When Kalle Lasn and Bill Schmalz founded Adbusters, they thought long and hard of what Adbusters stood for and what they wanted their identity to be recognized as: “We [the Adbusters] are a global network of artists, activists, writers, pranksters, students, educators and entrepreneurs who want to advance the new social activist movement of the information age. Our aim is to topple existing power structures and forge a major shift in the way we will live in the 21st century.” (Adbusters.org) Essentially, Adbusters defines itself through two central ethical commitments. First, the ongoing protest against mass media/advertisements in society that inhibit our public sphere and brainwash consumers. The second is against the over spending consumers and corporations which together, have dramatically eaten up our natural resources and compromised our environment.
Adbusters uses several strategies and tactics as a way of getting their message across. Most notably, through Culture Jamming, The Adbusters magazine, Social Media and Buy Nothing Day
Culture Jamming/Spoof Ads
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Adbusters uses Culture Jamming as one if its main strategies.
“Culture jamming takes many forms; it includes such cultural activities as producing and disseminating “subvertisements,” hosting and participating in virtual protests using the internet, enacting “place jamming” projects (in which public spaces are reclaimed), and participating in DIY (do it yourself) political theater and “shopping interventions.” Culture jamming “seeks to undermine the marketing rhetoric of multinational corporations, specifically through [such] practices as media hoaxing, corporate sabotage, billboard ‘liberation,’ and trademark infringement” (Harold 190) An example of Culture Jamming that Adbusters have deployed would be the American Corporate Flag (See
Below). The Corporate American Flag is subvertisment, which was done to illustrate the consumer culture of America and how America is now defined by corporations and greed oppose to the perceived thought of freedom and prosperity (i.e the American Dream). One aspect that makes Culture Jamming so interesting is its freedom: “Culture jamming is a free space where artists and activists can “experiment with new ways of seeing and being” and where they can “develop tools and resources for resistance… Adbusters, for instance, encourages submissions from readers; most of the content of the magazine is created and contributed by readers.” (Sandlin 77) By doing this, Adbusters is able to engage with there followers and let them be apart of the change. This element of culture jamming is a tactic that allows community involvement be used a facilitator of change. Adbuster Magazine Adbuster Magazine is another example of tactic in which Adbusters uses to gain recognition. “The Canadian magazine Adbusters expands discursive space by providing a forum for critical views on consumerism and advertising” (Rumbo 136) Adbusters is not your typical magazine. Consistent with their ethical commitments, Adbusters is left advertisment free. When dissecting of the content and messages portrayed in Adbusters, “The articles in Adbusters feature commentaries from both leading intellectuals and staff writers that are critical of how advertising, big business, and unbridled consumerism affect natural, political, social and mental environments” (Rumbo 136) Adbusters magazine is their way of trying getting people involved. Maybe the see the website first, or a spoof ad, which leads them to subscribing to the magazine. It is a paid service, which although may seem ironic, but Adbusters is a non-profit organization, which means all the funds are going towards helping the cause. “Adbusters’ issues and tactics endeavour to connect local and grass roots action with pressing environmental and social issues. In doing so, the magazine wages its own war of position against consumerism to cultivate a critical mindset that diversifies discursive space and seeks to reclaim public and psychic space” (141, Rumbo) Social Media/Internet Although Adbusters is in a constant battle with many big corporations and are ‘anti-technology’, they have been able to effectively use Social Media/The Internet in several ways which benefits the organization. For example, Adbusters has nearly 100,000 likes on Facebook, 57,000 followers on Twitter and 3600 followers on Instagram. Through these main platforms, Adbusters have strategically been able to gain more followers, obtain more resources and spread the message more effectively due to the fact that social media has made it easier to connect and spread awareness. These sites also are free of charge, which is beneficial for a organization like Adbusters. Adbusters also uses social media sites (i.e Facebook) to organize global events, such as Buy