Culture jamming

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Culture jamming is the act of transforming existing mass media to produce negative commentary about itself, using the original medium's communication method. It is a form of public activism which is generally in opposition to commercialism, and the vectors of corporate image. The aim of culture jamming is to create a contrast between corporate image and the realities of the corporation. This is done symbolically, with the "detournement" of pop iconography.

It is based on the idea that advertising is little more than propaganda for established interests, and that there is a lack of an available means for alternative expression in industrialized nations. Culture jamming is a resistance movement to the hegemony of popular culture, based on the ideas of "guerrilla communication".

Culture jamming's intent differs from that of artistic appropriation (which is done for art's sake) and vandalism (where destruction or defacement is the primary goal), although its results are not always so easily distinguishable.

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[edit] Origins

Coined by the collage band Negativland on its release JamCon '84, the phrase "culture jamming" comes from the idea of radio jamming: that public frequencies can be pirated and subverted for independent communication, or to disrupt dominant frequencies. The Situationist International first made the comparison to radio jamming in 1968, when it proposed the use of guerrilla communication within mass media to sow confusion within the dominant culture. It is also thought that the phrase might, in part, come from the 1967 episode of The Prisoner, "It's Your Funeral", which featured subversives calling themselves 'Jammers', who were attempting to disrupt the Orwellian dystopia in which the series takes place.

Culture Jamming has roots in the German concept of spass guerilla and in the Situationist International. Techniques of culture jamming include adbusting, performance art, graffiti, flash mobs and hacktivism (such as cybersquatting).

The Canadian magazine Adbusters began to promote culture jamming in 1989. American author and cultural critic Mark Dery further popularized the term with his 1993 monograph Culture Jamming: Hacking, Slashing and Sniping in the Empire of Signs. [1]

[edit] Examples of culture jamming

A "Kill your TV" slogan with skull motif
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A "Kill your TV" slogan with skull motif
  • Gorillaz' "Reject False Icons" movement, encouraging the placement of stickers on pictures of "False Icons" like Ashlee Simpson and Usher. Supporters also use graffiti to spread the word.
  • Billboard modifications, done in the style of the original billboard, by groups (e.g., the Billboard Liberation Front) or individuals.
  • Modifying slogans to create political statements. For example "Just do it... or else!" was used as a modified slogan to comment on Nike's alleged sweat shop practices.
  • Google bombing, a widespread effort to purposely influence the automated association of specific keywords with results produced by internet search engines, especially Google.
  • The Who's classic 1967 album The Who Sell Out, featuring satirical faux commercials on the cover and between the tracks.
  • The band Negativland's Dispepsi album, in which recordings related in some way to soft drinks are used to comment (in a negative way) on the beverage industry and its marketing practices.
  • The Church of Satan's ad featuring founder Anton Szandor LaVey holding a snake in the style of Apple Computer's "Think Different" campaign.
  • The 1994 burning of £1,000,000 in cash by the K Foundation.
  • Sousveillance, the recording or monitoring of authority figures.
  • Whirl-Mart is an event that seeks to mimic and mock what they perceive as the absurdity of the shopping process, often by organising a crowd to walk around a Wal-Mart in an apparent daze for several hours, buying nothing.
  • The defacement of stolen (and then returned) library books by Joe Orton and Kenneth Halliwell, for which they were imprisoned for six months in 1962. Written about in detail in John Lahr's "Prick Up Your Ears".
Andre the Giant as street art
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Andre the Giant as street art

[edit] Culture jamming organizations or people

[edit] See also

[edit] References

    • Tietchen, T. “Language out of Language: Excavating the Roots of Culture Jamming and Postmodern Activism from William S. Burroughs' Nova Trilogy.” Discourse: Berkeley Journal for Theoretical Studies in Media and Culture. 23, Part 3 (2001): 107-130.
    • Klein, Naomi (2000). No Logo. London: Flamingo.
    • Lasn, Kalle (1999) Culture Jam. New York: Eagle Brook.
    • Kyoto Journal: Culture Jammer's Guide to Enlightenment. [2]
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