This is also valuable for Henry Ford. We cannot analyze the decisions of the past with the recent results. In 1920, this way of making things was seen as real progress for the society providing for the mass, cars at lower cost in the case of Ford. How can we say it was not progress when children walked long distance to go to school, when available products were limited to the close area and so on. Imagine only all the Portland’s inhabitants arriving at the farmer’s market for all their needs. They couldn’t meet the demand. We need the mass production now. Few days ago, I was listening to the radio an interview during the week of fair-trade. Two africans were invited to make the promotion of their little production of carité butter. They said: We don’t master the production’s methods, so it’s more difficult to be equal in the market. It is a way to work being more effective.

That being said, we may want changing different things in mass production. We have power as consumer. We see the market in changing. Maybe it’s different in United States, we have in our grocery store a lot of choices. First of all, avoiding the transformed products, prefering the fresh products; in the transformed products, we may choose those healthier, poor in salt, sugar and bad fat, some are even identified with a label by Heart Disease Foundation; we have a lot of biological products; with the pressure of the demand, new green products are offered. Also many fair trade products. Those using their own bag receive money for each plastic bag they don’t use. The consumer has a lot of power if he wants to use it.

When you say, we are better to avoid all the trademarks, I don’t agree. We have to use our good sense in that also. Some companies are known as very engaged and conscious socially, so their trademark allows us to make a good choice. And buying their products, we are acting socially encouraging their practice and making pressure on the others to adopt those practices. Aren’t that we are doing with Smashing Pumpkins?