“In the midway of this our mortal life
I found me in a gloomy wood, astray
Gone from the path direct
Dante was predicting the future of advertising in the 14th century.
And if Dante's wood was a metaphorical one, the consumer today has gotten lost in another type of forest: that of misleading advertising. In the haze of his hectic life, the distracted (and unaware!) consumer doesn't really have the time to read labels. Of course, he's in a rush: and then swoosh - he loads his basket with the first water bottles he finds and then runs to the next aisle and swoosh - he picks up a steam-cooked snack, which they say it's lighter than the baked one (!), and then there's the final rush for the last few things and swoosh - the basket gets loaded with a pasta that 'lets you get thinner without too many sacrifices'.
Poor contemporary consumer! He too - like Dante - needs his Virgil to be guided in this screaming colourful hell, so full of shouts and sounds and misleading slogans: a guide who can help him go out and again [behold] the stars of truthful and correct communication.
Michela Monticelli