The term "cultural jamming" was first used by the collage band Negativland to describe billboard alteration and other forms of media sabotage. On Jamcon '84, a mock-serious bandmember observes, "As awareness of how the media environment we occupy affects and directs our inner life grows, some resist...The skillfully reworked billboard...directs the public viewer to a consideration of the original corporate strategy. The studio for the cultural jammer is the world at large." http://www.rebelart.net/source/dery.pdf
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Size_Me
At a first glance Nike's latest billboard, "The most offensive boots we've ever made," uses a simple word play to confuse the notion of offensive. Offensiveness is a football tactic, they tell us, not a response to injustice. This created fictional sense of 'offense' crowds out any notion of real moral offense. The passive spectator of the ad, the one who doesn't consciously notice the billboard and couldn't be bothered thinking about it, has their notion of 'offense' blurred and slightly confused. It's far easier to think sport than to think about the complexities of human rights abuses in other countries. The powerful cultural voice of Nike is telling me that offense has to do with sport, and I don't like getting into arguments.
source: anon
Not content with the normal boundaries of advertising, Nike's publicity takes it further. They build upon this fictional offense by 'jamming' their own billboards. They paste over their own billboards (though conspicuously never covering over the Nike swoosh) with messages, "What next, rocket packs?," and "Fair Minded Footy Fans say Not Fair Mr Technology" in order to feign outrage at the supposed injustice of boots that are simply too good. These 'jams' even go as far as to mimic the messy typefont used by previous authentic jams.
http://www.antimedia.net/nikesweatshop/
No comments:
Post a Comment