“We are a global network of culture jammers and creatives working to 
change the way information flows, the way corporations wield power, and the way meaning is produced in our society”
That quote was taking from the adbusters official website and it’s a true statement of what culture jammers intentions are. Culture Jamming is something that has caught my eye during the past week or so, and you’d be surprised how ubiquitous it truly is. It is on newspaper boxes, on some store windows and all over the Internet.
For those of you unsure of what culture jamming is it’s been defined in Dr.Strangelove’s novel The Empire of Mind as:
The destruction of commercially produced meaning…it encompasses all mediums, and is usually appropriative in that it uses corporate intellectual property without permission. Its goal is to challenge or destroy all forms of corporate intellectual property.
Personally, I enjoy seeing culture jammers deface intellectual property in order to get society thinking about the various paradigms of our consumer culture. It has become something that needs to be done in order to shake consumers into thinking twice about the products they purchase and services they use. By doing so they are challenging the authority of corporate speech in a creative manner.
All one needs is is a program like Photoshop to do it.Their creativity is also something that I applaud many culture jammers for. Take this ad for example.
It clearly addresses the problem of global warming and the effect car pollution has on the planet, and how the individual who drives large SUV such as a Cadillac is contributing in mass amount to our climate change. This kind of ad has the effect of getting people to rethink the next car they purchase by forcing consumer to consider incorporating the environment in their decision.
What culture jammers are doing is really creating a ” guerilla information war” as stated by media expert Marshall McLuhan. He goes on to state that this war… “will be fought in the streets with signs, slogans, banners, and graffiti, but will be won in newspapers, on the radio, on TV and in cyberspace”
After visiting the website of adbusters I noticed a variety of campaigns that they’ve done in the past such as Media Carta and ones that are currently in the works such as Black Spot and One Flag.
Black Spot is a rather interesting campaign that adbuster has. As much as they urge people to not consume as much corporate products and services they are selling products of their own,that are supposed to go against big corporate businesses ideology of consumption, yet they are telling us to consume as well and even offering to buy shares in the company. Black Spot is the selling of sneakers that are intended to “Kick Nike’s Ass” they look like regular converse shoes with a white spot on it.
The sneakers are apparently made in Portugal and is run by a union, therefore that is what distinguishes this brand from Nike. No sweatshops and the workers get paid minimum wage or more. Sure this sounds like a good idea, but who is profiting from this? If their cutting out of Nike’s profits, who gets those profits? And by becoming similar to the mega brands out there, aren’t they becoming exactly what they’re against?
Companies can only go so long before they seek a profit, and lose sight of their original intentions. Because let’s face it, money makes the world go ’round.
