Thinking About Culture

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In the short period of researching for ideas and examples of pop culture jams and messages, we as a group found that while these culture jams had great messages and could potentially make a difference on a personal level. The overall, idea of culture jams were, in a macroscopic view, not making a large difference in the way it protests and blocks the overall societal view. It is largely an underground “rebellion” that is overlooked and lost because of unawareness by many due to some of the forms it is presented in. We felt that there is not enough public awareness and education on the culture jamming available to the public and therefore, they are ignorant to the fact that it is available to them.

The overall intentions of culture jamming are definitely in the right place, however, the overall effect is narrow on the effected populace. This is because it is somewhat elitist in subject matter in which it demands a certain level of education and awareness to understand it. Such as the “buying nothing for one day” (https://www.adbusters.org/campaigns/bnd) jam. While this idea is great concept, it proves unrealistic in the way it could not be achieved at a macroscopic level. This would only be effective at a local level which inevitably would have negative consequences on privately owned businesses. Culture jams seem to live between that of civic art, in the subject matter covered and guerrilla art by the forms in which it’s presented. We found that the overall effect of civic art is too elitist in intention and represents the upper-middle class rather than including the lower socioeconomic masses as well. The guerrilla, more primitive, underground art form is viewed as a lower form of artistic expression, which receives less merit as a form of art because of this and therefore receives less attention from the upper or upper middle class. Guerrilla art such as the sticker that was attached to a skin care ad (http://www.flickr.com/photos/mixthemessage-com_fansite/4019881544/in/pool-adbusters) in our blog is a part of an underground movement and exemplifies the simplistic effective forms it can take. Although both civic art and guerrilla art, in culture jams, are speaking to the same cause of disruption they are viewed on two different levels which clash.

While Culture jamming is a somewhat effective rally against westernized, patriarchal conformity, such as the “Thank you Corporate America” (http://webct.lakeheadu.ca/SCRIPT/57264/scripts/serve_home) post;
It has its limitations as an effective feminist tool depending on how the message is presented and where. Culture jamming is a great tool for the public to get their message across to the masses; however, it is a hidden form of protest that is a disruption to the popular ideologies that rule our societies. For this reason, it is silenced by the dominating ideologies of society and the disrupting messages brought from culture jamming are therefore taken underground because of its defying nature.

GuRLS Final Blog

Cultures are constantly being reinvented, and are “always the site for struggles for meaning.” (Sturken et al, 2009) In cultural arenas such as politics, consumer life, and art, dominant values are constantly questioned and counteracted. Culture jamming started as a revolt against the mass production of products, consumerism and capitalism and the environmental and social issues that go along with that (Liacas). It uses the forms, language and logos of the powerful production companies as a way to get across its message. Along with culture jamming in Western cultures, globalization has caused jammers to start up across the globe, in attempts to counter act the damages that have been done by production companies to include sweat shops, advertising, low paying jobs, and mass media focused on selling products (Liacas).

Culture jamming started early in our history, and has remerged due to the acceleration of new companies, products, media and internet spreading advertisements and messages. Some of the very first culture jams were done by activists with spray cans, they rewrote the messages of billboard advertisements, “changing the slogans in hopes of startling viewers into thinking about messages differently” (Sturken et al, 2009) Culture jammers began with using whatever they could to get their message across to an audience. With such a wide audience to target, using a spray can and billboard or poster was a rudimentary way to reach the most people. Today, activists have started producing the culture jams to fight against the fact that only a few companies owning and producing the majority of things we consume (Liacas). Remakes of ads and parodies “are deploying new tactics and creating ambiguous brand meanings through postmodern style… thus the distinction between ads and anti-ads is increasingly difficult to make.” (Struken et al, 2009) Culture jamming has changed from the basic need to express one’s self to a highly technological way for activists to get their message out. The remaking advertisements show the new found sophistication that culture jamming has adopted. As in the development of anything, culture jamming began from a need and grew in to something recognizable and popular.

