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RELATED INGREDIENTS

INTENTIONS

Reach new audiences
Cross cultures
Teach economic geography
Show capitalist evils
Show what’s possible

TACTICS

Choose the right thing
Target the right brand
Follow the thing
Join the dots
Find lost relations
Humanise things
Include emotion
Encourage empathy
Show the violence
Tell a story

RESPONSES

I know how they feel
This is so sad
I feel sorry for them
Wow 💥 WTF?
Capitalism is sh*t
Who’s responsible?
Oh, I get it now
Thank you
What’s the point?
It could be worse
I won’t buy it

IMPACTS

Now I know
Now we’re talking
I get what it’s like
It made me want to shop

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EXAMPLES

HANDBOOK PAGES

Handprint
Ilha das Flores
Jamelia – whose hair is it anyway?
Mangetout
Primark – on the rack
<more to be added>

FOLLOWTHETHINGS.COM PAGES

Pop the bubble

IN BRIEF

Consumers’ experience of commodities can be personal. Providing comfort, escape, togetherness. This is the bubble of ‘commodity fetishism’ that trade justice activists like to pop. Workers of the world helped to create these experiences. Let’s, at least, acknowledge that!

What’s this page?

This is a placeholder intention page that, once finished, will explain this intention, illustrate it with reference to comments taken from relevant followthethings.com example pages, and will give a clickable sense of the tactics, responses and impacts that go with this intention.

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Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet consectetur adipiscing elit. Quisque faucibus ex sapien vitae pellentesque sem placerat. In id cursus mi pretium tellus duis convallis. Tempus leo eu aenean sed diam urna tempor. Pulvinar vivamus fringilla lacus nec metus bibendum egestas. Iaculis massa nisl malesuada lacinia integer nunc posuere. Ut hendrerit semper vel class aptent taciti sociosqu. Ad litora torquent per conubia nostra inceptos himenaeos.

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet consectetur adipiscing elit. Quisque faucibus ex sapien vitae pellentesque sem placerat. In id cursus mi pretium tellus duis convallis. Tempus leo eu aenean sed diam urna tempor. Pulvinar vivamus fringilla lacus nec metus bibendum egestas. Iaculis massa nisl malesuada lacinia integer nunc posuere. Ut hendrerit semper vel class aptent taciti sociosqu. Ad litora torquent per conubia nostra inceptos himenaeos.

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet consectetur adipiscing elit. Quisque faucibus ex sapien vitae pellentesque sem placerat. In id cursus mi pretium tellus duis convallis. Tempus leo eu aenean sed diam urna tempor. Pulvinar vivamus fringilla lacus nec metus bibendum egestas. Iaculis massa nisl malesuada lacinia integer nunc posuere. Ut hendrerit semper vel class aptent taciti sociosqu. Ad litora torquent per conubia nostra inceptos himenaeos.

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RECOMMENDED READINGS

Ian Cook et al (2002) Commodities: the DNA of capitalism. https://followtheblog.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/commodities_dna.pdf (last accessed 3 June 2024)

Ian Cook, James Evans, Helen Griffiths, Rebecca Morris, Sarah Wrathmell et al (2007) ‘It’s more than just what it is’: defetishising commodities, expanding fields, mobilising change…. Geoforum 38(6), 1113-1126

Ian Cook & Tara Woodyer (2012) Lives of things. in Eric Sheppard, Trevor Barnes & Jamie Peck (eds) The Wiley Blackwell companion to economic geography. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 226-241

Stephen Duncombe (2012) It stands on its head: commodity fetishism, consumer activism, and the strategic use of fantasy. Culture & Organization 18(5), 359-375

Image credit

Icon: pop (https://thenounproject.com/icon/pop-4889095/) by Lars Meiertoberens from Noun Project (CC BY 3.0)

BACK TO HANDBOOK CONTENTS PAGE 👉

SECTION: Intentions

by Ian Cook (July 2025)

INTRODUCTION

EXAMPLES

Bananas!*
Beautiful clothes, ugly reality
Big boys gone bananas!*
Blood, sweat & takeaways
Dream crazy
Employee visualisation appendage
Ghosts
Girl model
Handprint
Ilha das Flores
Jamelia – whose hair is it anyway?
Life of a bullet
Maquilapolis
Mangetout
Primark – on the rack
Tackle the shackles
The ginger trail
The messenger band
The true cost
UDITA

INTENTIONS

What do trade justice activists want their work to do?

Change consumer behaviour
Change corporate behaviour
Change government behaviour
Cross cultures
Educate workers
End violence & exploitation
Improve pay & conditions
Pop the bubble
Reach new audiences
Show capitalist evils
Show what’s possible
Teach economic geography
Tell the truth

TACTICS

What actions and strategies do they use to bring their intentions to life?

Add mood music
Blame, shame & guilt
Bring managers into view
Choose an audience
Create a character
Embody exploitation
Encourage a boycott
Encourage curiosity
Encourage detective work
Encourage empathy
Encourage feminist solidarities
Find & give inspiration
Find a character
Find the love
Find the unions
Flip the script
Follow the people
Follow the thing
Give workers the mic!
Have a theory of change
Hold ’em accountable
Humanise workers
Include emotion
Include haunting & horror
Include suffering kids
Include the digital
Involve consumers
Join with others
Join the dots
Juxtapose extremes
Lie to tell the truth
Make a website
Make it familiar
Make it funny
Make it incomplete
Make Music
Make the familiar strange
Place things carefully
Put your bodies in the way
Show both sides
Show the violence
Silence your critics
Spend some time
Stage a Q&A
Start somewhere different
Suggest concrete action
Target the right brand
Tell a story
Workers take the mic

RESPONSES

How do audiences respond to this work, the stories it tells, the suggestions it makes?

