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{{Short description|Canadian nonprofit organization}} |
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{{Anti-consumerism}} |
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{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2021}} |
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'''Adbusters Media Foundation''' is a [[not-for-profit]], anti-consumerist organization founded in 1989 by [[Kalle Lasn]] and [[Bill Schmalz]] in [[Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada]]. The foundation publishes '''''Adbusters''''' ({{ISSN|0847-9097}}), a 120,000-circulation, reader-supported [[activist]] magazine, devoted to numerous political and social causes, many of which are [[anti-consumerism]] in nature. Adbusters has also launched numerous international social marketing campaigns, including [[Buy Nothing Day]] and [[TV turnoff|TV Turnoff Week]]. |
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{{Infobox organization |
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| name = Adbusters Media Foundation |
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| image = |
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| type = |
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| founded_date = {{Start date|1989|df=yes}} |
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| tax_id = |
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| registration_id = |
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| founder = [[Kalle Lasn]] and Bill Schmalz |
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| location = [[Vancouver]], British Columbia, Canada |
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| coordinates = <!-- {{Coord|LAT|LON|display=inline,title}} --> |
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| origins = |
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| key_people = |
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* Kalle Lasn, co-founder and editor-in-chief |
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* Bill Schmalz, co-Founder and co-publisher |
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* Darren Fleet, senior editor |
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* Stefanie Krasnow, senior editor |
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* Douglas Haddow, senior editor |
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| product = |
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| focus = |
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| endowment = |
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| num_volunteers = |
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| former name = |
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| homepage = [https://www.adbusters.org/ Adbusters.org] |
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}} |
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{{Infobox magazine |
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| title = Adbusters<br />{{noitalics|{{small|(the foundation's magazine)}}}} |
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| image_file = Adbusters 98 American Autumn cover.jpg |
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| image_size = 244px |
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| image_caption = Cover of Issue # 98 (Nov/Dec 2011) of ''Adbusters'' |
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| frequency = Bi-monthly |
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| language = English |
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| editor = [[Kalle Lasn]] and Bill Schmalz |
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| editor_title = Founder |
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| firstdate = 1989 |
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| country = Canada |
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| website = [http://www.adbusters.org/ Adbusters.org] |
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| issn = 0847-9097 |
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}} |
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{{Anti-consumerism|Organizations}} |
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The '''Adbusters Media Foundation''' is a Canadian-based [[not-for-profit organization|not-for-profit]], [[Environmentalism|pro-environment]]<ref>[http://www.adbusters.org/about/adbusters "About"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111031172500/http://www.adbusters.org/about/adbusters |date=31 October 2011 }}. Adbusters Media Foundation. Retrieved 3 October 2011.</ref> organization founded in 1989 by [[Kalle Lasn]] and Bill Schmalz in [[Vancouver]], British Columbia. Adbusters describes itself as "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."<ref>"[http://www.adbusters.org/about/adbusters About Adbusters] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111031172500/http://www.adbusters.org/about/adbusters |date=31 October 2011 }}." Adbusters Media Foundation. Retrieved 19 December 2010.</ref> |
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As [[anti-capitalist]] or opposed to capitalism,<ref>Eric Pfanner. [https://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/15/business/worldbusiness/15iht-ad15_ed3__0.html Fighting guerrilla graffiti], ''[[The New York Times]]'', 15 March 2004</ref> it publishes the reader-supported, advertising-free ''Adbusters'', an activist magazine devoted to challenging [[consumerism]]. The magazine has an international circulation peaking at 120,000 in the late 2000s<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=j118AgAAQBAJ|title=Remaking Media: The Struggle to Democratize Public Communication|last1=Hackett|first1=Robert|last2=Carroll|first2=William|date=29 July 2006|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9781134159369|language=en}}</ref> with circulation of 60,000<ref>{{Cite web |title=Adbusters Jan/Feb 2022 - Magdogs Marketplace |url=https://magdogs.com/product/adbusters-jan-feb-2022/ |access-date=2022-04-12 |language=en}}</ref> in 2022. Past and present contributors to the magazine include [[Jonathan Barnbrook]], [[Morris Berman]], [[Brendan Connell]], [[Simon Critchley]], [[David Graeber]], [[Michael Hardt]], [[Chris Hedges]], [[Bill McKibben]], [[Jim Munroe]], [[David Orrell]], [[Douglas Rushkoff]], [[Matt Taibbi]], [[Slavoj Žižek]], and others. |
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Adbusters has affiliation with sister organizations such as '''L'association Résistance à l'Aggression Publicitaire''' in France, '''Adbusters Norge''' in Norway, '''Adbusters Sverige''' in Sweden and Culture Jammers in Japan.<ref>[http://bndjapan.org bndjapan.org]</ref><ref>[http://adbusters.cool.ne.jp/ adbusters.cool.ne.jp]</ref> |
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Adbusters has launched numerous international campaigns, including [[Buy Nothing Day]], [[TV turnoff|TV Turnoff Week]] and [[Occupy Wall Street]],<ref name=branding>{{cite news|last=Yardsley|first=William|title=The Branding of the Occupy Movement|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/28/business/media/the-branding-of-the-occupy-movement.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0|access-date=5 April 2012|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=28 November 2011}}</ref> and is known for their "[[subvertising|subvertisements]]" that spoof popular [[Advertising|advertisements]]. In English, Adbusters has bi-monthly American, Canadian, Australian, UK and International editions of each issue. Adbusters's sister organizations include ''Résistance à l'Aggression Publicitaire''<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.antipub.org/ |title=Résistance à l'Aggression Publicitaire |language=fr |publisher=Antipub.org |date=13 February 2014 |access-date=29 March 2014}}</ref> and ''Casseurs de Pub''<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.casseursdepub.org/ |title=Casseurs de Pub |language=fr |publisher=Casseurs de Pub |access-date=29 March 2014}}</ref> in France, ''Adbusters Norge'' in Norway, ''Adbusters Sverige'' in Sweden and ''Culture Jammers'' in Japan.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://bndjapan.org |title=Buy Nothing Day Japan - Fight Pollution of Culture and Nature |website=Bndjapan.org |access-date=3 January 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://adbusters.cool.ne.jp/ |title=Infoseek[インフォシーク] - 楽天が運営するポータルサイト |website=Adbusters.cool.ne.jp |date=1 January 2000 |access-date=3 January 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120529041847/http://adbusters.cool.ne.jp/ |archive-date=29 May 2012 |url-status=dead}}</ref> |
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==Mandate== |
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The Adbusters mission statement: |
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{{cquote| |
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''We 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.'' |
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==History== |
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''Adbusters is at essence an ecological magazine, examining the relationship between people and the environment, both the material environment and the mental environment.''<ref>"[http://www.adbusters.org/network/about_us.php About Adbusters]". ''Adbusters.org''. Retrieved [[September 7]] [[2005]].</ref> |
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[[File:adbusters talkingrainforest.jpg|thumb|Adbusters' first uncommercial]] |
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}} |
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Adbusters was founded in 1989 by [[Kalle Lasn]] and Bill Schmalz, a duo of award-winning documentary filmmakers living in Vancouver. Since the early 1980s, Lasn had been making films that explored the spiritual and cultural lessons the West could learn from the Japanese experience with capitalism. |
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Adbusters makes commentary on the social trends in [[developed nations]], and their primary aim is to reduce the influence and prevalence of [[advertising]] and [[consumerism]]. |
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In 1988, the ''British Columbia Council of Forest Industries,'' the "voice" of the logging industry, was facing tremendous public pressure from a growing environmentalist movement. The logging industry fought back with a [[television ad]] campaign called "Forests Forever."<ref>Archived at [https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/DAzlAu3sK3A Ghostarchive]{{cbignore}} and the [https://web.archive.org/web/20121220024356/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAzlAu3sK3A&gl=US&hl=en Wayback Machine]{{cbignore}}: {{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAzlAu3sK3A |title=Forests Forever Ad (1988) |publisher=[[YouTube]] |date=19 June 2009 |access-date=3 January 2017}}{{cbignore}}</ref> It was an early example of [[greenwashing]]: shots of happy children, workers and animals with a kindly, trustworthy sounding narrator who assured the public that the logging industry was protecting the forest. |
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{{cquote| |
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''We will change the way information flows, the way institutions wield powers, the way the food, fashion, car and culture industries set their agendas. Above all, we will change the way we interact with the mass media and we will reclaim the way in which meaning is produced in society. ''<ref>''AdBusters'' Issue #25. May/June 2005.</ref> |
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}} |