The term cultural appropriation is the process of “borrowing and changing the meaning of cultural products, slogans, images, or elements of fashion” (Sturken et al, 2009) and it has been used by culture jammers and artists to make statements that resist dominant ideologies. Cultural appropriation can create multiple meanings, building off the reversal of the original. Culture jammers use media and internet tools to get their messages across, using the same tools that advertising and production companies’ use. Many critics of culture jamming ask if something that uses the mainstream can also change it? (Liacas) Some research suggests that even though culture jams alone are not stopping mass consumption/production, they are changing the ways in which products are being made and sold (Carducci, 2006). Because of culture jamming and the activism against the issues surrounding mass production, many companies have "gone green", and taken anti sweat shop policies (Carducci, 2006). So even though, the problem is not completely solved, activism has made some impact. The area that culture jamming can make the most impact in is with the public. Informing and motivating the public is what culture jamming started out doing and it is what activists and protesters are still working for today. “In a commercial-dominated society in which 'culture' is often defined simply as a set of objects, images, and artifacts to be purchased and amassed, participating in individual and community-based forms of cultural production and resistance is seen by culture jammers as an essential component of responsible democratic engagement with the ideology of the everyday.” (Darts 2004)

Danger Powers, Abbey Road, BritFan

Pop & Counter Culture

By analyzing culture jams in both global and local contexts we have found that they have developed into a world-wide phenomenon and consequently can be strong political pieces. Each of these political pieces portray stories of the creator and their life experiences. Readers also use their own individual cultural contexts to interpret images and thus each image can represent new or different meanings to different people. “Understanding the cultural context of a story can often help our understanding of some aspect of the story itself. The social, political and economic currents surrounding a writer can and usually do affect the writers literary creation” (virtuaLit).

Banksy was one of the culture jam artists who created political pieces such as Maid in London and the pieces done on the Gaza wall. These political pieces make statements and critically examine the culture and politics of that region. For example: the work on the Gaza wall was created in order to demonstrate how restricting and confined life is in Israel and Pakistan. Banksy challenges the negative aspects of this barrier by creating works of art that depict people being trapped behind the wall and trying to escape. By creating images like this Banksy is trying to prove that these walls are confining, and is criticizing them for the lack of freedom they portray. This is Banksy’s way of showing his outrage and dislike of this wall, and how this wall is taking away from people’s rights and freedom.

A culture jam from Slovenia was one of the rare finds of a culture jam that is not extremely westernized. This is mainly because the language used is not English. It does however criticize advertising and proves that billboard advertising does work. It also sends the message to the viewer that people, who buy into and believe what they see, cannot think critically about the advertisements they see and are therefore, in the words of the billboard, an idiot.

One form of culture jamming that is certainly occurring around the world, but is not necessarily visible on the internet, would be ‘Guerrilla Marketing’. Weburbanist.com describes this type of culture jamming as ‘Subvertising for Good Causes’. In a write-up on subversive marketing and other culture jamming techniques, the website states that “sometimes it is even more powerful not just to make a statement against the status quo - but to make one that might actually benefit someone in serious need. Humanitarian guerrilla marketing and subvertising can raise awareness about local and global issues in a visceral way that can engender real change”. This particular write up is important because in a consideration of culture jamming as a world wide phenomenon, this kind of technique becomes extremely significant. The website featured an example of an advertisement which touches on the humanitarian concern of children and poverty. If culture jamming is capable of addressing large scale issues such as this, then it must be occurring around the world to raise awareness about the vast number of global issues that we in the West do not witness on a daily basis. Although not being able to find good examples of it on the internet is discouraging, this website gave hope that Guerrilla marketing is out there in countries other than the United States and Europe who have more frequent internet access.

The second technique found through research was culture jamming propaganda. As the question asks to explain why culture jams are important political pieces within their specific cultural contexts, these examples were also significant. Weburbanist.com features some examples that take the artistic elements of historical propaganda, which have been used across the globe, from the Soviet Union and China, to the UK and the United States, and transforms them into culture jamming pieces. For example, one ‘propaganda’ like image features Bert from Sesame Street in the place of a historical figure, while another uses the red M&M character. Weburbanist states that “propaganda has often been SO serious and over-the-top that it invites parody. By injecting a note of humor into traditionally staid and solid imagery, we can derive amusement from belittling the propagandists while enjoying the jarring inconsistency between, say, the Soviet Threat personified by an army of Kermit and Bert clones”. Propaganda posters are used to boost moral and patriotism, and often feature controversial images such as North Korea’s anti-American propaganda (Weburbanist.com). Another example as discussed in class is the culture jamming of Marxist guerrilla Che Quevara. Culture jamming or parodying of these types of images helps to shed light on the use and possible abuse of propaganda during Revolutions and wartime (Weburbanist.com).