Attack your critics
Capitalism is sh*t
Creeperific
Guilty as charged
I get what it’s like
I gotta do something
I just cried
I know how they feel
I laughed my ass off
I want to find out more
I won’t buy it
I’m humming that music
I’m so angry
It’s so badly made
Liar! Fraud!
LOL capitalism
My hero!
Oh shut up
Silence your critics
That’s racist
There is no alternative
These consumers are insane
These people are inspiring
They aren’t experts!
This gives me hope
This is disgusting
This is so sad
Who to believe?
Who’s responsible?
Wow 💥 WTF?

IMPACTS

What changes does trade justice activism encourage in the world?

Activism is inspired
Activism is publicised
Activists are recruited
Audiences are empowered
Can’t tell
Corporations are punished
Corporations change
Debts are paid off
Governments intervene
I shop differently now
Now I know
Now we’re talking
Workers suffer
Workers’ pay & conditions improve

ADVICE TO FILMMAKERS

How students have used this handbook to criticaly anaylse trade justice activism

‘Get people to reflect, not recoil’
‘Choose the emotion that won’t let go – then hit ‘record’
‘You can’t Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V resistance’
‘Yes, it’s small. But that’s the point’
‘Just showing up – again and again – can be the start of something’
‘It’s funny how you can be so angry at someone who is just doing their job’

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FEATURED EXAMPLES

Primark – on the rack
Mangetout
Ilha das Flores
Blood, sweat & takeaways
Girl model
Ghosts
UDITA

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INGREDIENTS

INTENTIONS

Reach new audiences
Pop the bubble
Change consumer behaviour
Change corporate behaviour
Improve pay and conditions
Show what’s possible

TACTICS

Hold ’em accountable
Blame, shame & guilt
Lie to tell the truth
Start somewhere different
Involve consumers
Humanise workers
Find the unions
Find a character
Give workers the mic!
Encourage empathy
Juxtapose extremes
Suggest concrete action
Encourage feminist solidarities

RESPONSES

Attack your critics
Liar! Fraud!
Wow 💥 WTF?
I’m so angry
This is disgusting
Guilty as charged
I just cried
I gotta do something
Who’s responsible?
These people are inspiring

IMPACTS

Now we’re talking
Corporations change
I shop differently now
Workers suffer
Activism is inspired
Debts are paid off
Workers’ pay & conditions improve

“Get people to reflect, not recoil“

By Abbie Gollings

IN BRIEF

Student Abbie Gollings has taken the ‘Geographies of material culture’ module at the University of Exeter. She’s been watching trade justice documentaries, analysing the comments on their followthethings.com pages, and making sense of them using a draft copy of ‘The followthethings.com handbook for trade justice activism’. She knows a thing or two about how trade justice documentaries work and what they can do. She’s been asked to imagine meeting a filmmaker who’s planning a new trade justice documentary. What advice could she give? Consider the emotions your work could evoke in its audiences. Which ones will encourage them to act in ways that could improve workers’ pay and conditions? And maybe start with the workers first? What’s her theory of change? What activism are they involved in. How could a filmmaker help?

More about this page.

We are slowly piecing together a followthethings.com handbook for trade justice activism and are publishing draft pages here as we write them. This is an ‘advice’ page. The main text is an example of student work from the ‘Geographies of material culture’ module which followthethings.com CEO Ian ran at the University of Exeter in the 2024-25 academic year. Students watched 8 films, and read their pages on followthethings.com (with the expeption of an unfinished film called The ginger trail). They were asked to pair the comments brought together on each of the films’ followthethings.com pages with the appropriate ingredients phrases (naming their intentions, tactics, responses and impacts – show in bold below) being drafted for the Handbook. Using these phrases as a pattern language (see FAQs), students were tasked to work out how specific intentions (e.g. improve workers’ pay & conditions) needed specific tactics (e.g. flip the script) to generate different kinds of responses (e.g. this is disgusting), which could generate different kinds of impacts (e.g. audiences are empowered). [NB pages about each of these ingredients are coming soon] At the end of the module, students were asked to imagine that they had met someone who was about to make their first trade justice documentary. Drawing on what they had learned in the module, what advice could they give them on how to make it effective?

Question

How can I make an effective trade justice documentary?

Answer

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‘Effective’ means many things: matching impacts to intentions, getting people talking. But you can do more. Effective documentaries can lead to action; the ultimate goal: improve workers’ pay and conditions. I assume this is your aim. But not just as a temporary ‘lifeboat’ (Kister and Wenner, 2024) – you want long-lasting change. I’ve watched some trade justice films. Some missed this mark. But they all point towards it. You can learn from them.

Start ambitious. Change corporate behaviour. Expose how they exploit workers, shame them into action. Corporations can change structurally – improve pay and conditions! This is what Primark on the Rack attempted. Posing as buyers, narrator McDougall’s team went to hold Primark accountable for ‘its illegal labour activities’ (Maroney; 190-1; in Adley et al., 2025), capturing footage of young boy Mantheesh working illegally on Primark garments in India. This scene caused outrage. Primark became the ‘poster boy’ for child labour (Cook et al., 2018; 483, in Adley et al., 2025) 😬

Primark caught? Nope! They fired back. Attacked their critics. ‘Liar! Fraud! The footage is fake!’ I didn’t know who to believe. Commenters argued over who’s right. This pivotal scene of Mantheesh became about everything but his struggles. Backfire! Panicking, Primark abruptly closed the three factories blamed of outsourcing and child labour. Rid themselves of the problem, leaving ‘hundreds of garment workers in an even worse position than before’ (Arnott; 36; in Adley et al., 2025). Workers suffer.

