Very Little Helps

Banksy’s art and social commentary has been of interest to me for a very long time! I

remember seeing an episode of the show NCIS that was based off of Banksy’s Girl With Balloon shredding, and it made me excited that I knew the real piece/story the episode was based off of. 

One of my favorite Banksy pieces is Very Little Helps, and is a picture of children holding their hand over their hearts to respect a flag. As Banksy’s art always has, the twist of this piece is that the flag is a Tesco bag. Tesco is a large retailer and grocery store in all of Europe, but most famously in England. Large retailers like Tesco monopolize the British retail environment, and they leave the public with fewer options to choose from which ultimately diminishes their consumer freedoms. The title this piece specifically played off of Tesco’s famous slogan, “Every little helps”. In the piece, the children have a brainwashed demeanor of a sense of blind obedience towards their leader: the dominating capitalism of large companies. 

This piece satirizes the control over society large companies hold making them almost as powerful a force on society as the government. Here, the children are depicted as pledging their allegiance to consumerism. In this piece as well, the children’s hands are not over their hearts, and are instead on the opposite side of their chest. This serves to represent the heartless nature and lack of concern the companies have for their consumers. Instead, they focus on their profits rather than the negative implications of their actions on the world and society. The pertinence of Banksy’s use of children in his piece serves as a commentary on the values of consumerism being placed on children at a young age, therefore being raised with this mindset and way of life is nothing but the norm. 

As many of Banksy’s pieces do, this piece has a criticising tone aimed towards consumerism. In my opinion, this piece is successful in its social commentary as Tesco is such a prominent company in England where the piece is located, and the twist on a common societal sight of pledging allegiance to a flag. Mixing two common things in an uncommon way is one of the best ways to catch others’ attention, and Bansky is extremely successful in doing so. I mean, this caught my attention! Companies control so many decisions society makes, and Banksy shows this control in his piece.