As we all know that in today’s society advertising is largely around us at all times. With it basically being part of our lives, it calls for “pranksters” to take advantage of these ads and parody them. This is also called “culture jamming”. According to the article, Harold defines culture jamming as ” a movement in which seeks to undermine the marketing rhetoric of multinational corporations, specifically through such practices as media hoaxing, corporate sabotage, billboard liberation and trademark infringement” (Pg. 190). The culture jamming of ads could be for any reason. They can just be simple parodies of an ad just for a good laugh from others or they can try to sabotage a company.
Ad parodies can be called “spoof ads”. These ads could often be about nothing and just for laughs but the pranksters are also trying to unbrand the companies through fictional advertisement . There is a group of media activists called Adbusters and they culture jam certain companies that they disagree with in their campaign for customers. For example in the spoof ad above, Adbusters are creating this ad to satire Nike and their “Just Do It” campaign. They are going against the ideology that Nike has created with being a company for athletes.
Another type of ad parodies that the Adbusters use is rhetorical sabotage. This can be considered as “an attempt to impede the machinery of marketing” (pg. 190). For example, they like to culture jam the pop-culture(mainstream) marketers and try to bring the image to a dead stop. In other words, they are trying to shut down a certain company by parodying their ads in a horrible manner. An example of this could be this ad from the Adbusters trying to shut down McDonalds and help the animal rights activists. The Adbusters are trying to explain the cruelty of animals that McDonalds is using to make their food. This ad is definitely trying to sabotage McDonalds through their image and the slogan.
sog5283 says
Your discussion summarizes this week’s assigned reading very well. It gives a great overview of culture jamming and media’s use of parodies. The examples you choose interpret the different types of parodies pretty well. It is clear and easy to understand. I think culture jamming is a two-fold tactic. It can just be a hilarious ad. It also can disrupt the fame of company.
Sarah Nicole Weidenbaum says
As an Advertising major, you think I would be offended by culture jamming but in fact just the opposite. I myself have made parody ads and find them informative rather than hurtful. While culture jamming is mean to throw a wrench into the system and “unbrand” a company as you mentioned, I actually find it a great tool to study how the consumer views a product. In the example that you showed of the Nike ad parody reading, “just douche it”, it tells me as an advertiser that while the brand strives to promote a “cool” image the public may not be perceiving it that way. If this idea that Nike is in fact viewed as a product for “douche bags” then Nike could turn that around in a campaign designed to reposition the product within the minds of consumers. I do however see the effectiveness of culture jamming where it can shed a light on truths that us advertisers do not want the public to necessarily know. This type of parody ad, like you mentioned in your post can be seen as sabotage and if it goes “viral”, could have a negative impact on the company/brand image.
dlm5622 says
You do a great job of delivering the definitions with images that correlate with the Harold article and allow us a more visual aspect. The two images you picked are great and easy to understand. The two brands are highly recognized and easily associable with a topic, idea or slogan. Over-all I think your post was well written and easy to understand.
I would have liked to have heard more of your opinion about Culture Jamming, however I do believe sometimes it is hard to have an opinion on it. On certain topics I believe it is good and others I do not. Such as I prefer the Nike ‘culture jam’ compared to the McDonald’s. But, to each their own.
In general though, good post!