Thanks to the film, ”good days’ for Mantheesh have come to an abrupt end’ (Hunt; 22, in Adley et al., 2025). 😳 . This is the opposite of its intention. I’ve used this example to show you how impactful film can be – and how risky. DON’T lie to tell the truth. Workers might suffer.

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SO.. let’s start smaller – a different angle. Target consumers. Try to change consumer behaviour. If you want people to rethink where their stuff comes from, pop the bubble. All activists need to shine light on the hidden realities (Duncombe, 2012). Cook and Woodyer (2012) explain how the ‘fetish’ of commodities hides the hands making them. So, as Boyd says (2012; in Duncombe, 2016, 122), you must make ‘the invisible visible.’ Showing the workers juxtaposing extremes can do this – it gets people questioning without blame, shame or guilt – which clearly didn’t work for Primark on the Rack.

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Mangetout and Ilha das Flores did this. But you can’t just throw any scenes together.Bloomfield and Sangalang (2014) helped me get this – you’ve gotta show the relationship between the scenes, like cause and effect, or moral contrast – so people connect the dots themselves. Leave space for imagination (Cook et al., 2007; 118). Like how Mangetout juxtaposes middle class diners who ate mangetout ‘between outbursts of smug crassness, [as] the African pickers were being treated as slaves’ (Holt, p.5; in Cook et al., 2025). Meanwhile Mark Dady, Tesco manager, smiles over his workers. It showed how Tesco policy exploits workers who completely rely on them, ignorant of their struggles, giving more attention to the vegetable than those producing it. Tesco weren’t explicitly blamed – viewers drew ‘their own depressing conclusions’ (Truss, np, in Cook et al., 2025) about how the workers were treated. I was so angry!

Ilha das Flores also juxtaposed extremes showing the tomato-connected lives of workers, animals, and consumers. For some, it hit hard – ‘impossible not to shed tears while watching’ (Anon; 17; in Pavalow, 2025). Wow 💥 WTF? I was shocked seeing dead bodies, children eating scraps a family had previously deemed inedible. But the shock didn’t lead me anywhere. If you look at Chouliaraki (2010), she explains this problem. She says when films show suffering too graphically or abstractly, they risk fetishising all over again. It becomes a spectacle of disgust (Lissner, 1981; 32, in Chouliaraki, 2010). I felt bombarded.

So, same technique, totally different outcomes. Emotions can work against you ⚠️ . Ilha das Flores left people feeling disgusted – by the end ‘I just felt like being sick’ (Redroom Studios, np; cited in Pavalow, 2025). Disgust can make your audience recoil (Ryynänen, Kosonen, and Ylönen, 2023). Someone said ‘the holocaust images made me stop watching’ (@andrewsharpe2587, np, in Pavalow, 2025). Not exactly the spark you need to fuel activism.

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But anger you can work with! Anger at Mangetout’s revelations inspired activism. Read Micheletti and Stolle (2008, p.749) to understand this emotional mobilisation. They explain how strong emotions like anger can drive change consumer behaviour and change corporate behaviour. That’s an effective outcome! Unlike disgust, anger is intentional (Ryynänen, Kosonen, and Ylönen, 2023). Mangetout was effective because, as Brown and Pickerill (2009) explain, there was somewhere to aim it: Tesco. Tesco felt pressured to join the Ethical Trading Initiative. Corporations have changed! SUCCESS!! 🎯 You see there are different ways to apply pressure. Different emotions get different responses. Get people to reflect, not recoil.

Targeting consumer audiences seems to be effective – you can target them other ways! Try to change consumer behaviour. Kahn (2016) explains that consumers are more responsible than ever – the solution to fast fashion problems! Make them feel they gotta do something.

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Involving consumers can be a powerful way to show them how to change. Blood Sweat and Takeaways tried this by taking 6 British food lovers to ‘walk-a-mile’ in workers’ shoes in Thailand and Indonesia (Cuthbertson; 46; in Clarke et al., 2025). Millions watched – it reached new audiences and opened viewers’ eyes: ‘I never gave much thought to where my food comes from’ (Lynn, np, in Clarke et al, 2025). But the show failed to tell viewers how to help – ‘boycott tuna or buy more of it?’ (Sutcliffe 2009 np, in Clarke et al., 2025).

🤔 What was the point? Instead, it focused on participants’ personal journeys, like Manos’ emotional revelation and apology to the workers shown below. It didn’t push for social change (Gupta and Fawcett, np, in Clarke et al., 2025), and letting consumers ‘play at’ being workers only extended the gap between ‘us’ and ‘them’ (Yang, 2017; 61).

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You must TELL consumers what to do (Haug and Busch, 2016). Explicitly link consumer habits with workers’ lives. In Primark on the Rack, a young woman is shown video evidence of children working on a top from Primark that she owned. She was shocked! Guilty as charged! Trust in Primark – gone. ‘It’s the end of the affair’ says McDougall (Panorama, 2008; 48:43). Consumer behaviour changed 👍 . people said they’d shop differently now 👍 . Did they?

I felt guilty too. All those times I’ve ventured to Primark for another cheap top. But what about the factory owners I’d seen? The children’s parents? Who’s responsible? I started justifying my actions, I’m a student. I can’t afford to shop elsewhere. ‘How dare that reporter incline towards that woman [shopping] in anyway that it’s her fault for buying clothes from Primark’ (Maddox 2008 np; in Adley, 2025). Young (2003) explains this response. Guilt is backwards-looking, people get defensive (Bartky 2002; in Yang 2017) and angry. Instead of collective action, blaming a consumer caused resentment and refusal to take responsibility (Young, 2003). I came to a dead end. But then I returned to Young (2003). She says you want to show people that it’s everyone’s responsibility.Y ou need to show them how to make a difference, but don’t blame. Guilt isn’t always effective.

