Activist Project

“In the beginning was the Ad. The Ad was brought to the consumer by the Advertiser. Desire, self worth, self image, ambition, hope; all find their genesis in the Ad. Through the Ad and the intent of the Advertiser we form our ideas and learn the myths that make us into what we are as a people. That this method of self definition displaced the earlier methods is beyond debate. It is now clear that the Ad holds the most esteemed position in our cosmology.” – BLF (excerpt from the Billboard Liberation Manifesto)

One activist project that really appeals to me is the Billboard Liberation Font. The Billboard Liberation Front is a group of culture jammers devoted to improving billboards by changing key words to radically alter the message, often this message is anti-corporation. The BLF believes that it is their calling to “redress the imposition on public space.” 

I agree with many parts of the BLF manifesto, I would agree that advertising heavily permeates our consciousness, one would have to escape our society to somewhere remote and third-world to avoid being mediated. 

“You can switch off/smash/shoot/hack or in other ways avoid Television, Computers and Radio. You are not compelled to buy magazines or subscribe to newspapers. You can sic your rotweiler on door to door salesman. Of all the types of media used to disseminate the Ad there is only one which is entirely inescapable to all but the bedridden shut-in or the Thoreauian misanthrope. We speak, of course of the Billboard. Along with its lesser cousins, advertising posters and “bullet” outdoor graphics, the Billboard is ubiquitous and inescapable to anyone who moves through our world. Everyone knows the Billboard; the Billboard is in everyones mind. ” – BLF

The BLF encourages the public to responsibly and respectfully participate in billboard modifications, they have published an instruction manuel of sorts called “The Art & Science of Billboard Improvement.” After discovering the BLF I was very tempted to run out and “improve” all the billboards within a four block radius of my apartment. On any given day there are roughly six and I live in metro – surburbia. However I realized that unplanned action would most likely result in a fine or imprisonment, neither of which as a student can I currently afford. (Especially since two of those billboards are located on top of banks, and I highly doubt my presence in a black jump suit with a duffel bag full of my tools would be appreciated.)

Sillier still it would be for me to boast my involvement in this anti-consumeristic activism on this blog, which primary function is academic. So instead of showing you pictures of my art I will leave you with a clip of how the pros do it.

Happy acting

-j. 

Participatory Culture

Henry Jenkins has posted the fifth installment of ”Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture:  Media Education for the 21st Century.” Which is a series of posts based upon a white paper he wrote about youth and participatory culture

 According to Jenkins, a participatory culture is one:

1. With relatively low barriers to artistic expression and civic engagement
2. With strong support for creating and sharing one’s creations with others
3. With some type of informal mentorship whereby what is known by the most experienced is passed along to novices 
4. Where members believe that their contributions matter
5. Where members feel some degree of social connection with one another (at the least they care what other people think about what they have created).

So, according to these standards by posting this blog I am involving myself in participatory culture. Anything I publish here can be accessed by anyone across the globe who happens to have an internet connection and a lot of time on their hands. I am a media publisher. Who would have thought? 

I’m involved in many types of particpatory culture, though generally it is limited to the internet. I blog, e-mail, chat and IM. I am heavily involved in the online world where anyone can publish anything they have created.

Another major participatory culture in my life is social networking. Like most people my age, I am constantly accessing Facebook, changing my status, messaging my friends, checking my inbox, creating events and uploading pictures. Social networking is just one excellent example of how I am involved in participatory culture. With every message, piece of information and digital photo that I post on Facebook, I am conveying my creations to the public. I am participating in the culture of the social network, and interacting with people, everywhere. 

Participation = contribution

-j.

Net Neutrality

The internet is quickly becoming a battleground between public and private interests. Net neutrality is a principle that is applied to residential broadband networks and potentially, to all networks. A neutral broadband network is one that is free of restrictions on the kinds of equipment that may be attached, on the modes of communication allowed, which does not restrict content, sites or platforms, and where communication is not unreasonably degraded by other communication streams. 

