Adbusters

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 Week.

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.

Mandate

The Adbusters mission statement:

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. Adbusters is at essence an ecological magazine, examining the relationship between people and the environment, both the material environment and the mental environment.

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.

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.

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.

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, No Logo, Greenpeace and even PETA.

Issues

Blackspot campaign

In 2004, the organization began selling shoes with their 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. The most popular product in the blackspot campaign is the Blackspot shoes. The shoes are made primarily from organic hemp and recycled car tires, and are made in Portugal by union labor.

Media Carta

File:Adbusters NY Billboard.jpg

New York City billboard

On September 13, 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 for reasons based on business principles. The lawsuit claims that Adbusters' freedom of expression was unjustly limited by the refusals. 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.

True cost economics

Adbusters traces many of the problems which exist in developed nations to the 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 taxing 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.

Mental space

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.

Adbusters groups their opposition to the hype, 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.

Neo-luddism

On numerous occasions, Adbusters has made reference to an iminent apocalypse created by scientific technology. Adbusters feels human society is in decline, and without change, there is "no future," a notion which references the punk subculture and more specifically the band Sex Pistols. 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:

• Developing at an unsafe rate
• Proceeding in a direction that is harmful,

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.

Another of Adbuster's concerns is the widespread use of 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.

War

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, and another issue was focused on the history of American combat. 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. 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, Adbusters describes Vladimir Putin, Ariel Sharon, and George W. Bush as terrorists, and describes American ideology as fascist.

Culture jamming

Adbusters has been described as "the flagship publication of the culture jamming movement". Adbusters is particularly well-known for their culture jamming campaigns, and the magazine often features photographs of politically-motivated 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 SUVs. The aim of culture jamming is to create a large contrast between the corporate image and the real consequences of corporate behavior. 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 honors culture jamming work in the magazine. 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 variance 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].

Criticisms

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. 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."

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 conformist. 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."

Adbusters came under fire for alleged anti-semitism when it ran an article that identified many supporters of the Iraq War and the 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.

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.

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.

See also

• Guy Debord – philosopher quoted by Adbusters - "Live without dead time"

External links

• Official website
• True cost economics
• Blackspot Sneaker - Adbusters's first shoe
• Interview with Kalle Lasn - Founder of Adbusters
• CNN interview with Kalle Lasn (archive link, was dead)
• Mindfucked: Kalle Lasn on toxic culture, mental environmentalism, and running shoes
• German Culture Jamming Website in English
• Culture Jammers find magic button for peace and quiet Sun Herald (April 13, 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.
• Culture Jammer's Guide to Enlightenment. A talk with Adbusters' Kalle Lasn.
• Adbusting Style Poetry using Trademarks