Culture Jamming...
The idea of Culture Jamming is to challenge what you're forced to see, read and hear in the media. Ads speak to you, even if you don't want to listen. Why shouldn't you speak back? Everywhere you go companies whore themselves. Public transport, bathrooms, buildings, billboards, schools, the list is endless. Culture Jamming is about using this to get another message to people.
Disney.. Loved the world over, right? Afraid not. Disney is marketed at children, yet uses children in countries like China and India to make their products. A $60 billion dollar corporation, that owns more than you could possiblty imagine, refuses to support decent labour practices. Instead it supports factories, where people work for 16 cents an hour, 70 hours a week. So next time you're in a Disney store, and you see all the kids being brainwashed into loving these icons, think about it for a minute, and realise how wrong it is.
The media tells us what to believe, what to eat, drink, wear. When did we lose the ability to think for ourselves?
Challenge yourself, challenge others!
Once upon a time, the "Evils of the Establishment" were subject to rational critique by academics and revolutionaries. Most people still function under this rationalist model: "Change will come if enough people understand the problem rationally and intellectually." Without at all dismissing the importance of rationality and intellect, I would argue that these tools are no longer themselves adequate. Specifically, in the struggle to debrief people on the poisonous symbolic system called "The Media", the rules have been changed.
Advertising imagery has long been post- or pre-rational. Only in its infancy was promotion about informing people about the product. Now its task is to weave stories, sing songs, to portray not the product but the people who use the product. Promises, threats, training. How can a rational critique even begin to address a worldview whose fundamental issues are not TRUE/FALSE but PLEASURE/PAIN, SEXY/GEEKY, "QUALITY"/"RIP-OFF"?
"Culture Jamming" sticks where rational discourse slides off. It is, simply, the viral introduction of radical ideas. It is viral in that it uses the enemy's own resources to replicate iteself -- corporate logos, marketing psychology, clean typography, "adspeak". It is radical because--ideally--the message, once deciphered, causes damage to blind belief. Fake ads, fake newspaper articles, parodies, pastiche. The best CJ is totally unexpected, surprising, shocking in its implications.
Disney.. Loved the world over, right? Afraid not. Disney is marketed at children, yet uses children in countries like China and India to make their products. A $60 billion dollar corporation, that owns more than you could possiblty imagine, refuses to support decent labour practices. Instead it supports factories, where people work for 16 cents an hour, 70 hours a week. So next time you're in a Disney store, and you see all the kids being brainwashed into loving these icons, think about it for a minute, and realise how wrong it is.
The media tells us what to believe, what to eat, drink, wear. When did we lose the ability to think for ourselves?
Challenge yourself, challenge others!
Once upon a time, the "Evils of the Establishment" were subject to rational critique by academics and revolutionaries. Most people still function under this rationalist model: "Change will come if enough people understand the problem rationally and intellectually." Without at all dismissing the importance of rationality and intellect, I would argue that these tools are no longer themselves adequate. Specifically, in the struggle to debrief people on the poisonous symbolic system called "The Media", the rules have been changed.
Advertising imagery has long been post- or pre-rational. Only in its infancy was promotion about informing people about the product. Now its task is to weave stories, sing songs, to portray not the product but the people who use the product. Promises, threats, training. How can a rational critique even begin to address a worldview whose fundamental issues are not TRUE/FALSE but PLEASURE/PAIN, SEXY/GEEKY, "QUALITY"/"RIP-OFF"?
"Culture Jamming" sticks where rational discourse slides off. It is, simply, the viral introduction of radical ideas. It is viral in that it uses the enemy's own resources to replicate iteself -- corporate logos, marketing psychology, clean typography, "adspeak". It is radical because--ideally--the message, once deciphered, causes damage to blind belief. Fake ads, fake newspaper articles, parodies, pastiche. The best CJ is totally unexpected, surprising, shocking in its implications.