Nothing Day/Buy Nothing X-Mas, which currently has 10,000 people attending on Facebook alone. Adbuster’s other campaigns have gained a lot from Social Media as well. The Occupy Wall St. Campaign has over 100,000,000 likes on Facebook and #OCCUPYWALLST was a globally trending topic on Twitter. Adbusters also have a interactive web page (www.adbusters.org) that allows people to connect, share and stay up to date with all the latest Adbusters news. “For Buy Nothing Day, Adbusters website offers media images and resources (such as video clips and posters) for supporters to work into local events, and campaigns. They encourage people to initiate their own actions, their own events; to become producers and distributors of their own media and their own new meanings.” (Coyer, Dowmunt, Fountain 85) The Adbuster website is also a platform for people to subscribe to the magazine as well as purchase ‘Culture Jamming’ gear. Although it may seem contradictory, an anti-consumerism organization selling products, the products that available sold are different. For example, The Blackspot Sneaker. This sneaker is produced essentially to combat the big companies like Nike by using sound manufacturing processes and organic materials. The Adbuster Webiste describes them like this: The most Earth-friendly shoe on the planet! • organic hemp uppers • recycled tire sole • hand drawn logo & red sweet spot for kicking Nike’s ass • designed by Vancouver-based footwear-guru John Fluevog • made in a unionized shop in Portugal • Black spot logo made out of recycled inner tube (ww.Adbusters.org) The shop also offers: Adbuster Magazines, The American Corporate Flag (shown earlier), Books and Calendars. As stated before, Adbusters is a not for profit organization, so these funds are being put into resources for the company. An example of what these funds would be used for is buying ad space on billboards, like they did with the Joe Chemo ad (see below). Buy Nothing Day/Occupy Xmas Buy Nothing Day/Occupy Xmas represents Adbusters most significant and powerful campaign against overconsumption and corporate power. It was actually founded by an Canadian Artist, Ted Dave in 1992 and promoted through Adbusters. Buy Nothing Day occurs on the Friday after American Thanksgiving (Black Friday), which is the busiest sales day of the year. Buy Nothing Day has now become an internationally recognized day in which millions of people participate in across 65 countries. As of 2011, Buy Nothing Day merged with the Occupy movement created by Adbusters, which is why we now have both Buy Nothing Day and Occupy Xmas. They both send intertwining messages about consuming less and fighting back against the big box retailers. Both Buy Nothing Day and Occupy Xmas have stemmed new forms of culture jamming activities for people to get involved with, such as: The Credit Card Cut up, Zombie Walk and Whirl Wart. ‘The Credit Card Cut Up’ is as simple as it sounds. It involves standing in a mall with a pair of scissors and offering to cut up credit cards; it’s way of putting an end to rising interest rates and debt issues. The Zombie Walk involves walking around a mall dressed as a zombie while looking at the ‘real’ zombies, those being the shoppers being consumed by the mall. Whirl Mart involves forming a ‘conga line’ of shopping carts and walking through the store while not buying anything the whole time.
Evidently, these two guys know how to sell something. When I see an advertisement, I see them like Solomon and Charles did. They are like businessmen trying to sell a product. The advertisements aren't just selling a product to Americans, but rather the advertisements are directed towards a targeted market. For example; a commercial that wants to sell a regular beer will show normal guys hanging out. They could be at a bar, fishing, or having a picnic. The people will be having a fun time. The targeted market would be mostly men because in the commercials it's mostly men with the exception of a beautiful woman here and there.
Advertisements are one of many things that Americans cannot get away from. Every American sees an average of 3,000 advertisements a day; whether it’s on the television, radio, while surfing the internet, or while driving around town. Advertisements try to get consumers to buy their products by getting their attention. Most advertisements don’t have anything to do with the product itself. Every company has a different way of getting the public’s attention, but every advertisement has the same goal - to sell the product. Every advertisement tries to appeal to the audience by using ethos, pathos, and logos, while also focusing on who their audience is and the purpose of the ad. An example of this is a Charmin commercial where there is a bear who gets excited when he gets to use the toilet paper because it is so soft.
