Barcoded Earth, conceptual image. The barcode may represent a variety of concepts, like the placing of commercial interests above global environmental or human welfare issues. It could also represent global consumerism, like shopping on the internet. A barcode is a series of printed lines of varying thickness. Each line corresponds to a number, seen printed below the barcode. The barcode number can be read using a barcode scanner, or manually typed out. The number is used to identify a product.