A Stinky Donkey
Acrylic on Canvas
12″ x 12″
Nathaniel Akin 2009

Before I get into the reason I’m writing to you today, I just want to say good job with the products! I do so love a good Kellogg’s brand breakfast product in the morning, you’ve never let me down before. That is why it is with a heavy heart that I write to you today.

I recently purchased a box of Rice Krispies without paying proper attention to the label. Entirely my fault I know, but imagine my surprise when I opened the package and found a mix of pink and green pellets mixed in with the expected contents. I had unwittingly bought the ‘festive’ holiday version of your cereal.

This is possibly just a psychosomatic effect, but I could swear they taste different from the standard unpainted variety. The most alarming part of the whole experience however was not the taste, it was the number of very dark green, nearly black rice pellets that bear a striking semblance to rodent droppings. Rodent droppings (simulated or real) are not an element I desire to find in my breakfast cereal.

The overall affect is entirely off-putting and not up to the high standards that I’ve come to expect from the Kellogg’s corporation. I don’t think I would be out of place here to suggest a label redesign to protect other consumers from similar disappointment and have mocked up the following as one possible option:

Holiday Rice Krispies as they should be labeled

I strongly believe that this simple modification to your current package design would help prevent others from suffering the nasty shock of discovering a large percentage of their breakfast cereal has been painted bright colors. The holiday season can be an emotional time, fraught with disappointment. With this one small act the Kellogg’s corporation could prevent at least a small part of this disappointment.

Thank you for your time,
Nathaniel Akin

Big City Bunny
Acrylic on Canvas
10″ x 16″
Nathaniel Akin 2007

oilstick on canvas
8″ x 8″
Nathaniel Akin
2007

I recently purchased a Britta faucet mount water filter. The filter itself improves the taste of the tap water and appears to be well made, but I was extremely disappointed in the quality of the included faucet adapter, which is made of soft plastic and broke immediately upon installation. The threads strip with the lightest of pressure and will not support the weight of the filter unit.

Repeated installation attempts had the same result: the soft drooping faucet adapter simply sprayed showers of water in random directions and then dropped into the sink. I must confess I felt a strong urge to burn the entire filter unit and curse the day I ever purchased a Britta product, but am glad to report that the air was NOT filled with the smell of burning plastic that day. I was able to track down a solid metal faucet adapter at a local hardware store, and it holds the filter securely in place to this day, many months later.

I’m taking the time to write you this letter for two reasons:

1. To alert you to a problem you may very well be unaware of. Overlooking these small issues can damage consumer sentiment towards your brand over the long term. Had I chosen to follow through with my initial impulse to incinerate, I can guarantee that I would not have replaced it with a Britta filter, but would have tried a competitors product instead.

2. To return to you the faulty adapter along with receipt for the working replacement part. Enclosed in the envelope containing this correspondence is the plastic adapter in question. You may wish to pass it on to your quality control department or you may prefer to throw it in the nearest trash receptacle. It has no value to me.

You can make amends for this lapse by sending me money.

Regards,

Nathaniel Akin

Bear Brings a Wrench to the Pond
12″ x 48″
Acrylic on wood panel
Nathaniel Akin 2007

Octopi, oh Octopi
with tentacles you do defy
the reason of the deep.

Oilstick on Canvas
8″x8″
Nathaniel Akin
2007

oilstick on canvas
8″ x 8″
Nathaniel Akin
2007

Effervescent you say?
Must be why they’re so good at fishin’!