[Essay] Dear Barcode,a Prompt Tool to Tell Product Stories Differently

This is an essay I submitted for my university work, explaining the thinking behind the Dear Barcode project.

Introducing Dear Barcode

I would like to create a simple, portable and playful tool to challenge the dominant stories of consumerism. As a former packaging designer working in fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG), I was attuned to using colours, images, typography, and romance copy (the description about the product usually found at back of pack) to create a story world. In this world, the product is isolated from the ecosystem — it magically appears out of thin air, and vanishes as soon as it hits a rubbish bin. My tool “Dear Barcode” seeks to engage the consumers to challenge these isolated views of FMCG, and make new stories about the products’ positions in the eco and social web.

Dear Barcode is a loyalty-card-sized leaflet that fits in a wallet. The physical and portable properties makes this tool accessible in various social situations. Dear Barcode asks the consumer to look at the barcode of any products they have in hand, and match the last digit of the barcode to the prompt numbers on the leaflet. For example, if the last digit is 5, the consumer will be given the following storytelling prompt: “You time travelled back 100 years while holding this product. Explain to the locals what this product is and why it exists.” My goal for this prompt is to make people question the necessity of a product, think deeper about how the product’s existence relates to a broader environment, and question the naturalness and solidness of the present way of being, while engaging in a fun and interactive storytelling activity. The questions are intentionally open and lighthearted, leaving people enough space for play and ideally encouraging people to use this tool as a fun socialising device.

As a tool to question consumerism behind FMCG, the leaflet itself will not become a consumer product, and will be distributed for free physically and online. Lightweight recycled paper with single-colour design and a small format enables low-cost printing and minimises the environmental cost of production and distribution. They will be distributed in local flyer racks and zine fairs.

Reaching new audiences

When it comes to using stories to create social transformation for sustainability, multiple entry points are opened by giving tools to different types of audiences. My tool aims to be a low-intensity oral storytelling exercise aimed at general consumers who are not consciously thinking about storytelling and the environment. 

“General consumers” include many who are not reached by other forms of storytelling. Willis et al. (2022) worked with storytelling advocates and concluded that to reach new audiences, we should integrate sustainability-related storytelling with events that are already ongoing in community groups. For Dear Barcode, the storytelling is triggered by ongoing purchasing actions, which occur frequently and in a variety of situations. Targeting non-professional storytellers also means more freedom, as people who are not bound by professionalism are less confined by the rules and demands of the institutions (Zipes, 2008). This interactive, authentic, and performative tool allows the general consumer to engage in activities close to traditional storytelling, with a casual twist.

Challenging dominant stories

Jack Zipes (2008, p. 148) stated that we are all storytellers, and “we use story constantly every day to navigate and narrate ourselves through our prescribed existential situations.” The prompts encourage consumers to recognise and detach from the dominant stories about consumer products built by brands and society at large. Inspired by narrative therapy (Willis, 2025), Dear Barcode allows consumers to re-author their stories, by reimagining their relationships with the products, and the relationships between the product and the ecosystem. It also invites the consumers to imagine alternative stories through fictional scenarios. Through constant engagement with the narratives we seek to resist, counterstories come into being (Lindemann, 2001). Zipes (2008, p.144) pointed out that we accept living in an age of globalisation “almost as if it were fate and ordained by the gods.” My tool seeks to question the “naturalness” of our consumer habits in a flattened, globalised world. He continued by stating that although storytelling cannot magically fix everything, it might “counter the lies that invade our lives and puncture the delusions and illusions that interfere with communication.” (Zipes, 2008, p. 148).

A playful tool for a packed topic

This tool is kept open, with no instructions on what goals we want to achieve or how serious the answers should be. Traditional storytelling advocates agree that stories should never be ‘preachy’ (Willis et al., 2022), and Dear Barcode’s prompt generation has been led by this principle. Moreover, as Dr. Willis explained during the lecture, the more we try to use stories to deliver a concrete message, the more annoying it is, and weaker it is (Willis, 2025). Thus, I believe foregrounding activist messaging in the product could undermine the exact realisations I am hoping general consumer audiences find their way to on their own.

This tool is designed to be entertaining and fictional. From impersonating a seagull to imagining a time travel, the prompts embrace the fantastical. Zipes (2008, as cited in Willis et al., 2022) believes that the fantastical allows people to envision a different way of living. Through low-stake play with Dear Barcode, consumers can explore new norms freely. “Play opens up possibilities, and enables us to explore situations of difficulty, without any ‘real life’ consequences” (Leach, 2008, p. 2). A playful setup is less intimidating than having a heated debate with your friend about consumerism. I would like this tool to provide an open space to discuss ideas, and through its playful fiction, one can safely explore new possibilities.

Dear Barcode is inspired by traditional storytelling, and tries to challenge the consumers to view consumer goods in a more holistic light. Encouraged by the popularity of astrology, I believe connecting environmental storytelling prompts with something personal (purchasing decisions) may make this tool intriguing to play with. I hope this tool can be a thought starter for many who don’t usually engage with storytelling to think about production and sustainability.

References

Leach, R. (2008). Theatre Studies: The Basics (1st ed.). Routledge.

Lindemann, H. (2001). Damaged identities, narrative repair. Cornell University Press.

Willis, A., Affifi,R., Hildmann, J., & Verhoeven, A. (2022). Shifting the Narrative:  Exploring the Role of Arts Interventions in supporting communities in working across sectors to achieve place-based climate action. Shared Understandings of a Sustainable Future Programme.

Willis, A. (2025). Story Roots for Sustainable Futures [Lecture]. 

Zipes, J. (2008). Relentless Progress : The Reconfiguration of Children's Literature, Fairy Tales, and Storytelling. Taylor & Francis Group.