While researching it was found that many images from global locations still portray contradictions toward western built companies. “Nike the Ripper” is an important political piece towards Nike as it shows already fit women being withheld by the Nike swoosh, bringing forward questions in regards to the social class and politics behind the products they sell. This culture jam also prompted questions of how Nike products are manufactured with the economic goal of making money and how they are going to go about doing so. Furthermore the Nike culture jam and the blog are intriguing because of how one image developed into many different things. As the experiences from person to person vary, we see the controversy based on the cultural and experiential differences. This blog in reply to the Nike image seems to be based on life experiences and beliefs. It cannot be assumed that people will see the portrayed image the same way we will or the way the artist had initially intended. This concept presents us with what we have learned to date as the preferred meaning which the producer originally had in mind therefore creating a polysemic view on the image.

Culture jamming is global phenomenon but we have become more familiar with the bigger industries which are mainly in the United States and Canada. Culture jamming is a great way to spread your message, whatever your message is, whether it is contradicting a global corporation about where they get their meat or who is making our clothes for those multinational corporations. The mass audience is what media wants to appeal to; they want us to think what they have to offer us is what we should all want and need. Consumption of products is what makes our world go round today. Women play a huge part in the media, because lets face it, sex sells. Just like in the picture of the woman in the underwear ad in class, the lighting accentuates her breasts and thighs making it easier for the woman to decide, "I want to look like that! Therefore I should buy this underwear and bra!" More so, these are young women who get this big heaping weight of sex poured onto them, in order to be more appealing. These industries are here to first and foremost make money, and they will do anything to do so. Culture jamming is a person’s way to go against these global corporations and say how they feel. People should have that right to not have to buy into consumerism and going with the masses. Culture jamming certainly takes place around the world, as it is a tool to counter dominant discourses as well as address or highlight underrepresented issues.

Although finding examples from around the world proved to be difficult at times, this does not mean that culture jamming is not happening around the world. Other groups have discussed the wide variety of culture jamming formats and the history of culture jamming practices. Due to the large expanse of what is considered 'a culture jam', as well as the varying cultural and political contexts around the world, it is safe to assume that culture jamming is occurring outside of the Western world. We have attempted to discuss some versions of it throughout our blogs and in out final conclusion, but we have certainly not uncovered or discussed them all.

- Keekers, Kate Bauer, Durden32 and Aubrey B

*Feminism and Culture*

Our blog group (Feminism and Culture http://2113wa10b.blogspot.com/) focus was to find culture jammers online and research them. The research included; finding out information on the specific group that designed the culture jammer, their politics, how they use jamming and why.

Throughout the last month we each found very interesting and thought-provoking culture jammers and groups/individuals that use culture jamming through images, video, and as our group found even themselves. We found that feminism is used in culture jamming as an outlet for challenging the viewers thought-processing and show how non-sensical our society can be to stereotypes about women. For example; "The Right Dress Size" culture jam creator Beverly Naidus shows the viewer that generations of American women have been 'bought' into the idea that if they buy the right clothing, wear their hair the right way, eat the right thing than they will be the true definition of an American woman. Naidus' culture jammer reflectively proves that this idea is just plain ridiculous because like Naidus wrote; what happens to the people that don't fit in, or can't fit in?

Feminism is used through culture jamming to provide a voice for women that are not heard by society by using the same tactics as large media and advertising. Culture jammers that speak the truth seem shocking because feminists confront 'taboo' issues that society usually chooses to ignore. Such as our January 10, 2010 post "QUEERying Culture..." in which the creators (Dyke Action Machine) use their creativity to fight the stereotypes about lesbian lifestyles and show society what it is really like.

Through our research we've learned that culture jamming is all around us whether we consciously realize it or not. Take our January 18th post about Lady Gaga for example, she herself is a culture jammer. Through what seems to be her way of fighting the constraints of

the 'politically correct' she has made an empire all while being an activist for gay and lesbian rights. She takes using 'shock-value' to a whole new level!

When women are negatively portrayed in media or misunderstood by society culture jamming will always be a way for feminists to fight back and unveil the lies that many are taught to believe. Feminists create culture jammers that depict the ridiculousness and show the often humorous side to sexism. Culture jammers are a form of social movement and could possibly be our generation of feminists newest way of protesting.