According to Karl Marx Capitalism depends on the sale of commodities. If enough commodities are not sold companies can not grow or survive. This means that they must find a way to sell their products or they will perish. This problem gave way to advertising- a way for companies to present their product in a way that makes potential consumers desire them. The Propaganda campaign grew extremely fast, as a staggering one hundred seventy five billion dollars a year is spent on advertising. Advertisements of which could exist for anything, from pencils, laptops, plates, food and sports. Advertisements can be found anywhere - beneath your feet, on a building, on TV, on the internet, in a magazine and more.
The documentary film “The Persuaders” is a great film that captures the evolution of advertising. The film is broken up into six distinctive segments. Each segment can be viewed as a specific moment in time where advertisement evolved in order to survive in the fast paced society we live in. The film starts off with a crucial concept of standing out. The narrator mentions in the first few minutes of the film that companies are struggling to come up with new ideas for advertising. This may seem not so much of a big deal but, the narrator goes on to explain that as the years progressed, the number of advertisements increased exponentially. It had gotten to the point where people began to pay less and less attention to advertisements. One of the people interviewed for this film was Naomi Klien, author of “No Logo”. Naomi stated that consumers are like roaches, you spray them and spray them and after a while it doesn’t work anymore we develop immunities. Seeing the threat that this poses on them, many companies have tried numerous ways to break through what the companies call the clutter crisis. Their need to grab the attention of the advertise...
This article focuses on the idea of cultural sabotage.” Cultural sabotage is used to describe any form of guerilla communication that confuses and/or distorts the message transmitted by the mass media. The central idea is that advertising has taken popular culture to remold it and give it back to society as packaging for one central idea: the answer to consume.” (Clavell 1) The article quotes the book Publicité et Societé by publicist Bernard Cathelat and states “Advertising is not only a commercial word, but also a political word, a social word, a moral word and an ideological discourse. It is the dominant language of the culture, and without doubt, the most important information system in
Advertising is so prominent in American culture, and even the world at large, that this media form becomes reflective of the values and expectations of the nation’s society at large.
The video describes how our society may not even care about the product being advertised, but we still read the billboard or watch the commercial. Also mentioned was the use of colors in a commercial, the marketing effects in politics, and even market research obtained by studying different cults. Frontline takes an in-depth look at the multibillion-dollar “persuasion industries” of advertising and how this rhetoric affects everyone. So whether this is in the form of a television commercial or a billboard, pathos, logos, and ethos can be found in all advertisements.
According to the New York Times, many multi-modal texts expose the average person to at least five thousand advertisements a day (Story). In today’s world, ads are everywhere—on television, in magazines, and even inside cereal boxes. Ad Council, a non-profit organization, joins with various sponsors to produce and promote unique collaborations of public service announcements. The organization has found ways to stimulate action against many problems in the world that concerns Americans (e.g., texting and driving, dating violence, and child hunger). Accordingly, Ad Council has cooperated with Feeding America, a nationwide network that ventures to advocate food insecurities in America. Together, the organizations have recently released a new campaign—“summer
The functionalist, conflict theory, and interpretive sociological perspectives all view advertising in different ways. The functionalist perspective considers advertising a tool used for coordination and conformity. (Brime, Roberts, Lie, Rytina 2013, p.461) Conflict theory scrutinizes advertising, asserting that it promotes the agenda of politics and the dominant classes. (Brime, Roberts, Lie, Rytina 2013 p.462) The interpretive approach believes that audiences actively interpret and resist advertising messages. (Brime, Roberts, Lie, Rytina 2013 p.465-468)