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So avoid responses that will backfire. Your doc could be more effective by humanising workers. Get people talking about them. You’ve learnt about emotional responses – which ones should you evoke? Here you could turn to Kemp (2025) who explains that empathy can motivate helping behaviour and catalyse action (Nash and Corner, 2016). You want action! So encourage empathy.

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The unintentional popularity of Girl Model shows that finding a character can really effectively connect an audience to workers struggles through empathy. ‘It became ‘essential viewing for adolescent girls’ (Burr, 2012, np; in Hambly et al., 2025) because people had been emotionally impacted. Aspiring model Nadya (13) is carted off to Tokyo with hope for a better life, and money for her family. But these promises dissolve and the glamour and gloss of the industry was stripped away (Kermode, 2012, np, in Hambly et al., 2025). The images show her real emotions under the fake glamour. I just cried ‘I wanted to give Nadya a hug, because I felt her pain’ (DisturbedPixie, np; in Hambly et al, 2025).

The rawness of disappointment touched a nerve. Canning and Reinsborough (2012) explain that your audience cares more when they relate. So you could include relatable characters to engage your audience. Point your camera towards the workers and it becomes an ‘empathy machine’ (Jackson in Nals, 2018; 135). But there was nothing I could for Nadya. I was invested but at a dead end. But Ghosts shows how empathy CAN effectively inspire action.

Ghosts finds a character: Ai Qin. We follow her closely as she migrates to the UK for better wages and work. But she becomes trapped in a modern slave system. She repeatedly suffers. She cries and then… I cried.

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My emotions mirrored hers (Nals, 2018). Her plight comes up to you like an unforgiving tide (Keak np; in Allen et al., 2025). You want to help her. Some viewers said that showing her ordinary emotions brought her closer to ‘us’ bridging a ‘gulf’ between viewer and subject (Brass; 346; in Allen et al., 2025), but I felt like I was framed in an oppressor vs oppressed dynamic (Bardan, date; in Pereen, 2014; 44). She was a victim, the audience are saviours (Pereen, 2014; 44). Ghosts ends with the Morecambe Bay tragedy: Ai Qin survives, but viewers learn the victims’ families struggle with debt. Broomfield established the Morecombe Bay Victim’s fund (O’Keeffe 2006; in Allen et al., 2025) and emotionally-connected viewers, now cast as saviours, donate to clear these debts. Debts are paid off.

So if you encourage empathy and suggest concrete action you can drive effective change. But this help was temporary. And empathy donation relationships rely on the colonial gaze being maintained (Hall, 1992; in Chouliaraki, 2010) which is part of the problem. Your film can use empathy to get immediate change, but you need to switch it up to improve workers pay and conditions long-term.

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Individualising and blaming consumers and corporations can undermine your goal. An effective doc must promote trade justice without endangering workers. So start somewhere different. Let workers take the mic. Like UDITA (Arise) did. Following 5 female union workers, it shows what’s possible: powerful, collective action – ‘women’s hope and commitment to create better conditions for the next generation’ (Spooner; 32, in Barker et al, 2025). These people are inspiring. Empowered workers showed how resistance is already improving pay and conditions (Siddiqi, 2019). They had a voice – and knowing best how the garment industry should change (Khan, 2016), they can tell us what they want – (O’Neill, np; in Barker et al, 2025).

I could no longer excuse ignoring how my t-shirts are made because ‘[T]he actual garment workers themselves are saying that they want us to shop consciously. WE CAN DO IT’ (Gregory, np, in Barker et al., 2025). It shows that the workers don’t need ‘saving’ – Primark – On the Rack showed how victimising workers can harm their interests (Siddiqi, 2019), moving beyond the ‘us’ and ‘them’ divide. Before, I was encouraged to be a guilty consumer . Now I was encouraged to be a feminist in solidarity – an important move for audiences to make because it shows the collective responsibility we all have – that workers need to resist too (Young, 2003; 42).

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After so much despair, witnessing their resilience gave me hope. Your film can help apply pressure in the right places. Find the unions and help them to improve pay and conditions. Inspire viewers to work collectively. Make it forward-looking (Robin Zheng, 2019). Show there is an alternative, and you will make real change.

So to improve pay and conditions: target consumers and corporations, but be cautious ⚠️ . Get people talking about the workers, and mobilise emotions like empathy and anger into concrete action. Collate these ideas – have a theory of change and apply pressure from different angles. Like UDITA, give workers opportunity to show what’s possible to give the audience hope, a sense of togetherness.

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SOURCES

Adley, K., Keeble, R., Russell, P. Stenholm, N, Strang, W, and Valo,. T (2025) Primark – on the rack. followthethings.com/primark-on-the-rack.shtml (last accessed: 28th April, 2025)

Allen, H, Heaume, E, Heeley, L. Hedger, R, Johnson, S, McGregor, O & Webber, L (2025) Ghosts. followthethings.com/ghosts.shtml (last accessed: 25th April 2025)

Barker, T, Collier, T, Baker, A, Coppen, L & Eve, H (2025) UDITA (ARISE). followthethings.com/udita.shtml (last accessed: 25th April, 2025)

Bloomfield, E.F. and Sangalang, A. (2014) Juxtaposition as Visual Argument: Health Rhetoric in Super Size Me and Fat Head. Argumentation and Advocacy, 50(3), pp. 141– 156

+25 sources

Brown, G. and Pickerill, J. (2009) Space for Emotion in the Spaces Of Activism. Emotion, space and society, 2(1), pp. 24–35

Canning, D. and Reinsborough, P. (2012) Lead With Sympathetic Characters. in Beautiful Trouble. OR Books, p. 146

Chouliaraki, L. (2010) Post-humanitarianism: Humanitarian Communication Beyond a Politics of Pity. International journal of cultural studies, 13(2), p. 107–126.

