Modern advertising and credit cards are to blame for overconsumption that is both widening inequality and causing environmental destruction, Anna Meloto reminded a crowd of creative industry students and professionals at the recently concluded Festival Of Ideas on November 30, 2016 at the Newport Performing Arts Theater, Resorts World Manila. She noted that an environmentally and socially unsustainable world economy based on planned obsolescence of products and artificial demand for nonessential products is currently propagated by marketing that seeks to create feelings of inadequacy and inferiority among consumers.
Anna Meloto-Wilk is, together with sister Camille and husband Dylan, co-founder of Human Nature, award winning brand known for locally sourced and locally manufactured eco-friendly beauty products as well as food and beverages. She is also the daughter of Tony Meloto, humanitarian and founder of Gawad Kalinga.
“For centuries, the sole purpose of business has been to make money, and the primary way to do that is to get people—now, we call them consumers—to buy more and more things,” she said, adding, “For companies to survive and remain relevant, they need to take responsibility for their actions and rethink their business models to ensure that they don’t exploit workers, deceive consumers, and harm the environment. Business should no longer exist purely for profit, but for the benefit of people and the planet.”
She practices what she preaches. “One of the biggest challenges in building up our brand Human Nature is also choosing to use only natural, safe ingredients,” she admits, noting, “We won the Sustainable Pioneer Award this year, in Paris, France, during the Sustainable Beauty Awards.” She also notes that since 2009, 100% of the profits from their top three selling products have been used for community developments, noting 50 homes built in Maguindanao, one town away from Mamasapano.
Human Nature’s social commitment is consistent even with their beauty products and marketing. Fighting the post colonial fetish for fair skin, she testifies, “We vowed never to develop whitening products, but focus instead on celebrating the diversity of Filipina beauty by launching a campaign called “’Morena and Proud.’”