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Lasn and Shmalz, outraged by the use of the public airwaves to deliver what they felt was deceptive anti-environmentalist propaganda, responded by producing the "Talking Rainforest"<ref>Archived at [https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/49mUeTWGWBE Ghostarchive]{{cbignore}} and the [https://web.archive.org/web/20151122235940/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49mUeTWGWBE Wayback Machine]{{cbignore}}: {{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49mUeTWGWBE |title=Adbusters - Talking Forest |publisher=[[YouTube]] |date=7 November 2012 |access-date=3 January 2017}}{{cbignore}}</ref> anti-ad in which an old-growth tree explains to a sapling that "a tree farm is not a forest." But the duo proved to be unable to buy airtime on the same stations that had aired the forest-industry ad.{{Citation needed|date=October 2011}} According to a former Adbusters employee, "The [[Canadian Broadcasting Corporation|CBC]]'s reaction to the proposed television commercial created the real flash point for the Media Foundation. It seemed that Lasn and Schmaltz's commercial was too controversial to air on the CBC. An environmental message that challenged the large forestry companies was considered 'advocacy advertising' and was disallowed, even though the 'informational' messages that glorified clearcutting were OK."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.evolutionzone.com/kulturezone/futurec/culture.jammers.manifesto |title=Archived copy |website=www.evolutionzone.com |access-date=13 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010222222933/http://www.evolutionzone.com/kulturezone/futurec/culture.jammers.manifesto |archive-date=22 February 2001 |url-status=dead}}</ref> |
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Adbusters' intellectual position parallels that of the [[situationists]], being concerned with "living by proxy". It can also be compared with [[Marxism]], due to ideas of a placated public and revolution, and [[Freudianism]] due to thoughts about modern man being unsatisfied and out-of-place in current society. It describes principles of [[egalitarianism]], and its political position seems close to that of [[eco-socialism]]. |
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The foundation was born out of their belief that citizens do not have the same access to the information flows as corporations. One of the foundation's key campaigns continues to be the Media Carta,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://adbusters.org/campaigns/mediacarta/ |title=Adbusters: Media Carta |website=adbusters.org |access-date=13 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20000817064152/http://adbusters.org/campaigns/mediacarta/ |archive-date=17 August 2000 |url-status=dead}}</ref> a "movement to enshrine The Right to Communicate in the constitutions of all free nations, and in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights." |
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The mission of the Adbusters Media Foundation can also be identified with organizations such as [[Indymedia]], [[Downhill Battle]] and [[CNUK]]. It also holds some common beliefs with [[Creative Commons]], [[Free Culture movement|Free Culture]], [[No Logo]], [[Greenpeace]] and even [[PETA]]. |
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The foundation notes that concern over the flow of information goes beyond the desire to protect democratic transparency, freedom of speech or the public's access to the airwaves. Although it supports these causes, the foundation instead situates the battle of the mind at the center of its political agenda. Fighting to counter pro-consumerist advertising is done not as a means to an end, but as the end in itself. This shift in emphasis is a crucial element of mental environmentalism. |
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==Mental environmentalism== |
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The subtitle of ''Adbusters'' magazine is "The Journal of the Mental Environment." |
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In a 1996 interview, [[Kalle Lasn]] explained the foundation's goal: |
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<blockquote>What we're trying to do is pioneer a new form of social activism using all the power of the mass media to sell ideas, rather than products. We're motivated by a kind of 'greenthink' that comes from the environmental movement and isn't mired in the old ideology of the left and right. Instead, we take the environmental ethic into the mental ethic, trying to clean up the toxic areas of our minds. |
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You can't recycle and be a good environmental citizen, then watch four hours of television and get consumption messages pumped at you.<ref>{{cite journal |first=Jim |last=Motavalli |date=30 April 1996 |title=Cultural Jammin' |url=http://www.emagazine.com/magazine-archive/cultural-jammin |journal=[[E - The Environmental Magazine]] |volume=7 |issue=3 |page=41 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923235938/http://www.emagazine.com/magazine-archive/cultural-jammin |archive-date=23 September 2015}}</ref></blockquote> |
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==Issues== |
==Issues== |
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===Blackspot campaign=== |
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===Anti-advertising=== |
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In 2004, the organization began selling [[shoe]]s with their [[Blackspot Anticorporation|black spot]] "anti-logo". The project is an experiment in "anti-capitalism": Each shoe comes with a share of stock in the company, allowing owners to vote on the website on new ventures and what to do with profits. The blackspot campaign has spawned other ideas, like blackspot music, or blackspot soda, which aim to compete in the marketplace with the large [[corporations]] they oppose. |
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Adbusters describes itself as anti-advertising: it blames advertising for playing a central role in creating and maintaining consumer culture. This argument is based on the premise that the advertising industry goes to great effort and expense to associate desire and identity with commodities. Adbusters believes that advertising has unjustly "colonized" public, discursive and psychic spaces, by appearing in movies, sports and even schools, so as to permeate modern culture.<ref name="ReferenceA" /> Adbusters's stated goals include combating the negative effects of advertising and empowering its readers to regain control of culture, encouraging them to ask "Are we consumers and citizens?"<ref>[Marnie W. Curry-Tash, "The Politics of Teleliteracy and Adbusting in the Classroom", ''English Journal'' 87(1), 1998]</ref> |
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The most popular product in the blackspot campaign is the [[Blackspot Anticorporation#Blackspot sneakers|Blackspot shoes]]. The shoes are made primarily from organic [[hemp]] and recycled car tires, and are made in [[Portugal]] by union labor. |
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Since ''Adbusters'' concludes that advertising conditions people to look to external sources, to define their own personal identities, the magazine advocates a "natural and authentic self apart from the consumer society".<ref name="ReferenceA" /> The magazine aims to provoke anti-consumerist feelings. By juxtaposing text and images, the magazine attempts to create a means of raising awareness and getting its message out to people that is both aesthetically pleasing and entertaining.<ref name="depts.washington.edu">{{cite web|url=http://depts.washington.edu/gcp/pdf/culturejamsandmemewarfare.pdf |title="Culture Jams and Meme Warfare: Kalle Lasn, Adbusters, and media activism", Wendi Pickerel, Helena Jorgensen, and Lance Bennett, 19 April 2002|access-date=29 March 2014}}</ref> |
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Activism also takes many other forms such as corporate boycotts and 'art as protest', often incorporating humor. This includes billboard modifications, [[google bombing]], [[flash mobs]] and fake parking tickets for [[SUVs]]. A popular example of cultural jamming is the distortion of [[Tiger Woods]]' smile into the form of the [[Nike, Inc.|Nike]] swoosh, calling viewers to question how they view Woods' persona as a product. ''Adbusters'' calls it "trickle up" activism, and encourages its readers to do these activities by honoring culture jamming work in the magazine. In the September/October 2001 "Graphic Anarchy" issue, Adbusters were culture jammed themselves in a manner of speaking: they hailed the work of Swiss graphic designer [[Ernst Bettler]] as "one of the greatest design interventions on record", unaware that Bettler's story was an elaborate [[hoax]]. |
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===Media Carta=== |
===Media Carta=== |
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"Media Carta" is a charter challenging the corporate control of the public airwaves and means of communication. The goal is to "make the public airwaves truly public, and not just a corporate domain."<ref name="depts.washington.edu" /> Over 30,000 people have signed the document {{Citation needed|date=December 2009}} voicing their desire to reclaim the public space. |
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[[Image:Adbusters NY Billboard.jpg|thumb|250px|[[New York City]] billboard]] |
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On |
On 13 September 2004, Adbusters filed a lawsuit against six major Canadian television broadcasters (including [[CanWest Global Communications|CanWest Global]], [[Bell Globemedia]], [[CHUM Limited|CHUM Ltd.]], and the [[Canadian Broadcasting Corporation|CBC]]) for refusing to air Adbusters videos in the television commercial spots that Adbusters attempted to purchase. Most broadcasters refused the commercials, fearing the ads would upset other advertisers as well as violate business principles by "contaminating the purity of media environments designed exclusively for communicating commercial messages".<ref name="depts.washington.edu" /> The lawsuit claims that Adbusters' [[freedom of expression]] was unjustly limited by the refusals.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/adbusters-takes-canadian-tv-networks-to-court-1.477372 |publisher=[[CBC News]] |title=Adbusters Takes Canadian TV Networks to Court |date=15 September 2004 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071206041611/http://www.cbc.ca/arts/story/2004/09/15/adbusters040915.html |archive-date=6 December 2007 }}</ref> Adbusters believes the public deserves a right to be presented with viewpoints that differ from the standard. Under Section 3 of the Broadcasting Act, television is a public space allowing ordinary citizens to possess the same rights as advertising agencies and corporations to purchase 30 seconds of airtime from major broadcasters.<ref>[http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/Adbusters-Media-Foundation-971292.html "Adbusters Wins Legal Victory in Ongoing Case Against the CBC and CanWest", Marketwire.com, 6 April 2009] {{dead link|date=June 2016|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> There has been talk that if Adbusters wins in Canadian court, they will file similar lawsuits against major U.S. broadcasters that also refused the [[Advertising|advertisements]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.satyamag.com/may05/lasn.html |title=Satya May 2005: Interview with Kalle Lasn of Adbusters |publisher=Satyamag.com |access-date=29 March 2014}}</ref> [[CNN]] is the only network that has allowed several of the foundation's commercials to run.{{citation needed|date=November 2011}} |
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=== |
===Legal action=== |