Clarke, M Thomson, B. Bartley, V. Ibbetson-Price, K. Christie-Miller. E. & Schofield, H. (2025) Blood, Sweat & Takeaways. followthethings.com/blood-sweat-takeaways.shtml (last accessed: 28th April, 2025)

Cook, I. and Woodyer, T. (2012) Lives of Things. in The Wiley‐Blackwell Companion to Economic Geography. Chichester, UK: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, p. 226–241

Cook, I. et al. (2007) ‘It’s More Than Just What It Is’: Defetishising Commodities, Expanding Fields, Mobilising Change. Geoforum, 38(6), p. 1113–1126

Cook, I, et al., (2025) Mangetout. followthethings.com/mange-tout.shtml (last accessed: 28th April, 2025)

Duncombe, S. (2012) It Stands On Its Head: Commodity Fetishism, Consumer Activism, And The Strategic Use Of Fantasy. Culture and organization, 18(5), p.359–375.

Duncombe, S. (2016) ‘Does It Work? The Æffect of Activist Art. Social research 83(1), p.115-134.

Duncombe, S. (2023) A Theory of Change for Artistic Activism. The Journal of aesthetics and art criticism, 81(2), pp. 260–268

Hambly, A, King, E, Keogh, A, Renny-Smith, C, Callow,E, Thorogood, J & Alloy, V (2025) Girl Model: The Truth Behind The Glamour. followthethings.com/girl-model.shtml (last accessed: 28th April, 2025)

Haug, A. and Busch, J. (2016) Towards an Ethical Fashion Framework. Fashion theory 20(3), p.317–339

Pavalow., M (2025) Ilha das Flores. followthethings.com/ilhadasflores.html (last accessed: 28th April, 2025)

Kemp, D. (2025) Comparing Disgust and Sadness: Examining the Interaction of Emotion and Information in Charity Appeals. Journal of social marketing, 15(1), p.42–58.

Khan, R. (2016) Doing Good and Looking good: Women in ‘Fast Fashion’ Activism. Women & Environments International Magazine, 96/97, p.7-9

Kister, J. and Wenner, M. (2024) Living Wages as Life Boat to Rescue Fairtrade’s Values for Hired Labour? The Case of Indian Tea Plantations. Die Erde: journal of the Geographical Society of Berlin 154(3), p.80-94

Micheletti, M. and Stolle, D. (2008) Fashioning Social Justice Through Political Consumerism, Capitalism, And The Internet. Cultural studies 22(5), p.749–769

Nåls, J. (2018) The Difficulty of Eliciting Empathy in Documentary. in Brylla, C & Kramer, M. (eds) Cognitive Theory and Documentary. Oxford: Palgrave Macmillan, p.135-148

Nash, K. and Corner, J. (2016) Strategic Impact Documentary: Contexts Of Production And Social Intervention. European journal of communication 31(3), p.227–242

Peeren, E. (2014) The Spectral Metaphor: Living Ghosts and the Agency of Invisibility. London: Palgrave Macmillan

Ryynänen, M., Kosonen, H.S. and Ylönen, S.C. (2023) From visceral to the aesthetic: tracing disgust in contemporary culture. in their (eds.) Cultural Approaches to Disgust and the Visceral. London: Routledge, p.3-16

Siddiqi, D.M. (2009) Do Bangladeshi Factory Workers Need Saving? Sisterhood In The Post-Sweatshop Era. Feminist review, 91(91), p.154–174

Yang, J. (2017) Screening privilege: global injustice & responsibility in 21st-Century Scandinavian film & media. PhD thesis: University of Oslo (https://www.duo.uio.no/bitstream/handle/10852/70905/Yang%2bPhD%2bScreening%2bPrivilege.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y last accessed 28th April 2025)

Young, I. (2003) From guilt to solidarity: sweatshops & political responsibility. Dissent 50(2), p.39-44

Zheng, R. (2019) What Kind of Responsibility Do We Have for Fighting Injustice? A Moral- Theoretic Perspective on the Social Connections Model. Critical horizons : journal of social & critical theory, 20(2), p.109–126

Image credits

Icon: conversation (https://thenounproject.com/icon/conversation-6769395/) by kliwir art from Noun Project (CC BY 3.0)

Primark on the rack: credit BBC.

Mangetout: credit BBC

Ilha das Flores: credit Casa de Cinema de Porto Alegre

Blood, sweat & takeaways: credit BBC

Girl model: credit Carnivalesque Films

Ghosts: credit Beyond Films

UDITA – credit Rainbow Collective

Handbook screengrabs: credit followthethings.com

SECTION: advice

Written by Abbie Gollings, edited by Ian Cook (first published July 2025)

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FEATURED EXAMPLES

Girl model
Mangetout
The ginger trail
Ghosts
Primark – on the rack

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INGREDIENTS

INTENTIONS

Pop the bubble
Cross cultures
Tell the truth
Show capitalist evils
End violence & exploitation
Change corporate behaviour
Teach economic geography

TACTICS

Have a theory of change
Target the right brand
Follow the thing
Tell the truth
Tell a story
Include emotion
Encourage empathy
Find & give inspiration
Workers take the mic!
Find a character
Create a character
Bring managers into view
Show the violence
Include suffering kids
Juxtapose extremes
Blame, shame & guilt
Encourage feminist solidarities
Add mood music
Silence your critics

RESPONSES

This is so sad
This is disgusting
I’m so angry
I just cried
These consumers are insane
Capitalism is sh*t
These people are inspiring
This gives me hope
I want to find out more

IMPACTS

Now I know!
Now we’re talking
Activism is publicised
Activism is inspired
Debts are paid off
Governments intervene
Corporations change

“Choose the emotion that won’t let go – then hit ‘record’“

By Luke Elkington

IN BRIEF

Student Luke Elkington has taken the ‘Geographies of material culture’ module at the University of Exeter. He’s been watching trade justice documentaries, analysing the comments on their followthethings.com pages, and making sense of them using a draft copy of ‘The followthethings.com handbook for trade justice activism’. He knows a thing or two about how trade justice documentaries work and what they can do. He’s been asked to imagine meeting a filmmaker who’s planning a new trade justice documentary. What advice could he give? Get inspired by the films he’s watched, and get the emotions right. Then record.

