Adbusters set text + analysis

ADBUSTERS (may/ june 2016)

Detournment- "culture jammin" hijacking well known icons and questions them and the ideologies they perpetuate.

Adbusters are anti- brand and anti-establishments + capitalism. they dont follow traditional rules so can be seen as controversial. can be seen as anarchist as it rejects traditional hegemonic values.

context:

• is published 6 times a year, and started in 1989.
• price is £10.99
• circulation is 120,000 readership
• independent magazine (very niche)

"based in vancouver, british colombia, canada Adbusters is a not for profic magazine fighting back against the hostile takeover"

                       

• unconventional layout, non-consumerist
• bold text, large, white and blocky
• powerful main image, only image on the cover.
• masthead is grainy and almost blends into the image 

commodity fetishism- "is the process of ascribing magic "phantom-like" qualities to an object, whereby the human labour required to make that object is lost once the object is associated with a monetary value for exchange"-Patricia Louie

Louboutin "advert"


- red soles are a part of their identity
-"shoes" in advert are very contrasting to what the brand the brand stands for, binary opposites as to what a shoe even really is.
-"red soles are always in season" could be the shoes or peoples bare feet may be red and sore or bleeding.
- irony as heels hurt your feet and people pay ridiculous amounts of money for that, and the person in the ad is doing most they can to prevent this.

how are representations of ethnicity constructed?
-represented as desperate as they make do with anything available. denoting extreme poverty.
-apply post-colonial theory as people in the west will try and be the saviours when often they're the ones who make the situation worse.
                                         

How does Adbusters use representations to present ideologies to position it’s audiences?



How are audiences positioned in the penultimate paragraph?
-"brightens your smile and pollutes your waterways" quite contrasting, juxtaposing something we see as superficially positive with something which is so detrimental to the environment but without paying any attention to the damage something so minuscule and insignificant as brushing your teeth can have. the wording in the paragraph makes you rethink your everyday choices and decisions, most of these actions or products are used/ done everyday and have become a norm for society, also makes reference to how we've all become numb and oblivious to the actual effects our actions have. we are placed in a position as a villain but we don't feel like it 



applying theories to the following ads

                        


the advert on the left is very raw and confrontational as it is not dolled up or sugar coated to tiptoe around the fact that many people face this reality everyday. it poses a binary opposition to the bottom half of the image on the right where a whole team has been dedicated to prepping and arranging the highly paid runway models, contrastingly the left image is taken as it exists, no extra work has gone into manufacturing the image, it is a lot of peoples reality which we don't think about when buying such things as expensive branded shoes. the brand name itself is a great example of commodity fetishism as the name itself is treasured higher than the shoe itself almost, we have become so materialistic that we aspire to have an item not even for the sake of it practicality or use but for the status and because it will make other people aspire to be like us. 


 

• "350 ppm" is relating to the safe amount of CO2 that should be in the air to make it liveable, currently we are raking in 400 ppm (parts per million)
• changed lingo over time going from "global warming" which sounds soft and gentle with no sense of urgency or negative consequences, then "climate change", change being something that many people fear to then "climate crisis/ climate emergency" which is made to sound more intimidating and more like its an urgent matter. 
• the model on the left has no sense of individuality and sense of identity as they're made up to look androgynous and ambiguous, making it easier for us to identify with them. they represent the fashion industry and the process behind the runway clothes and trends we see. a key thing to think about is fast fashion- trends come and go so quickly, a concept manufactured by the fashion industry, which means that lots of people fall into the trap of buying new clothes every season or every few months instead of having clothes that are of higher quality and will last, cheap clothes are mass manufactured. this is a huge problem as it means vast amounts of rubbish and waste is created through the actual manufacturing process but also the clothes itself is discarded after such a short amount of time. 
• we live in a world of extremes, wealth, climate, places, and it will continue to be if we don't put a stop to it.

(finish and copy from book)

examples of culture jamming on adbusters website:

*blackspot logo* -The blackspot is the anti-logo, a logo to wipe out logos. Anyone can draw it, anywhere. It represents . . . nothing. Or maybe everything.

03/03/2020 

1 - What is the dominant ideological perspective of Adbusters?

• read article and answer these questions: 

1. what is the ideology/ ethos of adbusters?                                                                                  they aim to stray away from the big brands and the dons of advertising, they have more grounded core beliefs and morals such as culture jamming to sabotage mass media messages, they believe in humanitarianism, and are very anti-establishment and anti-consumerism.
2. how does adbusters subvert traditional magazine conventions especially in relation to advertising?                                                                                                                                they have what they call "spoof ads" which incorporate real logos of actual brands but are not paid by the brand to use them  and the most important part is they make reference to the brand in a mocking sort of way to where they ridicule the brand identity and the corporate consumerist message they're trying to push forward. 
3. how does the magazine interact with its audience ?          

2 - Constructing audiences and constructing brand identity using digitally convergent media 

• in what way does adbusters construct its audiences?

some very distinctive styles and attitudes such as anti-establishment, cares about issues like poverty and the fact were destroying the planet with our bare hands, this will intern draw in people that have the same or similar ideologies, however this can be argued to be counter intuitive as the point is to change peoples attitudes and outlook on the world to stray away from large organisations so its almost like preaching to the converted.

• how does the website reinforce the brand identity 

the website when you immediately refresh onto the home page can be seen to have a vague layout in order for people to navigate their way around easily, however the majority of the site is abnormal and strange in that is is plain in articles but with a spread of full screen background images, its not cluttered with ads and places to distract and draw your attention away from, the gritty facts of the world around us, headlines are simple and pictures are bold and confrontational.

• is there a clear "house style" that is evident across the magazines and website?

not particularly as every magazine front cover differs from the last one, there can be trends that we can see of some things that are somewhat similar like its futuristic and bold features on its website which is often reflected in its magazine articles.

• what does the website offer which is different to the magazines?

interactive features where it requires you to scroll down to see different pictures for example, or where it says "click here" in order to show the image. magazines don't have the ability to change as you read them although with the turning of pages it can be argued that.

3 - Ideology in practice and how adbusters interacts with its audience

   consumption

• campaigning agasint consumerist culture where we feel we constantly need to be buying "stuff", the article states "Overconsumption is destroying us, yet shopping is “our solace, our sedative: consumerism is the opiate of the masses.
• “We’ve got to break the habit,” Mr. Lasn said in a telephone interview. “It will be a shock, but we’ve got to shift to a new paradigm. Otherwise, I’m afraid will be facing a new Dark Age.” Of course, retailers will be facing a Dark Age if people really stop shopping. And because consumer spending accounts for roughly 70 percent of United States gross domestic product, an abrupt shift to non-consumption would drive the already faltering economy to its knees.
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