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On 3 April 2009, the [[British Columbia Court of Appeal]] unanimously overturned a [[Supreme Court of British Columbia|BC Supreme Court]] ruling that had dismissed the case in February 2008. The court granted Adbusters the ability to sue the Canadian Broadcasting Company and CanWest Global, the corporations that originally refused to air the anti-car ad "Autosaurus". The ruling represents a victory for Adbusters, but it is the first step of their intended goal, essentially opening the door for future legal action against the media conglomerates.{{citation needed|date=November 2011}} [[Kalle Lasn]] declared the ruling a success and said, "After twenty years of legal struggle, the courts have finally given us permission to take on the media corporations and hold them up to public scrutiny."<ref>Morrow, Fiona (6 April 2009). [https://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20090406.wads0406/BNStory/National/home, Fiona Morrow, "Adbusters Wins Right To Sue Broadcasters over TV Ads"] ''[[The Globe and Mail]]''.</ref> |
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Adbusters traces many of the problems which exist in developed nations to the [[neoclassical economics|neo-classical economic]] system, which Adbusters believes leaves no room for [[morality]]. Adbusters supports the idea of [[true cost economics]], which incorporates the environmental and human consequences of a product into its [[economic model]]. True cost economics involves [[tax]]ing products that are perceived as being especially harmful to the environment or human welfare. In a culture which practices typical [[consumerism]], consumers may be shielded from the costs of [[externalities]] such as trans-oceanic shipping, long-term environmental impact, or the lack of a [[living wage]] for the employees involved in creating the products. True Cost Economics taxes products in an attempt to accurately reflect all the hidden costs involved. |
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==Campaigns== |
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===Culture jamming=== |
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Adbusters opposes the unrestrained expansion of commerce into private life. ''[[Ad-creep]]'' is the concept that [[advertising]] is pushing ethical boundaries, and that many commercial activities are an opponent to mental well-being. Adbusters argues that the heavy advertising present in many cultures plays a large psychological role. Adbusters criticizes what they perceive as false values present in the commercial market, and a false sense of personal empowerment offered by it. The [[false demand]] created for commercial products is believed to get in the way of having a healthy mental state, and living a meaningful life. |
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[[File:American Corporate Flag.svg|thumb|right|250px|American corporate flag]] |
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[[Culture jamming]] is the primary means through which Adbusters challenges consumerism.<ref>Lasn, Kalle (2000). Culture Jam, New York: Quill.</ref> The magazine was described by [[Joseph Heath]] and Andrew Potter in their book ''[[The Rebel Sell]]'' as "the flagship publication of the culture jamming movement."<ref name="rebel">[[Joseph Heath|Heath, Joseph]] and Potter, Andrew. ''[[The Rebel Sell]]''. Harper Perennial, 2004.</ref> Culture jamming is heavily influenced by the [[Situationist International]] and the tactic of ''[[détournement]]''. The goal is to interrupt the normal consumerist experience in order to reveal the underlying ideology of an advertisement, media message, or consumer artifact. Adbusters believe large corporations control mainstream media and the flow of information, and culture jamming aims to challenge this as a form of protest. The term "jam" contains more than one meaning, including improvising, by re-situating an image or idea already in existence, and interrupting, by attempting to stop the workings of a machine.<ref name="1 April 2009">{{cite web|url=http://www.cordweekly.com/cordweekly/news?news_id=2787 |title=News Article - Cord Weekly |access-date=9 April 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090410234323/http://cordweekly.com/cordweekly/news?news_id=2787 |archive-date=10 April 2009 }}</ref> |
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As already noted, the foundation's approach to culture jamming has its roots in the activities of the [[situationists]] and in particular their concept of ''détournement''. This involves the "turning around" of received messages so that they communicate meanings at variance with their original intention. Situationists argue that consumerism creates "a limitless artificiality", blurring the lines of reality and detracting from the essence of human experience.<ref name="ReferenceA" /> In the "culture jamming" context, ''détournement'' means taking symbols, logos and slogans that are considered to be the vehicles upon which the "dominant discourse" of "late capitalism" is communicated and changing them – frequently in significant but minor ways – to subvert the "monologue of the ruling order" [Debord]. |
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Adbusters groups their opposition to the [[hype]], [[Spin (public relations)|spin]] and [[misinformation]] which the magazine feels is common in [[mass media]] with the fight for mental space, believing that the [[mental environment]] is subject to the [[tragedy of the commons]]. |
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The foundation's activism links grassroots efforts with environmental and social concerns, hoping followers will "reconstruct [their] self through nonconsumption strategies."<ref name="ReferenceA">{{cite journal |doi=10.1002/mar.10006 |title=Consumer Resistance in a World of Advertising Clutter: The Case of ''Adbusters'' |year=2002 | author = Rumbo, Joseph D. |journal=Psychology and Marketing |volume=19 |issue=2 |pages=127–48}}</ref> The foundation is particularly well known for its [[culture jamming]] campaigns,<ref>{{Cite news | author = Willan, Claude |title=We're All Borf in the End |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/22/AR2005072202231_pf.html |newspaper=The Washington Post |date= 24 July 2005 |access-date=20 November 2007 }}</ref> and the magazine often features photographs of politically motivated [[billboard]] or advertisement [[vandalism]] sent in by readers. The campaigns attempt to remove people from the "isolated reality of consumer comforts".<ref name="depts.washington.edu" /> |
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===Neo-luddism=== |
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On numerous occasions, Adbusters has made reference to an iminent [[apocalypse]] created by scientific technology.<ref>[http://adbusters.org/the_magazine/56/ Issue 56]</ref><ref>[http://adbusters.org/the_magazine/58/The_Four_Horsemen.html "The Four Horsement"], Issue 58</ref><ref name="robot">[http://adbusters.org/the_magazine/58/I_Robot.html "I Robot"], Issue 58</ref> |
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Adbusters feels human society is in decline, and without change, there is "no future," a notion which references the [[Punk subculture|punk]] subculture and more specifically the band [[Sex Pistols]]. |
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A common theme in Adbusters magazines is defining a relationship between the advance of technology and unhappiness. There is also concern about the potential health and environmental dangers of emerging technologies. The main criticisms which adbusters has of modern science and technology are that it is: <br> |
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*Developing at an unsafe rate<ref>[http://adbusters.org/the_magazine/58.php?id=54 Issue 58]</ref> |
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*Proceeding in a direction that is harmful,<ref name="robot"> |
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*Proceeding in a direction that is for capitalist ends.<ref>[http://adbusters.org/the_magazine/57/Caging_the_Devil.html "Caging the Devil"], Issue 57 </ref><ref>[http://adbusters.org/the_magazine/57/Put_Big_Pharma_on_a_Short_Leash.html "Put Big Pharma on a Short Leash"], Issue 57</ref> |
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===Blackspot Shoes campaign=== |
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Adbusters is opposed to [[genetically modified food]] and related projects of [[agribusiness]], holding the practice as being damaging to physical and mental health. Adbusters opposes [[genetic engineering]] and the [[copyright]] of living organisms. A common ideal for food production is often illustrated as one that would mirror historic agriculture. </br> |
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In 2004, the foundation began selling [[vegan]], indie shoes. The name and logo are "open-source";<ref>{{cite web|url=http://adbusters.org/metas/corpo/blackspotshoes/aboutblackspot.php |title=BlackSpot Shoes : Philosophy Behind the Shoes |access-date=25 June 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070522105440/http://adbusters.org/metas/corpo/blackspotshoes/aboutblackspot.php |archive-date=22 May 2007 }}</ref> in other words, unencumbered by private trademarks.<ref>[http://adbusters.org/metas/corpo/blackspotshoes/info.php#] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080720081744/http://www.adbusters.org/metas/corpo/blackspotshoes/info.php|date=20 July 2008}}</ref> Attached to each pair was a "Rethink the Cool" leaflet, inviting wearers to join a movement, and two spots – one for drawing their own logos and another on the toe for "kicking corporate ass."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://veganline.com/rethinkthecool.htm |title=Rethink the Cool - from Adbusters |website=Veganline.com |access-date=3 January 2017}}</ref> |
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There are three versions of the Blackspot Sneaker. The V1 is designed to resemble the [[Nike, Inc.|Nike]]-owned [[Converse (shoe company)|Converse]] [[Chuck Taylor All-Stars]] (Nike bought Converse in 2003).<ref name="independent">{{Cite news |last=Aitch, Iain |title=Kicking against the system |url=http://news.independent.co.uk/world/politics/article82640.ece |work=The Independent |date=15 December 2003 |access-date=20 November 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071206133717/http://news.independent.co.uk/world/politics/article82640.ece |archive-date=6 December 2007 |url-status=dead}}</ref> There is also a V1 in "fiery red." |
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Another of Adbuster's concerns is the widespread use of [[Psychoactive drug|psychoactive medication]]. The Adbusters foundation takes a hard stand on psychoactive drugs, arguing that the [[pharmaceutical]] industry is not concerned with patient health, the government approves unsafe drugs, doctors are too eager to prescribe drugs, and patients are over-willing to medicate out of [[conformity]].<ref>[http://adbusters.org/metas/psycho/prozacspotlight/ "Prozac Spotlight"]</ref> |
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The V2 is designed by Canadian shoe designer [[John Fluevog]]. It is made from organic [[hemp]] and [[recycled]] car tires. |
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===War=== |
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Adbusters' position on war ties in to their position on commercialism and overconsumption. A great deal of attention is paid to the [[2003 Invasion of Iraq]], and an entire issue was focused on the question of the necessity of war,<ref>[http://adbusters.org/the_magazine/59.php Issue 59]</ref> and another issue was focused on the history of American combat.<ref>[http://adbusters.org/the_magazine/53/ Issue 53]</ref> The magazine repeatedly asserts that there is a connection between [[terrorism]] and [[American foreign policy]], which they feel is flawed. Further, Adbusters asserts that there is a connection between the foreign policy of a nation, and the lifestyle of its citizens. |
