When I taught consumer issues, students did a discovery exercise that elicited insightful observations about the consumer culture.This was the task:

Imagine you landed here from another planet. You know nothing about this civilization except that it is populated by beings that are called humans. You are able to be invisible and observe their daily life without disturbing it.

Your home planet has sent you on this mission of discovery so you can report back about what kind of beings these humans are—what they do, how they spend their time, what seems to be most important to them, what personal characteristics are most evident.

The familiar blunts our perspective…

We get so used to how we live that it seems normal.

Seeing with fresh eyes…

We can interrupt our habitual patterns of thought by seeing our society through other eyes. Filmmaker Meghna Gupta gives us a chance to do in her video, Unravel from Aeon Video on Vimeo.

P. S. Did you notice this video isnʼt really about recycling clothes?

So I wonder…

What would you report back if you were that visitor from outer space?