Doesn’t sound so bad…

There have been however some major issues raised by net neutrality. Net neutrality is the idea that all information sent over the internet should be treated equally, meaning that internet service providers (ISPs) shouldn’t influence the applications or content that you see on the internet. In other words, if net neutrality was not being practiced, companies could pay ISPs a premium to deliver their website ad their content faster than that of their competitors.

 

The biggest issue surrounding net neutrality is that, if it was not exercised in Canada, ISPs would be able to impose restrictions on our ability to freely explore the Internet, or ISPs would not provide the choices that we as consumers want. The Internet is so popular and so successful because it has a basic open nature, which allows it to be a free and open marketplace for all websites and content.

If Canada was to abolish net neutrality, I think it would lead to a another realm of the media that is almost completely controlled and directed by big corporations. We are already bombarded with messages, advertisements and images from these corporations, who have the money to buy whatever advertising and airtime they want. Therefore if Canada dismissed net neutrality these companies could basically buy more space on the internet to further push their products and services onto us, the consumers.

Using tiered system media content owners would choose how fast their websites and other online data would be transmitted across the internet, for a price. A tiered system would favour bigger corporations that can afford to pay ISPs for the faster speeds, which will give them an unfair advantage over smaller companies and individuals. 

We are already heavily influenced by big businesses in terms of advertising and the media, and we need to keep the internet a place where we can browse and find information at our will. Not at the will of some giant corporation who paid to be prevalent in search engines. I believe the internet should be kept open and free from interference or restrictions from service providers

I am starting to believe that there will be no “best things in life” anymore, because nothing will be free.

-j.

 

Works Cited:

“Battle over ‘net neutrality’ arrives in Canada.” CBCnews.ca. 2 Nov. 2006.The Canadian Press.7 Nov.

2008. http:// www.cbc. ca/consumer/story/2006/11/02/tech-neutrality. html .

Lenczner, Michael. “Introduction to Net Neutrality.” What is Net Neutrality? Comp. Neil Barrat and

Alison Powell. Canadian Research Alliance for Community Innovation and Networking. 7 Nov.

2008. http:/ /whatisnetneutrality. ca/en/node/1 .

 

 

 

Culture Jamming – Reverend Billy and the Church of Stop Shopping

In accordance with the upcoming buy nothing day I chose to comment upon a hilarious and personal favourite culture jammer, Reverend Billy.

Reverend Billy is responsible for the new documentary “What Would Jesus Buy?” Which let us know that we are in store for a parody of monolithic proportions. Reverend Billy is not actually a reverend, but an anti-consumerism activist who leads a group of activists that believe that consumerism is overwhelming our lives. The Church of Stop Shopping is made up of a 35-person choir and a 7-person band. They protest consumerism peacefully using to humour to educate the public about the consequences of unsustainable consumption.

The video clip is a quick synopsis of the documentary it shows Reverend Billy and the Church of Stop Shopping in various protests. Reverend Billy is shown protesting unfair business relations with it’s employees and suppliers. It also shows the Reverend speaking to group in the Disney store about Michael Eisner (the previous CEO of the Walt Disney Company) made $330,000 an hour and the people who make Disney’s products make $2 a week. The members of the Church of Stop Shopping are then seen walking down a street, carrying crosses with Mickey Mouse nailed to them. Reverend Billy says that the Disney Company is the high church of retail and, by putting Mickey on the cross, they are putting two forms of organized religion together.  

I think that what Reverend Billy and the Church of Stop Shopping are doing is really wonderful and highly important. Their stunts are really funny at times, such as another clip where Reverend Billy is performing an exorcism on a credit card.The Church of Stop shopping has a gospel choir that songs about things like boycotting consumerism and the “Shopocalypse.”