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While Adbusters rails against these perceived economic conditions that lead to war, the magazine also accuses many leading right-wing officials of immorality. In issue #63,<ref>[http://adbusters.org/the_magazine/63/ Issue 63]</ref> Adbusters describes [[Vladimir Putin]], [[Ariel Sharon]], and [[George W. Bush]] as terrorists, and describes American ideology as [[fascism|fascist]]. |
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After an extensive search for [[anti-sweatshop movement|anti-sweatshop]] manufacturers around the world, Adbusters found a small union shop in Portugal.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://adbusters.org/metas/corpo/blackspotshoes/info.php |title=Blackspot | Adbusters Culturejammer Headquarters |access-date=29 March 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080720081744/http://www.adbusters.org/metas/corpo/blackspotshoes/info.php |archive-date=20 July 2008 }}</ref> The sale of more than twenty-five thousand pairs<ref name="adbusters.org">{{cite web |url=http://adbusters.org/metas/corpo/blackspotshoes/info.php |title=Blackspot – Blackspot Shoes |publisher=Adbusters.org |access-date=29 March 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080720081744/http://www.adbusters.org/metas/corpo/blackspotshoes/info.php |archive-date=20 July 2008}}</ref> through an alternative distribution network is an example of Western consumer activism marketing.<ref name="adbusters.org" /> |
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===Culture jamming=== |
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Adbusters has been described as "the flagship publication of the culture jamming movement".<ref name="rebel">Heath, Joseph and Potter, Andrew. ''[[The Rebel Sell]]''. Harper Perennial, 2004.</ref> Adbusters is particularly well-known for their [[culture jamming]] campaigns, and the magazine often features photographs of politically-motivated [[billboard (advertising)|billboard]] or [[advertisement]] [[vandalism]] sent in by readers. Culture jamming is seen as public demonstration of the consequences of over-consumerism. It takes the form of clever billboard modifications, [[google bombing]], [[flash mobs]] and fake parking tickets for [[SUV]]s. The aim of culture jamming is to create a large contrast between the [[corporate image]] and the real consequences of corporate behaviour. It is a form of [[protest]], so the culture jammer aims to be as public as possible. Adbusters calls it "trickle up" activism, and encourages its readers to do these activities, and honours culture jamming work in the magazine. |
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Adbusters describes its goals vis-à-vis Blackspot as follows: |
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The adbuster's 'brand' of culture jamming has its roots in the activities of the [[situationists]] and in particular their concept of [[detournement]]. This means the "turning around" of received messages so that they communicate meanings at varience with their original intention. In the 'culture jamming' purview this means taking symbols, logos and slogans that are considered to be the vehicles upon which the "dominant discourse" of "late capitalism" is communicated and changing them - frequently in significant but minor ways - to subvert the "monologue of the ruling order" [Debord]. |
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{{blockquote|Blackspot shoes is our experiment with grassroots capitalism. After spending many years railing against the practices of megacorporations like McDonalds, Starbucks and Nike, we wanted to prove that running an ethical, environmentally responsible business is possible ... and that taking market share away from megacorporations is better than whining about them.<ref>{{cite web | title = Support + Subscribe | work = Adbusters.org | url = http://www.adbusters.org/support_subscribe | access-date = 20 May 2012 | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120519224410/http://www.adbusters.org/support_subscribe | archive-date = 19 May 2012}} Text 'hidden' under the "Why do we sell?" tab.</ref>}} |
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====Reception==== |
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Heath and Potter's ''[[The Rebel Sell]]'', which is critical of Adbusters, claimed that the blackspot shoe's existence proves that "no rational person could possibly believe that there is any tension between 'mainstream' and 'alternative' culture."<ref name="rebel" /> |
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In the June 2008 cover story of ''[[Businessweek|BusinessWeek Small Business Magazine]]'', the Blackspot campaign was among three profiled in a piece focusing on "antipreneurs." Two advertising executives were asked to review the campaign for the article's "Ask the Experts" sidebar. Brian Martin of ''Brand Connections'' and Dave Weaver of [[TM Advertising]] both gave the campaign favorable reviews. |
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Martin noted that Blackspot was effectively telling consumers, "We know we are marketing to you, and you are as good as we are at this, and your opinion matters," while Weaver stated that "This is not a call to sales of the shoe so much as it is a call to participate in the community of Adbusters by buying the shoe."<ref>{{cite web | title = Meet the Antipreneurs | date = June–July 2008 |publisher = businessweek.com | url = http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/08_66/s0806039879656.htm?chan=search | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090201224951/http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/08_66/s0806039879656.htm?chan=search | url-status = dead | archive-date = 1 February 2009 | access-date =31 July 2008 }}</ref> |
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===Occupy Wall Street=== |
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{{main|Occupy Wall Street}} |
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<!-- This use of this image does not have a separate, detailed, named rationale for use in this article on the image's page. Please read [[Wikipedia:NFCC#10c]] [[File:Wall-Street-1.jpg|thumb|right|The poster Adbusters used to promote Occupy Wall Street|alt=Poster depicting a female ballerina pirouetting on the back of the Charging Bull statue on Wall Street; on the street behind her, a line of gas-masked rioters struggle through smoke. Text on the poster reads: "What is our one demand?#OCCUPYWALLSTREET September 17th. Bring Tent."]] --> |
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In mid-2011, Adbusters Foundation proposed a peaceful occupation of Wall Street to protest corporate influence on democracy, a growing disparity in wealth, and the absence of legal repercussions behind the recent global financial crisis.<ref name="Fleming">{{cite web|last=Fleming|first=Andrew|title=Adbusters sparks Wall Street protest Vancouver-based activists behind street actions in the U.S|url=http://www.vancourier.com/Adbusters+sparks+Wall+Street+protest/5466332/story.html|publisher=The Vancouver Courier|date=27 September 2011|access-date=30 September 2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121011160015/http://www.vancourier.com/Adbusters+sparks+Wall+Street+protest/5466332/story.html|archive-date=11 October 2012}}</ref> They sought to combine the symbolic location of the 2011 protests in [[Tahrir Square#2011 revolution|Tahrir Square]] with the [[consensus decision making]] of the [[2011 Spanish protests]].<ref>[http://www.huffingtonpost.com/shira-lazar/micah-white-adbusters-_b_996931.html Sira Lazar "Occupy Wall Street: Interview With Micah White From Adbusters"], Huffington Post, 7 October 2011, at 3:40 in interview</ref> Adbusters' senior editor [[Micah M. White|Micah White]] said they had suggested the protest via their email list and it "was spontaneously taken up by all the people of the world."<ref name="Fleming"/> Adbusters' website said that from their "one simple demand—a presidential commission to separate money from politics" they would "start setting the agenda for a new America."<ref name="wallstreet">{{cite web |url=http://www.adbusters.org/blogs/adbusters-blog/occupywallstreet.html |title=#OCCUPYWALLSTREET | Adbusters Culturejammer Headquarters |access-date=17 October 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111102212644/http://www.adbusters.org/blogs/adbusters-blog/occupywallstreet.html |archive-date=2 November 2011}}</ref> They promoted the protest with a poster featuring a dancer atop Wall Street's iconic [[Charging Bull]].<ref name="inline.poster">{{cite journal|journal=[[The Link (newspaper)|The Link]]|title=The Ballerina and the Bull: Adbusters' Micah White on 'The Last Great Social Movement'|first=Laura|last=Beeston|date=11 October 2011|url=http://thelinknewspaper.ca/article/1951|access-date=12 October 2011}}</ref><ref name="nation.FAQ">{{cite magazine|title=Occupy Wall Street: FAQ|first=Nathan|last=Schneider|date=29 September 2011|magazine=[[The Nation]]|url=http://www.thenation.com/article/163719/occupy-wall-street-faq|access-date=12 October 2011}}</ref> On 13 July 2011 it was the staff at the magazine that created the #OCCUPYWALLSTREET hashtag on Twitter.<ref name=branding/> |
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While the movement was started by Adbusters, the group does not control the movement, and it has since [[Occupy movement|grown worldwide]]. |
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==Criticisms== |
==Criticisms== |
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Adbusters has been criticized for having a style and form that are similar to the media and commercial product which it attacks, more specifically that its high gloss design makes the magazine too expensive and that a style over substance approach is used to mask sub-par content.<ref>McLaren, Carrie. "[http://www.stayfreemagazine.org/9/adbusters.htm Culture Jamming (tm): Brought To You By Adbusters]". ''Stay Free!''. Retrieved [[September 13]] [[2005]].</ref> This is particularly true in the case of its Blackspot Shoe campaign, about which it has been said that their existence proves that "no rational person could possibly believe that there is any tension between 'mainstream' and 'alternative' culture."<ref name="rebel" /> |
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===Criminal Mischief=== |
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Heath and Potter's ''[[The Rebel Sell]]'' claims that the more alternative or subversive Adbusters feels, the more appealing it will become to the mainstream market. Consumers seek exclusivity and social distinction, which is in contrast to Adbusters' description of the mainstream consumer as a mindless [[conformity|conformist]]. |
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The foundation has been criticized for solicitating dangerous criminal mischief by escalating their methods to deflate "SUV tires in an effort to fight climate change."<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-04-11 |title=Radical environmentalists urge people to target 'wealthy areas,' deflate SUV tires |url=https://nypost.com/2022/04/11/radical-environmental-group-urges-people-to-deflate-suv-tires/ |access-date=2022-04-12 |website=New York Post |language=en-US}}</ref> |
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It is argued that the mainstream market seeks the very same brand of individuality that Adbusters promotes; repression is not a target of the market, thus the Adbusters doctrine is "the true spirit of capitalism."<ref name="rebel" /> |
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===Commercial [[Style (visual arts)|style]]=== |
