Authors: Ahmad & George

Whole Foods proclaims to be all-organic, but is that really the case? Our intention is to expose the lies we have been told by Whole Foods and have the people innocently shopping for their daily groceries realize the lies they have been fed and be able fully comprehend what they are consuming with their friends and family and make educated choices.

Now, our focus will be mainly on produce. To this end, we will create stickers that will be used to re-label or cover falsified GMO products. There will be 4 different variations, each containing a different factoid and our hashtag, #THEGMOPROJECT, for those who seek more information. On our day of action we aim to enter the Union Square Whole Foods as a group and take action and launch our campaign.

For the long term, we can only speak idealistically. Of course we aim for the elimination of GMOs as a whole. However, we understand that the possibility of this is relatively low. We do intend to bring in other organizations, ones with experience and connections with this issue, to help spread our action and cause to a broader audience. Because, even if our small group can incite something to be done, big or small, that can be an achievement we can be proud of.

We intend to keep The GMO Project going as long as possible. With new students coming in, we can pass the torch onto them and they can spread our cause even more. Of course this doesn’t mean we plan to abandon our plight come the termination of our semester. If we can all continue to participate in this for years to come, then we intend to.

 

1. Spreading the Word & Gaining Support

There are many ways in which we will go about spreading the word for our cause. With two specific ways that we will focus on, the use of social media and speaking to people directly! Continuously promoting #TheGMOProject on Twitter and Facebook addressing concerns regarding the health risks of GMOs. It will also inform our audience and garner support for our cause. We will share several links containing current information and we will try to connect with other organizations that share our views on GMOs. Likewise, we will also try to offer alternatives for a healthy diet that is free of chemicals and pesticides. LIKE US AND FOLLOW US!!!

 

Speaking to people directly will almost always be a more effective way to gain supporters for our cause. For this aspect, we have chosen to talk to people in person beforehand and spread the message of the action. These days would be Tuesday, January 5th, and Friday, January 15th. We will also be connecting our cause to other well-established causes to bring in more people.

 

A constant flow of information is what keeps people engaged. The actions that we must take are creating social media accounts, arming ourselves with knowledge, and simply talking to people. We want this to have an impact and we need the voices of the many to do so.

 

1. Reaching Out to Other Organizations

There are a plethora of huge organizations that could potentially take interest in our cause. These people already believe what we believe; they just have a much larger reach than we do. We can try our best to spread the word on our own, but the best outlet is through people who already have a following.

 

One that comes to mind is the popular and ever growing YouTube channel “Tek Syndicate”. At the time of writing they have over 552,000 subscribers, a forum with over 60,000 active members, and a twitter following upwards of 200,000 users. We will be contacting them directly in order to ensure our campaign can reach past the lines we would be able to reach by ourselves.

 

In order to have people join the cause is to let people know about the evils of the GMO’s, their collaboration with multinational corporations, and the way in which it affects both people domestically and internationally in a negative way. And the best way to do this is by appealing to the public’s emotions. That is how we get people’s attention.

 

1. Where will it occur?

Our action will take place at the Union Square Whole Foods in New York City, (4 Union Square Street, New York, NY 10003) on Thursday, January 21st, 2015.

 

1. iv. When will it occur during the day?

Our action will occur during the afternoon, more specifically, around rush hour. We can capitalize on the amount of people outside during that time as many of them will be going home, doing their shopping, or going to other important places. With all of our members participating in the action, we hope to reach a significant amount of people.

 

Of course, due to the nature of rush hour, we know that a portion of these people will either be too busy or in a rush to pay attention to us. This would be added on top of those who will naturally ignore or disregard our action. We understand this and aim to, at the very least, get these people to notice our action. Even if they ignore us, we hope our poster, stickers, or action will stick in their mind and perhaps mention it to somebody else or acknowledge it at later time.

 

1. Are these choices strategic?

Yes, very much so. We chose rush hour on a weekday due to the sheer amount of people who would be outside at that point in time. This would allow us to reach a much larger audience both inside and outside our target location, Whole Foods, than say at 9 A.M on a Sunday.

We choose Whole Foods because, this is a store that tells its customers that they are buying fresh and organic. Our idea is to have people realize how much of what they consume is GMO and bring awareness to these facts. As well as, exposing how Whole Foods has been built on a foundation of deceit and valuing profit over its integrity and customers.

We had discussed how if Whole Foods actually wanted to sell real organic and fresh produce, they have the means to do it. All they need to do is to demand that such produce should be available for them. Whole Foods is also capable of preventing the sales of produce that is widely known to be GMO, such as corn, yet, they continue to sell it anyway.