In a society bombarded with consumerism, it gets to a point where it becomes easy to forget to question what’s being targeted at us. However, there are people who remain at an unease by the direction society has accepted a corporate run world. In order to point out these overlooked problems, comes the mechanism of culture jamming whereby, “...a variety of interesting communication strategies... play with the branded images and icons of consumer culture to make consumers aware of surrounding problems and diverse cultural experiences that warrant their attention” (Culture Jamming).
Culture jamming is effective in that it uses the original advertisements of corporations to alter it to reveal something about it or a statement on society. This use of familiar iconic and branded imagery attracts more attention to targeted audiences, being those who are exposed and use that consumer culture.
One example of the culture jamming is this altered image of an Esso sign at the entrance to a large station near the Germany-Luxembourg border in Wasserbillig (Beentjes).
This particular case of culture jamming easily transformed the sign to a deeper revelation with the addition of two red lines through the S’s in Esso to resemble the dollar sign. Here culture jamming is used to make a statement about gas companies’ value of the dollar over all else. This photo appeared in an article on the Greenpeace International website, an organization whose mission statement is that, “...[It] is an independent, campaigning organization which uses non-violent, creative confrontation to expose global environmental problems, and to force the solutions which are essential to a green and peaceful future.” (Green Peace Mission Statement). Green Peace would showcase this culture jamming because they feel that the oil franchise uses natural resources remorselessly and adjusts its pricing not so that it is fair for its consumers, but so that it creates the largest net income.
Culture jamming is just another method of expression to make a concern heard by the broader public. Though not in the best interests of the corporations its targeting, it brings to light an important awareness that not everything that surrounds us and is marketed to us is healthy for our own interests or that of the world we live in.
And for those of us who have their own objections they want heard because they are simply
,culture jamming is both a cheap and easy way to bring that point into the public’s collective consciousness.
Work Cited
"Culture Jamming." UW Departments Web Server. Web.
"Greenpeace Mission Statement." Greenpeace Canada. Web.
Beentjes, Bass. "Exxon still funding Climate Change Deniers”. Greenpeace International. Web.
Very interesting! I had never heard of culture jamming before, so it was highly informative.
ReplyDelete-PF