I recently wrote about satirical fake news and how it is a great way to get people thinking about important issues while still informing us about what is going on in the world.  Reverend Billy does the same thing, he uses humour to provide entertainment while still spreading an important message about over-consumption. Reverend Billy seems like a ridiculous and un-credible character in the way he dresses and acts but, if you listen to what he is projecting, he raises some good points and seems to know his facts about businesses and consumption.

I included this clip because I just so happen to work at a Starbucks and can imagine the mayhem that would break loose if Reverend Billy showed up at my store. Degrading the $5 lattes and fake Italian names which our customers hold particularly dear.

Buy Nothing Day

Buy Nothing Day is an informal and loosely organized day of protest of consumerism exclusive to not only the social activist, but by everyday people like you and I.

Buy Nothing Day was originally organized and founded by Ted Dave, a Vancouver artist as a day for society to self-reflexively examine the idea of over-consumption. Buy Nothing Day is widely promoted and supported by the Canadian publication, Adbusters Magazine. Adbusters is a not-for-profit, anti-consumerist organization which is concerned with the erosion of physical and cultural environments by commercial forces. It was similarly founded in Vancouver in 1989. 

(Vancouver. The Relm Of Media Rebellion. Or, just really clean air…) 

It is usually celebrated the Friday after the American Thanksgiving Holiday in North America and is celebrated the day following internationally. In 2008 Buy Nothing Day will be celebrated on November 28th and 29th respectively. This is one of the biggest shopping days of the year in the United States, which makes the idea of not making any purchases on this day of the year even more significant.

I think symbolically, Buy Nothing Day speaks multitudes, in theory it’s a great idea, in practice… As a classmate so succinctly put it, “What’s to stop people from making the purchases on another day, it doesn’t matter if they don’t buy it on a specific day, they will still be buying the s*** they don’t need anyways.” I partially agree with him because in truth it won’t stop people from making purchases they would on the 28th on another day, or immediately stop the senseless over-consumption.

I think the real goal behind Buy Nothing Day is to make us think and to raise awareness about over consumption. North American societies consume way too much. We are constantly bombarded with advertisements which only encourage our consumerism. We feel this insatiable need to keep up with trends, to go out and buy things, and continuously replace the things we already have with newer, faster, better, more efficient models. By participating in Buy Nothing Day, if only in thought and not practice, than Ted Dave has succeeded because people are consciously thinking about the idea and the issues behind it. If we as a society take at least take a moment to contemplate on Nov. 28th then we are taking a stand against consumerism and raising awareness simultaneously.

I did it last year and will succeed in buying nothing on November 28th this year, can you?

-j.

Works Cited: 

“Buy Nothing Day.” Adbusters. Adbusters Media Foundation. 16 Nov. 2008 http://www.adbusters.org/campaigns/bnd.

Media Hegemonies/Mapping Who Owns What

I chose to look at Torstar since it happens to hold stakes in many of the media I choose to view. Torstar is one of Canada’s largest media corporations – it has holdings in print media, websites, radio and even television. According to it’s website, Torstar currently owns;

• The Toronto Star
• Workopolis, a online recruitment and job search solution in Canada. (It is jointly owned with Gesca Ltd.)
• Toronto.com 
• Wheels.ca, a web site which provides information for people in the market of purchasing a vehicle.
• Ourfaves, a website where people share their favourite things about Toronto.
• CTVglobemedia, it’s Canada’s leading multi-media company which owns CTV Inc. and The Globe and Mail and invests in Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, and Dome Productions; Torstar currently owns 20% of CTVglobemedia.
• Metroland Media Group, which owns over 100 community newspapers across Ontario, as well as many advertising venues, distribution networks and web publishing agreements.
• Transit Television Network, which develops, installs, services and manages digital
  “out-of-home” advertising on various forms of mass transit. This would include the “televisions” in the ttc subways.
• Torstar Syndication Services, it provides service by collecting, packaging, marketing, licensing and distributing photos, texts and graphics
• Eye Weekly, a print media entertainment publication
• Metro newspaper –> who knew they were so heavily vested in our transit systems?
• Real Estate News, a publication based upon Real Estate in Canada
• Black Press Ltd., which publishes more than 150 newspapers and has 17 press centres between Canada and the U.S.; Torstar currently owns 19.35% of this company
• King of Romance: Torstar owns Harlequin Enterprises Limited, one of the world-wide leaders in series romance and publishers of women’s fiction