The challenge was, how could they offer products to people while preaching against consumerism? These products would have to go through a different manufacturing process and offer some sort of beneficial need towards cultural activism. They achieved this by offering up products that stand for cultural activism and against corporations (such as the Corporate Flag). Another challenge that Adbusters has faced is that they’ve grown immensely. Although growth is usually a good thing, the image of Adbusters has been criticized of resembling the people they fight against. They started out as small campaign and have exploded in the last 10 years, so much so that they have multiple revenue streams, such as the store (as mentioned above). This really contradicts what they are fighting against and have had taking a lot of flak explaining their reasoning. Adbusters also walks a fine line with their messages. With the Buy Nothing Campaign/Occupy Xmas, they’re essentially telling people how to spend there hard earned money. Needless to say, they received a lot of negative response. Adbuster’s takes an aggressive, honest approach to sending messages and people will take them
Nowadays, it is a consumption society which contains both homogeneity and diversity. As one of the biggest contributor of customer culture changes, advertising is an essential and inevitable element in our daily life which could be visible anywhere and experienced different stages. Early advertisements are generally seemed as “simple, crude and naïve”, while the contemporary advertisements are “persuasive, subtle and intelligent” (McFALL, 2004:3). The early advertise agency just bought some space in media and sold to customers. As the development of advertisement, art design and unique idea were added into advertising, and then it formed advertisement industry. Advertisement industry “adjusted its marketing practices to the novel situation created by consumer culture”. (McFALL, 2004:110) Advertisement is not only an assistor to the increase of consumption economy, but also a contributor to customer culture development. “The contemporary advertising agency did emerge as the result of historical circumstances”. (McFALL, 2004:111) The advertisement industries have more significant impact on marketing and customer which could be interacted with customer’s consumption attitude, value and belief. However, “culture can function like a nature” (Cronin, 2000:145). A slogan called “I shop therefore I am” which came from Barbara Kruger was famous in recent years. She argues that every purchasing behavior could be seemed as a reflection of customer’s aesthetic attitude, consumption taste and buying habit (I Shop, therefore I Am, 2000). In this article, a topic of the reflection and interaction between advertising and modern consumer culture would be analyzed, including the necessity, representation and semiotic meaning. This essay has three m...
O’Sullivan, Geremiah. “The Social and Cultural Effects of Advertising.” N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Mar. 2014.
Advertising is the paid, impersonal, one-way marketing of persuasive information from an identified sponsor circulated through channels of mass communication to promote the adoption of goods, services or ideas. (“What is Advertising?”) Chuck Blore, a partner in the advertising firm Chuck Blore & Don Ruchman, Inc. once said that “advertising is the art of arresting the human intelligence just long enough to get money from it.” (Shah, Anup.). Children are targeted and manipulated everyday by corporations like McDonalds, Burger King, and General Mills and don’t even know it. Child Psychologist Allen Kanner reported in 2000 that three-year-old American children typically recognize one hundred company logos. ("Advertising.")
...maintain that advertising exists primarily to create demand among consumers. People have certain types of wants and needs, and they are perfectly capable to discover it for themselves. People today just need food, clothing and shelter everything else is superfluous and additional stuff. Advertising are able to create demand that would not exist just by manipulating people’s min and emotions. Advertising is master in manipulate reality and fantasy, by creating “magic show.” It is true that advertising has been a powerful mechanism that distorts our whole society’s values and priorities. On the other hand, advertising educate people about several issues. In political terms, it moves mass of people and persuade them to vote for a candidate. And, of course, in terms of economy, contributes in the development through the consumption of the costumer.
“The average family is bombarded with 1,100 advertisements per day … people only remembered three or four of them”. Fiske’s uses an example of kids singing Razzmatazz a jingle for brand of tights at a woman in a mini skirt. This displayed to the reader that people are not mindless consumers; they modify the commodity for their use. He rejects that the audiences are helpless subjects of unconscious consumerism. In contrast to McDonald’s, Fiske’s quoted “they were using the ads for their own cheeky resistive subculture” he added. He believed that instead of being submissive they twisted the ad into their own take on popular culture (Fiske, 1989, p. 31)