More about this page.

We are slowly piecing together a followthethings.com handbook for trade justice activism and are publishing draft pages here as we write them. This is an ‘advice’ page. The main text is an example of student work from the ‘Geographies of material culture’ module which followthethings.com CEO Ian ran at the University of Exeter in the 2024-25 academic year. Students watched 8 films, and read their pages on followthethings.com (with the expeption of an unfinished film called The ginger trail). They were asked to pair the comments brought together on each of the films’ followthethings.com pages with the appropriate ingredients phrases (naming their intentions, tactics, responses and impacts – show in bold below) being drafted for the Handbook. Using these phrases as a pattern language (see FAQs), students were tasked to work out how specific intentions (e.g. improve workers’ pay & conditions) needed specific tactics (e.g. flip the script) to generate different kinds of responses (e.g. this is disgusting), which could generate different kinds of impacts (e.g. audiences are empowered). [NB pages about each of these ingredients are coming soon] At the end of the module, students were asked to imagine that they had met someone who was about to make their first trade justice documentary. Drawing on what they had learned in the module, what advice could they give them on how to make it effective?

Question

How can I make an effective trade justice documentary?

Answer

First things first, cos you’re making a trade justice documentary, your film must contribute to the Trade Justice Movement – or TJM. But what does that even mean?!?!? The TJM challenges unfair imbalances in power between trading nations by tearing up the rule book ✊🏽 and the goal is to create a global system which prioritizes the people 👩🏻‍🤝‍👩🏾 and the planet 🌍 (Bannister & Bergan, 2023). So, to be a trade justice documentary, your activism must try to shift power away from the capitalist class 👿 and toward supply chain workers 🤗 (Wright, 2015). Easy right ?

OK … let me tell you a story. It’s 2008. I’m watching ⚽️ football. Age 6. Suddenly, it’s half-time. A charity’s plea for donations appears on the TV. Starving Sudanese children 👶🏿 scatter the screen. Their exposed black ribs protrude from the telly stabbing 🗡 into my young eyes – bringing them to tears 😢. WHY do I still remember? Emotions imprint far deeper than facts ever can – so your film must aim not just to inform, but to include emotion that will shake your viewer.

In April, I walked past Primark. My attention focused on glossy posters of young girls 👧 posing. Slowly, their faces distorted into Nadya Vall from Girl Model. Filmmakers follow this 13 year old girl from Siberia to Tokyo, chasing her dream to become a model. But it falls apart and she cries for help. The image burnt 🔥 into my brain 🧠. I couldn’t stop thinking about Nadya.

Filmmakers use tactics to trigger 🤮 😭 😢 😫 😡 😳 😊. Girl Model finds a character in Nadya who ‘gives the film a clear protagonist'(Saito in Hambly et al., 2025, np) creating a bond between the viewer and Nadya (Nash & Corner, 2016). The film includes suffering kids 👧 as Nadya cries to return to her impoverished home which is contrasted with Ashley, Nadya’s manager, who is free to wander her ‘cavernous Connecticut mansion’ 🏡 (Lucca in Hambly et al., 2025, np).

By bringing a manager into view, filmmakers reveal Ashley’s apathy through unsettling imagery – strange dolls 🪆and eerie photo cut-outs of models – which underscore her ‘disconnection from the modelling world’ (Redmon in ibid) and Nadya (Natter & Jones III, 1993). These tactics together encourage empathy 🥹by helping viewers really understand Nadya’s suffering → which often makes viewers sad (Redmon in Hambly et al., 2025; Dant, 2012).

It worked! It’s ‘saddening’ ☹️ (Almachar in Hambly et al., 2025, np). I’m so sad. Sadness is ‘a response to and feeling of loss’ (Kemp, 2025, p.44). Myself and others found Girl Model pretty ‘disturbing’ (Cli in Hambly et al., 2025, np)….it’s disgusting 🤮 . These feelings are brought on by violations of morality and with these physical feelings of revulsion 🤢, the film’s message hits deeper into the viewer’s heart ❤️ (Ryynänen et al., 2023).

By not ramming information down our throats, Girl Model told the truth – ‘a verité narrative’ (Sabin & Redmond in Hambly et al., 2025, np) and this amplified 🔊 the film’s impacts ☹️ 🤮 (Sabin & Redmond in Hambly et al., 2025).

Activism was inspired! Someone else made a film, people asked how they could create change, and conversations roared online – this engagement with the film is the first step toward real change … now we’re talking 💬 (Sabin & Redmond and Bleasdale in Hambly et al, 2025).

So now we know about Nadya’s exploitation…. our knowledge is the starting point for action ✊🏽.

Hold on ⛔️. Wenzel (2011) warns that consumers often confuse gaining knowledge with meaningful action. As a result, films can end up re-fetishizing commodities, simply generating new demand: dammit 😤 (ibid).

BUT WAIT! Nash and Corner (2016) explain how to overcome this…..emotions can be just as powerful, if not more so, than knowledge. By fostering emotional attachment to an issue, films have the potential to stimulate genuine action, not just passive awareness (ibid)!!!!

OK, now I know emotions are important. Girl Model got people ☹️ and 🤮. Mangetout got people 😡.