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Adbusters came under fire for alleged anti-semitism when it ran an article<ref>[http://canadiancoalition.com/adbusters01/ ''Why won't anyone say they are Jewish?''] by Kalle Lasn, AdBusters, March/April 2004</ref> that identified many supporters of the Iraq War and the [[George W. Bush administration|Bush Administration]] as [[Jewish]] and questioned why this fact and its potential implications for US Middle East policy was not open to discussion. A list of prominent pro-war figures was presented, with stars next to those who are Jewish.<ref>Raynes-Goldie, Kate. "[http://www.nowtoronto.com/issues/2004-03-18/news_story6.php Race Baiting: AdBusters' Listing of Jewish Neo-cons The Latest Wacko Twist in Lefty Mag's Remake]". ''Now Toronto''. [[March 24]] [[2004]].</ref> |
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The foundation has been criticized for having a style and form that are too similar to the media and commercial product that Adbusters attack, that its high gloss design makes the magazine too expensive, and that a style over substance approach is used to mask sub-par content.<ref>McLaren, Carrie. "[http://www.stayfreemagazine.org/9/adbusters.htm Culture Jamming (tm): Brought To You By Adbusters] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050825220611/http://www.stayfreemagazine.org/9/adbusters.htm |date=25 August 2005 }}." ''[[Stay Free!]]''. Retrieved 13 September 2005.</ref> |
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Heath and Potter posit that the more alternative or [[subversion|subversive]] the foundation feels, the more appealing the Blackspot sneaker will become to the mainstream market. They believe consumers seek exclusivity and social distinction and have argued that the mainstream market seeks the very same brand of individuality that the foundation promotes; thus they see the foundation as promoting capitalist values.<ref name="rebel" /> |
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The Blackspot shoe was criticized when initial plans called for it to be made by non-union labor in China. The shoe has since been sourced to union labor in Portugal.<ref>[http://www.americanapparel.net/presscenter/articles/20040211salon.html ''Made in the USofA?''] by Linda Baker, Salon.com, February 2004</ref> |
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The Blackspot Shoes campaign has stirred heated debate, as Adbusters admits to using the same marketing technique which it denounces other companies for using by originally purchasing much advertising space for the shoe.<ref name="independent" /> |
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Further, an article printed several years ago concerning Cuba's relationship to American culture was criticized for taking a particularly socialist slant on the issue, and failing to comment upon the many threats to civil liberty that citizens in Cuba regularly face. {{Fact|date=April 2007}} |
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===Legal issues=== |
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Adbusters launched a legal challenge in 1995. A second in 2004 was against CBC, CTV, CanWest and CHUM, for refusing to air anti-consumerism commercials, therefore infringing on the staff's freedom of speech.<ref name="Friesen">{{cite news|last=Friesen|first=Joe|title=Adbusters suing networks for not airing its TV spots|newspaper=The Globe and Mail|date=15 September 2004}}</ref> In one case, a CHUM representative is quoted as saying the ads "were so blatantly against television and that is our entire core business. You know we can't be selling our airtime and then telling people to turn their TVs off."<ref name="Friesen"/> |
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===Alleged antisemitism=== |
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<!--Editors wishing to make substantive edits to this section are advised to peruse the relevant discussions that have taken place at the article's Discussion page.--> |
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In March 2004, ''Adbusters'' was accused of [[antisemitism]] after running an article titled "Why won't anyone say they are Jewish?" The article compiled a list of [[neoconservative]] supporters within the [[George W. Bush administration|Bush administration]] and marked the names of those it believed to be Jewish with a black dot. It questioned why, given Israel's role, the political implications of this Jewish neoconservative influence on [[Foreign policy of the United States|U.S. foreign policy]] in the Middle East were not a subject of debate.<ref name="AdbustersJewish">{{cite web |url=http://www.adbusters.org/magazine/52/articles/jewish.html |title=Why won't anyone say they are Jewish? |author = Lasn, Kalle |author-link = Kalle Lasn | date = March–April 2004 |publisher=Adbusters |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040223012106/http://www.adbusters.org/magazine/52/articles/jewish.html |archive-date= 23 February 2004 |url-status=dead |quote=Here at Adbusters, we decided to tackle the issue head on and came up with a carefully researched list of who appear to be the 50 most influential neocons in the US (see above). Deciding who exactly is a neocon is difficult since some neocons reject the term while others embrace it. Some shape policy from within the White House, while others are more peripheral, exacting influence indirectly as journalists, academics and think tank policy wonks. What they all share is the view that the US is a benevolent hyper power that must protect itself by reshaping the rest of the world into its morally superior image. And half of them are Jewish.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|title=Adbusters, Max Cleland, and more |url=http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/003/794ebwmq.asp |journal=The Weekly Standard |date=8 March 2004 |access-date=20 November 2007 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20071226054703/http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/003/794ebwmq.asp |archive-date=26 December 2007 |url-status=dead }}</ref> |
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In October 2010, [[Shopper's Drug Mart]] pulled ''Adbusters'' off of its shelves<ref>{{cite news |title=Adbusters Yanked From Store Shelves; Anti-Semitic Photo to Blame? |author=Hoffer, Steven |url=http://www.aolnews.com/2010/11/04/adbusters-yanked-from-store-shelves-anti-semitic-photo-to-bla/ |publisher=[[AOL News]] |date=4 November 2010 |access-date=5 March 2011 |quote=The anti-consumerist, culture-jamming Adbusters magazine – recently known as the hipster publication that ragged on hipsters – is being taken off the shelves at Canadian drugstore chain Shoppers Drug Mart following a dispute over a "Truthbombs" photo spread juxtaposing images of Gaza and the Warsaw Ghetto, according to The Globe and Mail. |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110201011351/http://www.aolnews.com/2010/11/04/adbusters-yanked-from-store-shelves-anti-semitic-photo-to-bla/ |archive-date=1 February 2011}}</ref> after a photo montage comparing the [[Gaza Strip]] to the [[Warsaw ghetto]] was featured in an article criticizing Israel's embargo of Gaza.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.adbusters.org/magazine/83/gaza.html |title=Never Again: A Ghettoized Gaza Bears Striking Resemblance to the Warsaw Ghetto |author=Mohammad, Saeed David |date=9 June 2009 |work=Adbusters |access-date=18 February 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110611180030/http://www.adbusters.org/magazine/83/gaza.html |archive-date=11 June 2011}}</ref> The [[Canadian Jewish Congress]] campaigned to have the magazine [[blacklisted]] from bookstores, accusing ''Adbusters'' of [[Holocaust trivialization|trivializing the Holocaust]] and of antisemitism.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2010/10/22/bernie-farber-and-len-rudner-selling-anti-semitism-in-the-book-stores|title=Bernie Farber and Len Rudner: Selling anti-Semitism in the book stores|quote=The argument is obscene, and continues the disgusting tradition of some supporters of the Palestinian cause to turn Jews into Nazis and Palestinians into Jews. In so doing, these propagandists not only demonize Israelis (i.e., Jews), but minimize the murderous extent and intent of Nazism's genocidal project. In other words, such vile analogies become a form of Holocaust minimilization|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120713062255/http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2010/10/22/bernie-farber-and-len-rudner-selling-anti-semitism-in-the-book-stores|archive-date=13 July 2012}}</ref> In response, ''Adbusters'' argued that the charge of antisemitism was being used to silence what it considered legitimate criticism of Israeli policies.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://nationalpost.com/todays-paper/tale+ghettoes/3761672/story.html|archive-url=http://webarchive.loc.gov/all/20101105145814/http%3A//www.nationalpost.com/todays%2Dpaper/tale%2Bghettoes/3761672/story.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=5 November 2010|title=A Tale of Two Ghettoes|author=Lasn, Kalle|author-link=Kalle Lasn|date=2 November 2010|work=National Post|location=Canada|quote=In Canada, we should be free to choose from a diversity of viewpoints and decide for ourselves what is anti-Semitic and what is a legitimate critique of Israel's occupation of Palestine.}}</ref> |
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===Ineffective activism=== |
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Some critics claim that culture jamming does little to incite real difference.<ref name="1 April 2009" /> Others declare the movement an easy way for upper- and middle-class citizens to feel empowered by engaging in activism that bears no personal cost, such as the campaign "[[Buy Nothing Day]]".{{Citation needed|date=March 2012}} These critics express a need for "resistance against the causes of capitalist exploitation, not its symptoms".<ref name="ReferenceA" /> |
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==Awards== |
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In 1999, Adbusters won the award for National Magazine of the Year in Canada.<ref>"Adbusters: journal of the mental environment." Counterpoise. Gainesville: 30 April 2000. Vol. 4, Iss. 1/2; p. 71</ref> |
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==See also== |
==See also== |
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{{cols|colwidth=16em}} |
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* [[Guy Debord]] – philosopher quoted by Adbusters - "Live without dead time" |
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* [[Ad creep]] |
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{{CommonsCat|Adbusting}} |
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* [[The Chaser]] |
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* [[Culture jamming]] |
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* [[Downhill Battle]] |
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* [[Engaged Buddhism]] |
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* [[Free-culture movement]] |
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* [[Geez (magazine)|''Geez'' magazine]] |
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* [[Indymedia]] |
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* [[Led By Donkeys]] |
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* ''[[No Logo]]'' |
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* [[Situationist International]] |
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* [[Stay Free!|''StayFree!'' magazine]] |
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* [[The Yes Men]] |
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* [[Timeline of Occupy Wall Street]] |
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{{colend}} |
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==References== |
==References== |
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{{Reflist|30em}} |
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<references /> |
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==External links== |
==External links== |
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{{Commons category|Adbusting}} |
