen when a mainstream mind was exposed to every influence we had to offer. Would it bend, break, sway, swing, “Go Organic,” or simply leave?
Meredith’s first assignment was to get up to speed. We tasked her with reading everything we’d ever written. From Toxic Anxiety to our Twitter feed, Meredith absorbed more progressive propaganda in one week than most of us soak up in a lifetime. She promised not to filter, ignore, skirt or skim a word. We knew this gauntlet would get her good and primed to pitch in around Pure. But what happened next was better than we could have imagined.
Monday came.
She had been away for the weekend. With family. Uniformed family. Family that actually ate conventional celery right off the Costco crudité platter. And no matter her plea, protest or proclamation, she was mostly met with little more than a shrug.
Meredith burst through the office doors at 9am. She had no words to describe the confusion, pity, frustration and helplessness she was feeling. That was the moment we knew she had become an official member of “the club!”
That was also the moment The OIP was born.
Read along as Meredith gives you a window-seat on a trip into the mainstream mind of a consumer going Organic for the very first time. See how she copes with wielding newfound knowledge, breaking old habits, budget restrictions and pressure from family and friends.
Put down the Kool-Aid® and feel what it’s really like to be an everyday consumer —barraged with information and advice, trying to balance the budget while eating a balanced diet. Working hard to do what’s right for yourself, your family, and the planet; constantly being told you should be doing it better.
The Organic Intern Project sheds some light on what we’re really saying when we stand up and proclaim, “Go Organic!”
>Start following the The Organic Intern Project here