Mangetout popped the bubble by confronting Brits ‘with their most popular supermarket Tesco actually running a farm in Zimbabwe’ (Miller in Cook et al., 2025, np). Crossing cultures and following the thing traces the journey of mangetout peas 🫛 ‘from African soil to English dinner plate’ (Phillips in ibid) exposing the interconnected web of commodities and their externalities along the way (Callon, 1998). BAM 💥 my commodity fetishism 🫧 was popped ← Marx can #RIP 🪦 (Cook et al., 2002).

Tesco veg buyer Mark Dady travels to Zimbabwe bringing managers into view. He inspects Chiparawe farm [code 🧑‍💻 for] he bullies farmers to grow the perfect 🫛 for minimal Ps 💷 (Aaronovitch in Cook et al., 2025). Mark’s arrival 🛬 is accompanied by imperial music to add mood music 🎵 which juxtaposes extremes with Zimbabweans singing ‘Tesco’s our dear friend’ 🎤(Holt in Cook et al., np; Friedberg, 2004). Juxtaposition is useful to filmmakers cos it helps highlight stark inequalities (Wenzel, 2011)!

A juxtaposition 👨‍🏫 masterclass………

Mark ⬆️ demands farmworkers trim the 🫛 leaves for the consumer’s benefit …! Grannie ⬇️ explains her past traumas while a British consumer at a dinner party ⬇️ says workers – like Grannie – ‘are probably happy in their mud hut’ (O’Malley in Cook et al., 2025, np).

These tactics juxtaposes British consumers 🤵‍♂️ with Zimbabwean farmworkers 👩🏾‍🌾 leading to a response of these consumers are insane – they’re called arrogant, bstards, and c&*ts (in Cook et al., 2025). Contrasting consumers with producers provokes viewers to rally 🪧 against the dinner party guests (Wenzel, 2011). Viewers were so angry 😡 at Tesco 👿 that they wanted to ‘kick in the TV’ 📺 (Jema in Cook et al., 2025, np). Anger helps prompt action by breaking viewer passivity (Chouliaraki, 2010). In response to Mangetout, Tesco joined the Ethical Trade Initiative showing ‘the ability of film to intervene in the foodscape’ (Richardson-Ngwenya & Richardson in Cook et al., 2025, np). Corporations changed 💥💥💥 because of political consumerism (Stolle & Micheletti 2013).

Effective. Intentions → Impacts. But just a word of warning, triggering tooooo strong emotions can backfire. Chouliaraki (2010) – worth a read 📚 btw warns of the boomerang (viewers resent blame, shame & guilt tactics ) and bystander effects (viewers feels powerless 😬). The trick is to deliver enough emotion to spark action 🧨 without triggering paralysis or resentment 🫩.

But The ginger 🫚 trail doesn’t trigger strong emotions at all. 👎 A major flaw?

It’s an I-Doc 🎦. Viewers choose clips 📽 and in what order they’re watched. Interactivity facilitates participation in making a film rather than simply consuming it → this immerses viewers (Aston, 2022). This film teaches economic geographies (Ananthanarayana, 2025). It shows slow violence caused by ginger cultivation but it’s hard to show violence that takes place over many years ⏳ (ibid; Davies, 2022). It overcomes this by showing communities suffering consequences of slow violence which impacts viewers emotionally 💓 which is what Davies (2022) recommends!

Viewers wanted to find out more. To ‘work out the puzzle 🧩 of seemingly disconnected clips’ (Anon in Ananthanarayana, 2025, np). But responses were ‘not emotionally charged’ 🤦‍♂️ (ibid). Still, now we’re talking; viewers ‘told their house about the film’ (ibid). 🆒 Knowledge is dispersed. But was this an effective film?

IMO…No. It nailed interactivity. But the lack of emotional response means the film risks creating passive awareness 🤷‍♀️ rather than action (Nash and Corner, 2016). Films have to get the viewer emotionally.

That’s where Ghosts 👻 comes in. A fictional film. Based on the ‘true story’ (Broomfield in Allen et al., 2025, np) of 23 Chinese migrant workers who died 💀 at Morecambe Bay in 2004. It tells the truth 💯 and shows capitalist evils by telling the story of Ai Qin and ‘the chain of labour that exploits illegal immigrants’ (Romney in ibid). Telling stories are effective as they help viewers connect to characters which moves them emotionally 💓 (Nash and Corner, 2016). The film created characters AND found characters! Lead actors were Chinese migrants → ‘neither actors nor themselves’ (Martin in Allen et al., 2025, np).

Oh and also, Ghosts showed the violence 😡→🤕 workers endured in Morecambe bay forcing the viewer to imagine themselves there (Wenzel, 2011). These tactics combine to include (so much raw) emotion in Ghosts meaning viewers know ‘this is the real thing’ (Anon in Allen et al., 2025, np).

Then I cried 😭. Having built an attachment to the workers, having seen the violence they were victims of, the scene where they drown 🏊‍♀️ was TOO MUCH! It’s difficult ‘ NOT to cry’ (Johnjoe66 in ibid). Viewers feel helpless which combined with feeling so sad 😞 they just cry 😭 (Frome, 2014). Ghosts shows how ‘unchecked capitalism haunt[s] this deeply felt film’ (Geall in Allen et al. 2025, np). Ugggh, capitalism is sh*t! ← 😢 😡 😩 🤮.

But … something positive … debts were paid off ← ‘the crippling debts inherited by the families of the victims of the Morecambe Bay Tragedy have been paid off’ (Anon in ibid).

Emotion + Knowledge = Action❗️2008 → 2025 and a film still makes me 😭. Ghosts 👻 worked.