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*[http://www.adbusters.org/ Official website] |
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* {{Official website|https://www.adbusters.org/}} |
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*[http://www.truecosteconomics.org True cost economics] |
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* [https://www.jacobinmag.com/2013/10/adbusted/ Critique of Adbusters] in ''[[Jacobin magazine]]'' |
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*[http://blackspotsneaker.org/ Blackspot Sneaker] - Adbusters's first shoe |
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*[http://depts.washington.edu/gcp/pdf/culturejamsandmemewarfare.pdf |
* [http://depts.washington.edu/gcp/pdf/culturejamsandmemewarfare.pdf "Culture Jams and Meme Warfare: Kalle Lasn, Adbusters, and media activism", Wendi Pickerel, Helena Jorgensen, and Lance Bennett, 19 April 2002.] |
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* [http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/Adbusters-Media-Foundation-971292.html "Adbusters Wins Legal Victory in Ongoing Case Against the CBC and CanWest", www.marketwire.com, 6 April 2009.] |
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*[http://web.archive.org/web/20050326085057/http://www.adbusters.org/metas/eco/bnd/wrapup/kalle.html CNN interview with Kalle Lasn] ([[Internet Archive|archive]] link, was [[Dead link|dead]]) |
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* [https://web.archive.org/web/20090410075349/http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20090406.wads0406/BNStory/National/home Fiona Morrow, "Adbusters wins the right to sue broadcasters over TV ads", theglobeandmail.com, 6 April 2009.] |
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*[http://eyeteeth.blogspot.com/2003/08/mindfucked-kalle-lasn-on-toxic-culture.html Mindfucked: Kalle Lasn on toxic culture, mental environmentalism, and running shoes] |
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* [http://www.culture-jamming.de German Culture Jamming Website in English] |
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* [http://www.smh.com.au/news/National/Culture-Jammers-find-magic-button-for-peace-and-quiet/2005/04/02/1112302290658.html Culture Jammers find magic button for peace and quiet] Sun Herald ([[April 13]], [[2005]]) Daniel Dasey. |
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* [http://www.abc.net.au/rn/science/mind/stories/s1318358.htm Activism for the Mind: Reclaiming Our Cerebral Commons], [[Kalle Lasn]] with Natasha Mitchell, [[ABC Radio National]], ''All in the Mind'' [[12 March]] [[2005]]. |
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* [http://www.kyotojournal.org/kjselections/lasn.htm Culture Jammer's Guide to Enlightenment. A talk with Adbusters' Kalle Lasn.] |
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*[http://www.trademarkedsentences.com Adbusting Style Poetry using Trademarks] |
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===Academic and news sites=== |
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* [http://depts.washington.edu/gcp/pdf/culturejamsandmemewarfare.pdf Interview with Kalle Lasn] – Founder of Adbusters |
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* [http://www.smh.com.au/news/National/Culture-Jammers-find-magic-button-for-peace-and-quiet/2005/04/02/1112302290658.html Culture Jammers find magic button for peace and quiet] Sun Herald (13 April 2005) Daniel Dasey. |
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* [https://web.archive.org/web/20061019064035/http://www.abc.net.au/rn/science/mind/stories/s1318358.htm Activism for the Mind: Reclaiming Our Cerebral Commons], [[Kalle Lasn]] with [[Natasha Mitchell]], [[ABC Radio National]], ''All in the Mind'' 12 March 2005. |
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{{Webby Awards|year=1997|cat=Money|type=Nominee}} |
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{{Culture jamming}} |
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{{Occupy movement}} |
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[[Category:1989 establishments in British Columbia]] |
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[[Category:Activist publications]] |
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[[Category:Advertising-free magazines]] |
[[Category:Advertising-free magazines]] |
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[[Category:Alternative |
[[Category:Alternative magazines]] |
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[[Category:Anti-consumerist groups]] |
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[[Category:Anti-capitalism]] |
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[[Category:Anti-corporate activism]] |
[[Category:Anti-corporate activism]] |
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[[Category:Bi-monthly magazines published in Canada]] |
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Latest revision as of 01:07, 20 September 2024
Founded | 1989 |
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Founder | Kalle Lasn and Bill Schmalz |
Location |
|
Key people |
|
Website | Adbusters.org |
Founder | Kalle Lasn and Bill Schmalz |
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Frequency | Bi-monthly |
First issue | 1989 |
Country | Canada |
Language | English |
Website | Adbusters.org |
ISSN | 0847-9097 |
Part of a series on |
Anti-consumerism |
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The Adbusters Media Foundation is a Canadian-based not-for-profit, pro-environment[1] organization founded in 1989 by Kalle Lasn and Bill Schmalz in Vancouver, British Columbia. Adbusters describes itself as "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."[2]
As anti-capitalist or opposed to capitalism,[3] it publishes the reader-supported, advertising-free Adbusters, an activist magazine devoted to challenging consumerism. The magazine has an international circulation peaking at 120,000 in the late 2000s[4] with circulation of 60,000[5] in 2022. Past and present contributors to the magazine include Jonathan Barnbrook, Morris Berman, Brendan Connell, Simon Critchley, David Graeber, Michael Hardt, Chris Hedges, Bill McKibben, Jim Munroe, David Orrell, Douglas Rushkoff, Matt Taibbi, Slavoj Žižek, and others.
Adbusters has launched numerous international campaigns, including Buy Nothing Day, TV Turnoff Week and Occupy Wall Street,[6] and is known for their "subvertisements" that spoof popular advertisements. In English, Adbusters has bi-monthly American, Canadian, Australian, UK and International editions of each issue. Adbusters's sister organizations include Résistance à l'Aggression Publicitaire[7] and Casseurs de Pub[8] in France, Adbusters Norge in Norway, Adbusters Sverige in Sweden and Culture Jammers in Japan.[9][10]
History
[edit]Adbusters was founded in 1989 by Kalle Lasn and Bill Schmalz, a duo of award-winning documentary filmmakers living in Vancouver. Since the early 1980s, Lasn had been making films that explored the spiritual and cultural lessons the West could learn from the Japanese experience with capitalism.
In 1988, the British Columbia Council of Forest Industries, the "voice" of the logging industry, was facing tremendous public pressure from a growing environmentalist movement. The logging industry fought back with a television ad campaign called "Forests Forever."[11] It was an early example of greenwashing: shots of happy children, workers and animals with a kindly, trustworthy sounding narrator who assured the public that the logging industry was protecting the forest.
Lasn and Shmalz, outraged by the use of the public airwaves to deliver what they felt was deceptive anti-environmentalist propaganda, responded by producing the "Talking Rainforest"[12] anti-ad in which an old-growth tree explains to a sapling that "a tree farm is not a forest." But the duo proved to be unable to buy airtime on the same stations that had aired the forest-industry ad.[citation needed] According to a former Adbusters employee, "The CBC's reaction to the proposed television commercial created the real flash point for the Media Foundation. It seemed that Lasn and Schmaltz's commercial was too controversial to air on the CBC. An environmental message that challenged the large forestry companies was considered 'advocacy advertising' and was disallowed, even though the 'informational' messages that glorified clearcutting were OK."[13]
The foundation was born out of their belief that citizens do not have the same access to the information flows as corporations. One of the foundation's key campaigns continues to be the Media Carta,[14] a "movement to enshrine The Right to Communicate in the constitutions of all free nations, and in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights."
The foundation notes that concern over the flow of information goes beyond the desire to protect democratic transparency, freedom of speech or the public's access to the airwaves. Although it supports these causes, the foundation instead situates the battle of the mind at the center of its political agenda. Fighting to counter pro-consumerist advertising is done not as a means to an end, but as the end in itself. This shift in emphasis is a crucial element of mental environmentalism.
Mental environmentalism
[edit]The subtitle of Adbusters magazine is "The Journal of the Mental Environment."
In a 1996 interview, Kalle Lasn explained the foundation's goal:
What we're trying to do is pioneer a new form of social activism using all the power of the mass media to sell ideas, rather than products. We're motivated by a kind of 'greenthink' that comes from the environmental movement and isn't mired in the old ideology of the left and right. Instead, we take the environmental ethic into the mental ethic, trying to clean up the toxic areas of our minds. You can't recycle and be a good environmental citizen, then watch four hours of television and get consumption messages pumped at you.[15]
Issues
[edit]Anti-advertising
[edit]Adbusters describes itself as anti-advertising: it blames advertising for playing a central role in creating and maintaining consumer culture. This argument is based on the premise that the advertising industry goes to great effort and expense to associate desire and identity with commodities. Adbusters believes that advertising has unjustly "colonized" public, discursive and psychic spaces, by appearing in movies, sports and even schools, so as to permeate modern culture.[16] Adbusters's stated goals include combating the negative effects of advertising and empowering its readers to regain control of culture, encouraging them to ask "Are we consumers and citizens?"[17]
Since Adbusters concludes that advertising conditions people to look to external sources, to define their own personal identities, the magazine advocates a "natural and authentic self apart from the consumer society".[16] The magazine aims to provoke anti-consumerist feelings. By juxtaposing text and images, the magazine attempts to create a means of raising awareness and getting its message out to people that is both aesthetically pleasing and entertaining.[18]
Activism also takes many other forms such as corporate boycotts and 'art as protest', often incorporating humor. This includes billboard modifications, google bombing, flash mobs and fake parking tickets for SUVs. A popular example of cultural jamming is the distortion of Tiger Woods' smile into the form of the Nike swoosh, calling viewers to question how they view Woods' persona as a product. Adbusters calls it "trickle up" activism, and encourages its readers to do these activities by honoring culture jamming work in the magazine. In the September/October 2001 "Graphic Anarchy" issue, Adbusters were culture jammed themselves in a manner of speaking: they hailed the work of Swiss graphic designer Ernst Bettler as "one of the greatest design interventions on record", unaware that Bettler's story was an elaborate hoax.