If you thought that was enough… they also own:

• Sway, a quarterly magazine that celebrates Canada’s black community
• Desi-Life, a magazine created for the South Asian community in the GTA
• Sing Tao Daily, a newspaper which is also involved in printing, advertising, Chinese telephone directories and weekly magazine publishing within the context of the Chinese language and culture.

I’m scared. That’s a heck of a lot of media to own.

I was interested in Torstar because I read The Globe & Mail and I had heard that Torstar held a sizeable stake in it, I never figured one of it’s owners would own half the media content I see on a regular basis in the GTA. If my newspaper stand happens to be out of The Globe & Mail, my next choice is The Toronto Star. I find this interesting because those are my papers of choice because I appreciate the “writing style”. I find it interesting that they are owned by the same company. It explains why the style of writing and reporting coverage would be similar. So the way in which one newspaper runs a story, will probably share the same objective as the other.

This is ethically challenging because it creates a monopolistic deliverance of one opinion, when we are lead to believe that we are receiving a variety of viewpoints. It does not allow for smaller voices to be heard in the mainstream media. Hegemonies also serve to shape the public conscious towards the corporation’s opinion. Freedom of Speech? How about some freedom of thought?

I think that this is the issue we are trying to get at with cross-media ownership. Instead of the media providing us with a semi-objective (oh come on, we all know the media isn’t bias free…) information we are being spoon fed the same messages from a large variety of sources, but these sources are owned by relatively small number of large media corporations. This implies that if audience chooses to ignore one outlet, they will be bombarded with 10 more. Cross-media ownership allows these major media corporations to deliver their messages via a variety of sources, promoting their messages and ideas even further. Cross-media ownership, however beneficial to the corporation, is detrimental to the public because it pervades our mind with the same message over and over, from multiple sources. 

At least we can see that they are consistent, at least on a factual basis.

-j.

Works Cited

“About Torstar – Businesses.” Torstar. 2007. 12 Nov. 2008. www.torstar.com/about_business.php.

Fake News

We are all familiar with satirical “fake news” programs such as; The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, and it’s spinoff, The Colbert Report with Stephen Colbert. They are programs that parody current events in the format of typical mainstream journalism. Satirical news aims to provide social commentary in a entertainment form and relies heavily on irony and dead-pan humour in order to deliver its message. 

Satirical news has been around almost as long as traditional journalism, and it seems to only be gaining popularity. There are even “fake news” organizations, a particular favourite of mine is The Onion. It’s an American “fake news” organization that features satirical articles reporting on local, national, and global news. It even boasts a website, The A.V. Club. The Onion comments on current events, both real and imagined. It uses humour by presenting everyday events as newsworthy items and plays on commonly used phrases like “Drugs Win Drug War”.

But is fake news informative?

These satirical media productions boast taglines like, “One anchor, five correspondents, zero credibility.” The “zero credibility” would imply that viewers are leaving less informed than if they had watched a real news program. Also, In 2004 the “National Annenberg Election Survey” Indicated the opposite. “(…) that Daily Show viewers could correctly answer more question about the (2004) Presidential candidates than viewers of national television news and newspaper viewers.” Statistics Canada claims that satirical news programs hold more “viewers in the 18-30 age demographic than any other nightly news program.” This is tough to swallow because it implies that the youth culture is being informed via outrageously funny parodies, which may or may not have factual substance.  

