Counter Culture Blog Research

Usernames: “Electric Erio,” “Dougie,” “Rosebud,” “Owl Eyes,” and “fiesty”.

Jennifer Roth

WOME 2113

October 4, 2011

Counter Culture Issues Within Society

            Culture jams are critiques of corporations and consumer products that are remade to promote social justice and consumer awareness. The societal issues that express counter culture include; elitist presentation, how culture jamming is effective in Western consumer culture, and how it is a vehicle for useful feminist critique.

            Culture jamming is elitist on the aspect that the individual would need to have some knowledge in order to twist meanings of the ad or commercials, and the consumers would have to be more than passive in order to interpret or understand the concept of the jam. For example, the civil disobedience group on the Internet known as Anonymous hacks websites in order to infer social justice. The groups has hacked the Westboro Baptist Church in order to stop their attempts to spread homophobia on their controversial website entitled “God Hates Fags.” Hacktivism is an important part for people to have an outlet for culture jamming and it is elitist because one must have knowledge to sabotage a website and change its contents. According to the Collins English Dictionary, culture jamming is defined as:

a form of political and social activism which, by means of fake adverts, hoax news stories, pastiches or company logos and product labels, computer hackings, etc, draws attention to and at the same time subverts the power of the media, governments, and large corporations to control and distort the information that they give to the public in order to promote consumerism, militarism, etc.

Thus, hacking websites can be a valid form of culture jamming to promote social justice and allow others to become aware of the message with the use of the Internet. Many Internet culture jamming groups can also create Internet havoc. Lasn explains how an Internet group can create cyberjamming: “Immobilize an enemy site by organizing a few dozen cyberjammers simultaneously to request more texts, picture, animations and multi-media elements than the site can handle” (Lasn 133). Thus, Anonymous changes and overwhelms certain offensive website content in order to create social justice, and create cyber and civil disobedience. Culture jamming is also elitist in the web cartoon “Neurotically Yours” which features a series of rants from Foamy the Squirrel. Foamy gets his coffee from Star Schemuck's Coffee House which plays on the words of Star Buck's Coffee House. The word schemuck in this case plays on the aspect that the customers, or the franchise itself, is obnoxious or contemptible. Foamy is a character personified as elitist and talks down to the coffee clerk about how the franchise puts all of the local coffee shops out of business, and despairs on how prices are rising on a simple cup of coffee. Thus, Foamy takes up the position as the customer that refuses to fall for the franchise's corporate traps.

            In addition to media spreading commercials and ads posted around suburbia, culture jamming takes on the same medium by which it is also spread. Culture jamming uses similar advertising methods to promote anti-corporate messages – through billboards, posters, commercials, and so forth. Although, culture jamming cannot reach certain people who are disabled in order for them to get the full message of the jam. People who have visual, hearing or cognitive impairments will not come to fully understand culture jamming messages, so there are limitations to some jams. The benefit of these mediums is that they are not lengthy and present information in a straight-forward manner, with the audience adding their own interpretation and making the message memorable. Like advertisements or commercials, culture jams are meant to attract attention and deliver their purpose quickly without overwhelming the onlooker, thus the jams are displayed by underground art and billboard take-overs.

            Culture jamming can be an effective tool for raising a protest or giving a voice to a purpose, but this is dependent on how the issue is presented. Passive rather than overt activism is more effective in culture jamming for a number of reasons. Firstly, forms of overt culture jamming draw more attention to the individual rather than the cause; for example, a reverend persona created more publication for himself rather than his message about Disney’s use of sweatshops. During overt forms of protests, stereotypical judgements can be made and draws attention away from the message at hand. For example, the figure of a bra-burning feminist sticks as a universal image from the supposed staged event, yet the message intended to be delivered is forgotten.

            Memes function as a cultural analogue, reaching people across the globe through the Internet which includes ridiculous parodies that reach a vast audience with various senses of humour. Lasn explains how using memes is a form of cyberjamming:

 The Internet is one of the most potent meme-replicating mediums ever invented. With cyberspace growing at about the rate of an infant–doubling in size every ten months–and with users always looking to pass on a scoop, good memes reproduce furiously (Lasn 132).

Thus, the multiple branches of culture jamming reach many people by using different mediums. By addressing people as consumers of culture, culture jamming is compelling people to look beyond what they are shown, to what they are not seeing. As an creative outlet to engage people, culture jammers shake people out of their everyday stupor and get them to take a look at how we are all consumers of media and how that reflects their personal values.

Culture jamming; as a helpful feminist tool, pushes forth political and social justice while being somewhat passive in nature to the same degree as the advertisements consumers view every day. All people are free to participate and to also contribute in the critiquing of consumer advertisements that mask the greater issues of companies and within the world. The fact that most culture jams address issues of class, religion, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, and so on, makes it a feminist tool; feminist issues are world issues.

Some examples posted within the counter culture blog address concerns of feminists, some passively and others, somewhat unsuccessfully, as aggressive. The video posted with the reverend protesting publicly and aggressively in a Disney store as well as on the subway, in regards to Disney products coming from sweatshops is definitely a feminist issue. However, the way the protest was presented; aggressively, was inappropriate and caught consumers’ attention for all of the wrong reasons. Passive culture jams get the political and social issue out there with little disruption in a person’s daily routine; while culture jamming is more affective when done passively via videos and images similarly to advertisements, it also becomes more mysterious to the consumer perhaps making it more interesting instead of frightening.

Another culture jam that addresses a feminist concern is the male Dolce & Gabbana advertisement with the white, male models with black veils; not unlike Middle Eastern women’s veils, to perhaps target problems of women’s freedom in other cultures and within European cultures. The article that ran with the culture jam discussed how European nations have had difficulties dealing with the abundance of Islamic people residing in cities and suburbs. This culture jam is successful in deconstructing hegemonic male patriarchy and racist attitudes; especially in regards to the war on terrorism, leading to prejudices formed toward Middle Eastern values, religion, and culture within Western and European cultures or societies

            Women are often the targets in advertisements for clothing, hairstyles, make-up, and food; because of these factors women are more in danger and more prominently the group that suffers from constant body insecurities that can lead to numerous psychological and physical health issues. The standard presented by models in the advertisements as well as slogans that accompany them, are inescapable for many women to live up to. For example, the culture jam of the Tommy Hill Figure expresses these concerns perfectly.

            Therefore, culture jamming can have elitist perspectives, be a helpful feminist tool to address social issues, and reach a wide audience with the inclusion of the Internet. With the use of the Internet, memes, and approaching societal issues passively, everyone can interpret the culture jam to some extent.

Works Cited

“culture jamming.” Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition.               HarperCollins Publishers. Retrieved: 02 Oct. 2011. <Dictionary.com

            http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/culture jamming>.

Lasn, Kalle. Culture Jam: How to Reverse America's Suicidal Consumer Binge–And Why We

            Must. New York: Harper Collins Publishers Inc., 1999. Print.

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