Media Carta
[edit]"Media Carta" is a charter challenging the corporate control of the public airwaves and means of communication. The goal is to "make the public airwaves truly public, and not just a corporate domain."[18] Over 30,000 people have signed the document [citation needed] voicing their desire to reclaim the public space. On 13 September 2004, Adbusters filed a lawsuit against six major Canadian television broadcasters (including CanWest Global, Bell Globemedia, CHUM Ltd., and the CBC) for refusing to air Adbusters videos in the television commercial spots that Adbusters attempted to purchase. Most broadcasters refused the commercials, fearing the ads would upset other advertisers as well as violate business principles by "contaminating the purity of media environments designed exclusively for communicating commercial messages".[18] The lawsuit claims that Adbusters' freedom of expression was unjustly limited by the refusals.[19] Adbusters believes the public deserves a right to be presented with viewpoints that differ from the standard. Under Section 3 of the Broadcasting Act, television is a public space allowing ordinary citizens to possess the same rights as advertising agencies and corporations to purchase 30 seconds of airtime from major broadcasters.[20] There has been talk that if Adbusters wins in Canadian court, they will file similar lawsuits against major U.S. broadcasters that also refused the advertisements.[21] CNN is the only network that has allowed several of the foundation's commercials to run.[citation needed]
Legal action
[edit]On 3 April 2009, the British Columbia Court of Appeal unanimously overturned a BC Supreme Court ruling that had dismissed the case in February 2008. The court granted Adbusters the ability to sue the Canadian Broadcasting Company and CanWest Global, the corporations that originally refused to air the anti-car ad "Autosaurus". The ruling represents a victory for Adbusters, but it is the first step of their intended goal, essentially opening the door for future legal action against the media conglomerates.[citation needed] Kalle Lasn declared the ruling a success and said, "After twenty years of legal struggle, the courts have finally given us permission to take on the media corporations and hold them up to public scrutiny."[22]
Campaigns
[edit]Culture jamming
[edit]Culture jamming is the primary means through which Adbusters challenges consumerism.[23] The magazine was described by Joseph Heath and Andrew Potter in their book The Rebel Sell as "the flagship publication of the culture jamming movement."[24] Culture jamming is heavily influenced by the Situationist International and the tactic of détournement. The goal is to interrupt the normal consumerist experience in order to reveal the underlying ideology of an advertisement, media message, or consumer artifact. Adbusters believe large corporations control mainstream media and the flow of information, and culture jamming aims to challenge this as a form of protest. The term "jam" contains more than one meaning, including improvising, by re-situating an image or idea already in existence, and interrupting, by attempting to stop the workings of a machine.[25]
As already noted, the foundation's approach to culture jamming has its roots in the activities of the situationists and in particular their concept of détournement. This involves the "turning around" of received messages so that they communicate meanings at variance with their original intention. Situationists argue that consumerism creates "a limitless artificiality", blurring the lines of reality and detracting from the essence of human experience.[16] In the "culture jamming" context, détournement means taking symbols, logos and slogans that are considered to be the vehicles upon which the "dominant discourse" of "late capitalism" is communicated and changing them – frequently in significant but minor ways – to subvert the "monologue of the ruling order" [Debord].
The foundation's activism links grassroots efforts with environmental and social concerns, hoping followers will "reconstruct [their] self through nonconsumption strategies."[16] The foundation is particularly well known for its culture jamming campaigns,[26] and the magazine often features photographs of politically motivated billboard or advertisement vandalism sent in by readers. The campaigns attempt to remove people from the "isolated reality of consumer comforts".[18]
Blackspot Shoes campaign
[edit]In 2004, the foundation began selling vegan, indie shoes. The name and logo are "open-source";[27] in other words, unencumbered by private trademarks.[28] Attached to each pair was a "Rethink the Cool" leaflet, inviting wearers to join a movement, and two spots – one for drawing their own logos and another on the toe for "kicking corporate ass."[29]
There are three versions of the Blackspot Sneaker. The V1 is designed to resemble the Nike-owned Converse Chuck Taylor All-Stars (Nike bought Converse in 2003).[30] There is also a V1 in "fiery red."
The V2 is designed by Canadian shoe designer John Fluevog. It is made from organic hemp and recycled car tires.
After an extensive search for anti-sweatshop manufacturers around the world, Adbusters found a small union shop in Portugal.[31] The sale of more than twenty-five thousand pairs[32] through an alternative distribution network is an example of Western consumer activism marketing.[32]
Adbusters describes its goals vis-à-vis Blackspot as follows:
Blackspot shoes is our experiment with grassroots capitalism. After spending many years railing against the practices of megacorporations like McDonalds, Starbucks and Nike, we wanted to prove that running an ethical, environmentally responsible business is possible ... and that taking market share away from megacorporations is better than whining about them.[33]
Reception
[edit]Heath and Potter's The Rebel Sell, which is critical of Adbusters, claimed that the blackspot shoe's existence proves that "no rational person could possibly believe that there is any tension between 'mainstream' and 'alternative' culture."[24]
In the June 2008 cover story of BusinessWeek Small Business Magazine, the Blackspot campaign was among three profiled in a piece focusing on "antipreneurs." Two advertising executives were asked to review the campaign for the article's "Ask the Experts" sidebar. Brian Martin of Brand Connections and Dave Weaver of TM Advertising both gave the campaign favorable reviews.
Martin noted that Blackspot was effectively telling consumers, "We know we are marketing to you, and you are as good as we are at this, and your opinion matters," while Weaver stated that "This is not a call to sales of the shoe so much as it is a call to participate in the community of Adbusters by buying the shoe."[34]
Occupy Wall Street
[edit]In mid-2011, Adbusters Foundation proposed a peaceful occupation of Wall Street to protest corporate influence on democracy, a growing disparity in wealth, and the absence of legal repercussions behind the recent global financial crisis.[35] They sought to combine the symbolic location of the 2011 protests in Tahrir Square with the consensus decision making of the 2011 Spanish protests.[36] Adbusters' senior editor Micah White said they had suggested the protest via their email list and it "was spontaneously taken up by all the people of the world."[35] Adbusters' website said that from their "one simple demand—a presidential commission to separate money from politics" they would "start setting the agenda for a new America."[37] They promoted the protest with a poster featuring a dancer atop Wall Street's iconic Charging Bull.[38][39] On 13 July 2011 it was the staff at the magazine that created the #OCCUPYWALLSTREET hashtag on Twitter.[6]
While the movement was started by Adbusters, the group does not control the movement, and it has since grown worldwide.
Criticisms
[edit]Criminal Mischief
[edit]The foundation has been criticized for solicitating dangerous criminal mischief by escalating their methods to deflate "SUV tires in an effort to fight climate change."[40]
The foundation has been criticized for having a style and form that are too similar to the media and commercial product that Adbusters attack, that its high gloss design makes the magazine too expensive, and that a style over substance approach is used to mask sub-par content.[41]
Heath and Potter posit that the more alternative or subversive the foundation feels, the more appealing the Blackspot sneaker will become to the mainstream market. They believe consumers seek exclusivity and social distinction and have argued that the mainstream market seeks the very same brand of individuality that the foundation promotes; thus they see the foundation as promoting capitalist values.[24]
The Blackspot Shoes campaign has stirred heated debate, as Adbusters admits to using the same marketing technique which it denounces other companies for using by originally purchasing much advertising space for the shoe.[30]
Legal issues
[edit]Adbusters launched a legal challenge in 1995. A second in 2004 was against CBC, CTV, CanWest and CHUM, for refusing to air anti-consumerism commercials, therefore infringing on the staff's freedom of speech.[42] In one case, a CHUM representative is quoted as saying the ads "were so blatantly against television and that is our entire core business. You know we can't be selling our airtime and then telling people to turn their TVs off."[42]
Alleged antisemitism
[edit]In March 2004, Adbusters was accused of antisemitism after running an article titled "Why won't anyone say they are Jewish?" The article compiled a list of neoconservative supporters within the Bush administration and marked the names of those it believed to be Jewish with a black dot. It questioned why, given Israel's role, the political implications of this Jewish neoconservative influence on U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East were not a subject of debate.[43][44]
In October 2010, Shopper's Drug Mart pulled Adbusters off of its shelves[45] after a photo montage comparing the Gaza Strip to the Warsaw ghetto was featured in an article criticizing Israel's embargo of Gaza.[46] The Canadian Jewish Congress campaigned to have the magazine blacklisted from bookstores, accusing Adbusters of trivializing the Holocaust and of antisemitism.[47] In response, Adbusters argued that the charge of antisemitism was being used to silence what it considered legitimate criticism of Israeli policies.[48]
Ineffective activism
[edit]Some critics claim that culture jamming does little to incite real difference.[25] Others declare the movement an easy way for upper- and middle-class citizens to feel empowered by engaging in activism that bears no personal cost, such as the campaign "Buy Nothing Day".[citation needed] These critics express a need for "resistance against the causes of capitalist exploitation, not its symptoms".[16]
Awards
[edit]In 1999, Adbusters won the award for National Magazine of the Year in Canada.[49]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ "About" Archived 31 October 2011 at the Wayback Machine. Adbusters Media Foundation. Retrieved 3 October 2011.
- ^ "About Adbusters Archived 31 October 2011 at the Wayback Machine." Adbusters Media Foundation. Retrieved 19 December 2010.
- ^ Eric Pfanner. Fighting guerrilla graffiti, The New York Times, 15 March 2004
- ^ Hackett, Robert; Carroll, William (29 July 2006). Remaking Media: The Struggle to Democratize Public Communication. Routledge. ISBN 9781134159369.
