ADBUSTING & CULTURE JAMMING

   The commodification of culture. A look at some cultural icons including the Statue of Liberty, barcodes, junk food corporations, & altered barbies

As we see more product placement in movies, TV news, & newspaper editorial content, I predict that we may well also see the corporatisation of culture and history. For instance Manet's "The Picnickers" will become "The KFC Picnic - how about a bumper bucket?'

In Australia "The proportion of people citing excessive use of credit as the reason for declaring themselves bankrupt.. more than doubled, to over 21%" between 2000 & 2005. -from "Affluenza - when too much is never enough" p72-73 by Clive Hamilton & Richard Dennis

"Advertising at its best is making people feel that, without their product, you're a looser. Kids are very sensitive to that. If you tell them to buy something, they are resistant. But if you tell them they'll be a dork if they don't, you've got their attention........Advertisers are more aware than anyone of many children's need to see themselves as 'cool'. The ability to demonstrate coolness through spending is an important message that advertisers try to impart.....Brands have become an inseparable part of children's maturing consciousness. Nearly half the world's 8 to 12 year olds say the clothes & the brands they wear describe who they are & define their social status. Lindstrom notes that tweens are exposed to more than 8,000 brands a day & that they influence close to 60% of all brand decisions made by their parents......more & more tweens define their worth, their role in the social hierarchy, their popularity, & the...

"A cycle of hope & disappointment lives at the heart of consumer capitalism." from "Affluenza - when too much is never enough" p6 by Clive Hamilton & Richard Dennis

Check out my latest altered Barbie video "The Last Supper" - Barbie & friends star in a new twist to an old story.

 The "sellout" of the hitherto-independent Huffington Post news website to corporate AOL, has angered many freelance bloggers who were responsible for providing [largely free] content for publication. HuffPo editor Arianna Huffington has been described by American Republican strategist Ed Rollins as domineering & "the most ruthless & ambitious person I'd met in 30 years of national politics". The HuffPo was established in 2005, by Huffington, & "has risen from being a marginal voice in the blogosphere to a prominaent outlet for liberal opinion, & one of the most influential new-media platforms in America" - NZ Herald Sat Feb 12, 2011 This media release from www.adbusters.org #HUFFPUFF " Arianna Huffington has betrayed us, so let's huff and puff her house down. She built a blog-empire on the backs of thousands of citizen journalists. She exploited our idealism and let us labor under the illusion that the Huffington Post was ...

"Now something rather strange has begun to happen to the Arabic language news broadcaster al-Jazeera and the English language channel it launched nearly five years ago; American viewers have begun to demand it. It is clear some kind of watershed has been reached when the Kansas City Star publishes a cut-out-and-keep guide to the "easiest way to get al-Jazeera English". The Qatar-based channel's acclaimed coverage of the Egyptian crisis has been referred to as the broadcaster's "CNN moment", doing for al-Jazeera English what the first Gulf war did for CNN, pushing it to the forefront of the public's consciousness. Every global media story produces its winners. Egypt's drawn-out agony is a tailor-made opportunity for al-Jazeera English, which it has seized with careful on-the-ground journalism. If the US cable owners relent to the emerging public pressure, it will mark a coup for a news service that, until recently, was battling to prove it had ...