Essay On Cultural Jamming

899 Words2 Pages

Culture jamming in all its history has had different effects on people, both positive and negative. First we will talk about the cons of cultural jamming and its usage. Cultural Jamming mostly is attacked in its advertising form. Advertising, as well as promotions, was originally used by the corporations to sell a product. The motives now however have been skewed. Advertisements and promotions now days have a greater purpose, rather than just selling a product, corporations through their product hope to sell an image and send out a certain message. However it is ultimately how the consumer perceives these messages that is of utmost importance. This is where most of the conflict arises. Today’s advertisements consumers feel are not only selling a lie, but also they are sending out superficial and falsifying messages to the general public in order to make money. Thus consumers feel the need to rectify this through their cultural jamming. Cultural jammers often vandalize posters and billboards and alter the messages of preexisting advertisements to send out the message these images and their products actually promote. Through their actions, cultural jammers also seek to get consumers to think independently and thus see advertisements found on billboard and other areas with a new light and perspective. They aim to expose the motives behind company’s agenda. However sometimes this is done out of mal-intent or are done for alternative motives. Often activists have not only damaged the goods of private firms causing them great losses in terms of profit, but have also tried to ruin or tarnish companies just because they do not agree with their views. People have also often times engaged in cultural jamming with the sole purpose of fam... ... middle of paper ... ...r benefits, an example is that people are now able to respond and give feedback on the advertisements they come across on TV, billboards, bus-ads and posters. People often are incapable of expressing their opinion on certain advertisements and thus find this as a release and an easy way to express their thoughts. This serves as a sort of satisfaction for the customers as it satisfices there need to be heard and their opinion to be seen. Finally, the majority of Culture jammers do not have enough finances to have their images and messages reach a wide range of people like commercial advertisers do and thus distribute bumper stickers to try and reach a global scale at a relatively cheaper price. http://www.worldchanging.com/archives/003259.html These bumper stickers give an opportunity for cultural jammers to express their opinions without destroying public property.

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