- ^ "Adbusters Jan/Feb 2022 - Magdogs Marketplace". Retrieved 12 April 2022.
- ^ a b Yardsley, William (28 November 2011). "The Branding of the Occupy Movement". The New York Times. Retrieved 5 April 2012.
- ^ "Résistance à l'Aggression Publicitaire" (in French). Antipub.org. 13 February 2014. Retrieved 29 March 2014.
- ^ "Casseurs de Pub" (in French). Casseurs de Pub. Retrieved 29 March 2014.
- ^ "Buy Nothing Day Japan - Fight Pollution of Culture and Nature". Bndjapan.org. Retrieved 3 January 2017.
- ^ "Infoseek[インフォシーク] - 楽天が運営するポータルサイト". Adbusters.cool.ne.jp. 1 January 2000. Archived from the original on 29 May 2012. Retrieved 3 January 2017.
- ^ Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: "Forests Forever Ad (1988)". YouTube. 19 June 2009. Retrieved 3 January 2017.
- ^ Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: "Adbusters - Talking Forest". YouTube. 7 November 2012. Retrieved 3 January 2017.
- ^ "Archived copy". www.evolutionzone.com. Archived from the original on 22 February 2001. Retrieved 13 January 2022.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ "Adbusters: Media Carta". adbusters.org. Archived from the original on 17 August 2000. Retrieved 13 January 2022.
- ^ Motavalli, Jim (30 April 1996). "Cultural Jammin'". E - The Environmental Magazine. 7 (3): 41. Archived from the original on 23 September 2015.
- ^ a b c d e Rumbo, Joseph D. (2002). "Consumer Resistance in a World of Advertising Clutter: The Case of Adbusters". Psychology and Marketing. 19 (2): 127–48. doi:10.1002/mar.10006.
- ^ [Marnie W. Curry-Tash, "The Politics of Teleliteracy and Adbusting in the Classroom", English Journal 87(1), 1998]
- ^ a b c d ""Culture Jams and Meme Warfare: Kalle Lasn, Adbusters, and media activism", Wendi Pickerel, Helena Jorgensen, and Lance Bennett, 19 April 2002" (PDF). Retrieved 29 March 2014.
- ^ "Adbusters Takes Canadian TV Networks to Court". CBC News. 15 September 2004. Archived from the original on 6 December 2007.
- ^ "Adbusters Wins Legal Victory in Ongoing Case Against the CBC and CanWest", Marketwire.com, 6 April 2009 [dead link ]
- ^ "Satya May 2005: Interview with Kalle Lasn of Adbusters". Satyamag.com. Retrieved 29 March 2014.
- ^ Morrow, Fiona (6 April 2009). Fiona Morrow, "Adbusters Wins Right To Sue Broadcasters over TV Ads" The Globe and Mail.
- ^ Lasn, Kalle (2000). Culture Jam, New York: Quill.
- ^ a b c Heath, Joseph and Potter, Andrew. The Rebel Sell. Harper Perennial, 2004.
- ^ a b "News Article - Cord Weekly". Archived from the original on 10 April 2009. Retrieved 9 April 2009.
- ^ Willan, Claude (24 July 2005). "We're All Borf in the End". The Washington Post. Retrieved 20 November 2007.
- ^ "BlackSpot Shoes : Philosophy Behind the Shoes". Archived from the original on 22 May 2007. Retrieved 25 June 2007.
- ^ [1] Archived 20 July 2008 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Rethink the Cool - from Adbusters". Veganline.com. Retrieved 3 January 2017.
- ^ a b Aitch, Iain (15 December 2003). "Kicking against the system". The Independent. Archived from the original on 6 December 2007. Retrieved 20 November 2007.
- ^ "Blackspot | Adbusters Culturejammer Headquarters". Archived from the original on 20 July 2008. Retrieved 29 March 2014.
- ^ a b "Blackspot – Blackspot Shoes". Adbusters.org. Archived from the original on 20 July 2008. Retrieved 29 March 2014.
- ^ "Support + Subscribe". Adbusters.org. Archived from the original on 19 May 2012. Retrieved 20 May 2012. Text 'hidden' under the "Why do we sell?" tab.
- ^ "Meet the Antipreneurs". businessweek.com. June–July 2008. Archived from the original on 1 February 2009. Retrieved 31 July 2008.
- ^ a b Fleming, Andrew (27 September 2011). "Adbusters sparks Wall Street protest Vancouver-based activists behind street actions in the U.S". The Vancouver Courier. Archived from the original on 11 October 2012. Retrieved 30 September 2011.
- ^ Sira Lazar "Occupy Wall Street: Interview With Micah White From Adbusters", Huffington Post, 7 October 2011, at 3:40 in interview
- ^ "#OCCUPYWALLSTREET | Adbusters Culturejammer Headquarters". Archived from the original on 2 November 2011. Retrieved 17 October 2011.
- ^ Beeston, Laura (11 October 2011). "The Ballerina and the Bull: Adbusters' Micah White on 'The Last Great Social Movement'". The Link. Retrieved 12 October 2011.
- ^ Schneider, Nathan (29 September 2011). "Occupy Wall Street: FAQ". The Nation. Retrieved 12 October 2011.
- ^ "Radical environmentalists urge people to target 'wealthy areas,' deflate SUV tires". New York Post. 11 April 2022. Retrieved 12 April 2022.
- ^ McLaren, Carrie. "Culture Jamming (tm): Brought To You By Adbusters Archived 25 August 2005 at the Wayback Machine." Stay Free!. Retrieved 13 September 2005.
- ^ a b Friesen, Joe (15 September 2004). "Adbusters suing networks for not airing its TV spots". The Globe and Mail.
- ^ Lasn, Kalle (March–April 2004). "Why won't anyone say they are Jewish?". Adbusters. Archived from the original on 23 February 2004.
Here at Adbusters, we decided to tackle the issue head on and came up with a carefully researched list of who appear to be the 50 most influential neocons in the US (see above). Deciding who exactly is a neocon is difficult since some neocons reject the term while others embrace it. Some shape policy from within the White House, while others are more peripheral, exacting influence indirectly as journalists, academics and think tank policy wonks. What they all share is the view that the US is a benevolent hyper power that must protect itself by reshaping the rest of the world into its morally superior image. And half of them are Jewish.
- ^ "Adbusters, Max Cleland, and more". The Weekly Standard. 8 March 2004. Archived from the original on 26 December 2007. Retrieved 20 November 2007.
- ^ Hoffer, Steven (4 November 2010). "Adbusters Yanked From Store Shelves; Anti-Semitic Photo to Blame?". AOL News. Archived from the original on 1 February 2011. Retrieved 5 March 2011.
The anti-consumerist, culture-jamming Adbusters magazine – recently known as the hipster publication that ragged on hipsters – is being taken off the shelves at Canadian drugstore chain Shoppers Drug Mart following a dispute over a "Truthbombs" photo spread juxtaposing images of Gaza and the Warsaw Ghetto, according to The Globe and Mail.
- ^ Mohammad, Saeed David (9 June 2009). "Never Again: A Ghettoized Gaza Bears Striking Resemblance to the Warsaw Ghetto". Adbusters. Archived from the original on 11 June 2011. Retrieved 18 February 2011.
- ^ "Bernie Farber and Len Rudner: Selling anti-Semitism in the book stores". Archived from the original on 13 July 2012.
The argument is obscene, and continues the disgusting tradition of some supporters of the Palestinian cause to turn Jews into Nazis and Palestinians into Jews. In so doing, these propagandists not only demonize Israelis (i.e., Jews), but minimize the murderous extent and intent of Nazism's genocidal project. In other words, such vile analogies become a form of Holocaust minimilization
- ^ Lasn, Kalle (2 November 2010). "A Tale of Two Ghettoes". National Post. Canada. Archived from the original on 5 November 2010.
In Canada, we should be free to choose from a diversity of viewpoints and decide for ourselves what is anti-Semitic and what is a legitimate critique of Israel's occupation of Palestine.
- ^ "Adbusters: journal of the mental environment." Counterpoise. Gainesville: 30 April 2000. Vol. 4, Iss. 1/2; p. 71
External links
[edit]- Official website
- Critique of Adbusters in Jacobin magazine
- "Culture Jams and Meme Warfare: Kalle Lasn, Adbusters, and media activism", Wendi Pickerel, Helena Jorgensen, and Lance Bennett, 19 April 2002.
- "Adbusters Wins Legal Victory in Ongoing Case Against the CBC and CanWest", www.marketwire.com, 6 April 2009.
- Fiona Morrow, "Adbusters wins the right to sue broadcasters over TV ads", theglobeandmail.com, 6 April 2009.
Academic and news sites
[edit]- Interview with Kalle Lasn – Founder of Adbusters
- Culture Jammers find magic button for peace and quiet Sun Herald (13 April 2005) Daniel Dasey.
- Activism for the Mind: Reclaiming Our Cerebral Commons, Kalle Lasn with Natasha Mitchell, ABC Radio National, All in the Mind 12 March 2005.
- 1989 establishments in British Columbia
- Activist publications
- Advertising-free magazines
- Alternative magazines
- Anti-consumerist groups
- Anti-capitalism
- Anti-corporate activism
- Bi-monthly magazines published in Canada
- Cultural magazines published in Canada
- Culture jamming
- History of television
- Magazines about advertising
- Magazines established in 1989
- Magazines published in Vancouver
- Occupy Wall Street
- Political magazines published in Canada
- Webby Award winners