SYNTHETIC SWEETNESS
by Ke Song
By examining the relationship between power, capital and the environment, this project explores how, under the guise of environmental protection and fairness, the monopolisation of food supply chains has the potential to exacerbate ecological damage.
Film Logline: As the global chocolate industry shifts to artificial cocoa, a former child labourer, Marcus, accidentally uncovers a buried authentic formula, revealing the truth behind the government's appearance of environmentalism and fairness, which conceals ecological destruction and market monopoly.
“Synthetic Sweetness” is a speculative design fiction rooted in real-world cocoa supply chain research. It reimagines a near-future world where natural cocoa is banned due to environmental collapse, and synthetic cocoa becomes state-controlled. The project critiques systems of sustainability that mask deeper exploitation and raises questions about who truly benefits from “green” reform.
Rather than simply telling a story, the project explores how global economic forces reshape space and power. Former cocoa farmers are displaced into government-regulated “Cocoa Zones”—hybrid landscapes of exile and control, echoing real-world extractive geographies. The golden ticket system enforces new consumer rituals, creating a spatial divide between privileged buyers and those excluded from sweetness.
Through physical props (chocolate packaging, quotas, propaganda) and world-building, the work constructs a spatial narrative where access to flavor becomes symbolic of access to agency.Ultimately, the project is a critical lens on how environmental policies can be weaponized to reframe control, visibility, and value. It blends satire with political commentary, encouraging viewers to examine how taste, labor, and land are commodified across both real and fictional terrains.