Now, Primark on the rack 👕👗 worked but wait for the 👀 twist. It showed capitalist evils by exposing Primark’s suppliers using child refugees from Sri Lanka as wage labourers in India, earning just ’19p a day’ 😞 (Williams in Adley et al., 2025, np). Capitalism f*cking failed these people 🫩 (Chellan, 2023). By targeting the right brand – one with ‘170 stores nationwide’ (Williams in Adley et a., 2025, np), filmmakers tried to change corporate behaviour by ‘set[ting] up [their] target’ 🎯 (Maroney in ibid). Exposing the discrepancies between Primark’s brand image and reality hit 👊 them hard ← exploiting their corporate vulnerabilities ❌ ruining reputations, provoking them to change (Micheletti & Stolle, 2008; Cook et al., 2019).

Want a strong reaction? Like Girl Model, include suffering kids 🔀 Capitalism is sh*t ← ‘An inequality-enhancing machine’ 🏭 (Wright, 2015, np).

BUT THERE’S A PROBLEM!!! The filmmakers [allegedly] ⚠️ fabricated ⚠️ a scene of children working in Bangalore – the ‘footage was not authentic’ (Greenslade in Adley et al., 2025, np). Child exploitation is socially unacceptable, and I think the filmmakers 🎥 took advantage of this to incite 😡 😢 😩 🤮 (Aguigar et al., 2008). Primark tried to silence 🤐 their critics by challenging the filmmakers but this backfired because of the Streisand Effect → activism was publicised 🤯 (Cook et al., 2018). Prioritising PR 🧯drew more attention 👀 to their exploitation… ‘what about the other children that featured in THE REST OF THE ONE HOUR FILM’ (emilynew in Adley et al, 2025, np).

With public outcry magnified 🔎, corporations changed. In 2013, the Rana Plaza clothes factory collapsed killing over 1,100 people in Dhaka, Bangladesh (Cook et al., 2018). Primark’s response was to spend £9 million 💰to support local communities – or to (try) cover their arses (ibid).

An EFFECTIVE film. But the filmmaker who exposed Primark also found out (ibid). The film would have triggered the desired anti-capitalist reaction without the fake footage ← something to avoid 🚫 when making your film!

Uh-oh, back to Rana Plaza. I’m welling up. But I’m crying 😭 because UDITA is inspiring.

Over 5 years, UDITA follows female garment factory workers in their mission for justice before and after Rana Plaza. Ending violence and exploitation was the goal – ‘Udita shows the agency of these women’ (Minney in Barker et al., 2025, np) to overcome injustice. It encourages feminist 🤜🏻🤛🏽 solidarities giving women greater confidence and knowledge to DEMAND their rights (Hale & Willis, 2007). Its ‘just the workers voices’🗣 (Rainbow Collective in Barker et al., 2025, np).

In UDITA – workers take the mic 🎙! Collective action is key to taking down capitalism (McLaren, 2019). By finding and giving 🌞 inspiration – ‘like the inspirational Ratna Miah’ (Hoskins in Barker et al., 2025, np), there is one overriding response: these people are ‘inspiring on a global level’ (ibid) 🌍. Inspiration is powerful ✊🏽 cos it encourages the viewer to emulate the inspiring women in UDITA (Thrash and Elliot, 2003). And the best bit? It worked alongside other emotions. This is so sad. I’m so angry. This gives me hope (Season Bangla Drama in Barker et al., 2025, np).

This hope encourages other people to continue with their own activism (Brown & Pickerell, 2009). UDITA inspired activism as people globally challenge injustice through their own community campaigns 🤗 -‘I am filming everything to collect evidence for our own community campaign’ (Salmon in Barker et al., 2025, np). And there’s more! Governments intervened. In France, legislation changed because ‘Rana Plaza was covered by newspapers, petition of NGOs, film, documentary’ (Evans in ibid) like UDITA. 🤩 WHOA! That’s real change ✊🏽.

RIGHT, so what’s my answer???

Effective films use emotions 😡 😢 😭 😩 🤮 🤗 🫩 🤯 🤩 to provoke responses that galvanise action. So think carefully before locking in your theory of change. Choose the emotion that won’t let go – then hit 🔘 ‘record.’ By shaking viewers emotionally and making them feel injustice, you’re not just making a documentary – you’re starting a movement ✊🏽.

Think of Nadya 😭, Grannie 😡, Ai Qin 🏊‍♀️, the children 👧 of Primark, and the women 🧕🏽🧕🏽🧕🏽 of Dhaka.

Effective films ignite emotion. Now you know. Get out there and inspire change! ✨

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SOURCES

Adley, K., Keeble, R., Russell, P., Stenholm, N., Strang, W. and Valo, T. (2025) Primark – On The Rack. followthethings.com (https://followthethings.com/?p=2655 last accessed 27 April 2025)

Aguigar, P., Vala, J., Correia, I. & Pereira, C. (2008) Justice in Our World and in that of Others: Belief in a Just World and Reactions to Victims. Social Justice Research 21(1), p. 50-68.

Allen, H., Heaume, E., Heeley, L., Hedger, R., Johnson, S., McGregor, O. and Webber, L. (2025). Ghosts. followthethings.com (https://followthethings.com/?p=10357 last accessed 27 April 2025)

Ananthanarayana, B. (2025) Untitled [Q&A video & transcript], GEO3123: Geographies of material culture. University of Exeter.

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Image credits

Icon: conversation (https://thenounproject.com/icon/conversation-6769395/) by kliwir art from Noun Project (CC BY 3.0)

Girl model screenshots: credit Carnivalesque Films

Mangetout: credit BBC

The ginger trail: credit Bharath Ananthanarayana

Ghosts: credit Beyond Films

Primark on the rack: credit BBC.

Handbook screengrabs: credit followthethings.com

SECTION: advice

Written by Luke Elkington, edited by Ian Cook (first published July 2025)