However, in order to enjoy these programs and appreciate the satire, viewers have to have a background knowledge on the subject that the program is parodying. Viewers wouldn’t enjoy satirical news if they couldn’t understand the subject matter, and hadn’t already been discussing it. Fake news develops our understanding of current events by acting as comedic relief. It raises awareness to major issues in the style of “The Yes Men” and sometimes points out just how blind we actually are. Therefore I think that fake news is highly important because it keeps current events relevant to the common man. 

 

 

Decoding/Deconstructing an Ad

Ad Text: This bottle contains satisfaction. The satisfaction of knowing that everyone who watches you grill is envious that people like your steaks better than theirs, but they still come back for seconds.

Make A Name for Yourself.

Advertising School: Southern Methodist University, Dallas, USA
Art Director: Hillary Barnard
Copywriter: Jeffrey Hodgson
Published: April 2008

Source: http://adsoftheworld.com/media/print/a1_steak_sauce_satisfaction

The advertisement is arranged in “rugged” layers. It uses a combination of water colours and sketches to get it message across. There is not a lot of “white space” it uses graphic elements such as the man and the bottle of steak sauce, it is mainly a textual ad, as most of the information is contained in a written element. 

The only figure contained in the ad is a rugged white male roughly 20-45 years of age. You can only see him from the chin down. He has a lot of visible body/facial hairy and is wearing a simple t-shirt. He is pictured with his arms crossed which show cases muscular arms. The way the man is displayed implies that he is a “manly man”.

The background looks like a combination between earth (dirt) and sky. This background is vague, so it doesn’t provide a clear location for the advertisement. This could be so that it is easily relatable and not stereotyping where the man would be cooking steaks.

The action taking place is textual it implies that those who choose to cook their steaks with A1 steak sauce will be the envy of others. It is the implied action of using the product. It also implies that people would be more likely to enjoy your steaks better than anyone else’s. It essentially tells the audience that using A1 steak sauce will put you above others. There is an emphasis put on Satisfaction and Envious, the “Your steaks better than theirs” is also clearly displayed. This implies the key element of the ad, that the product will make you the envy of others. It creates a egotistical emotional response. The copywriter uses bold text to get it’s message across, it also tries to create an emotional response rather than provide information about the product. The “information” it does convey is superficial, it describes the response or end result that will be achieved if you use the products.

The theme of the ad is pride. The ad is “stamped” with the saying “Make A Name For Yourself.”  It tell the audience that by using the product they will be the better chef, the better man, etc.  It also claims that the user would be the envy of other grillers, just because they used this product. The ad in my opinion in appealing to humans lesser nature of pride, and envy. 

The product being displayed is a American steak sauce, the ad not so indirectly reflects and plays upon stereotypical thinking that American mean are tough, meat-loving, grill masters in order to sell their product. It also uses elitism to appeal to the American audience. 

Craving steak, and glad I’m not a American male.

-j.

Social Uses/Implications of Technology and Media

Wake up Jaclyn…

It’s six-thirty am and already my life has been mediated, my cell phone has chirped it’s melody that annoys me out of slumber. Mind you, it has to repeat this function three times every morning, and sometimes I quiet it, ignore the time and drift back to sleep, but even in this small anarchist moment I haven’t escaped being mediated. A technology has informed me that I have had enough sleep and I need to wake up. 

When finally I am able to drag myself out of bed, it’s off to the shower. I am closely accompanied by my cell-phone. It has a lovely function which allows me to play music, which saves me the effort of dragging my hulk of an Ipod dock into the bathroom with me. Now my cell-phone uses shuffle mode to determine which songs I shall have the pleasure of singing along with. I think singing in the shower in the mornings is very much like making your bed, it sets the tone for the day.

Next I run around like a mad woman trying to get ready and out the door on time, barely breathing while gulping down a fruit smoothie as my on-the-go breakfast. My cell phone calmly reminds me that I am scheduled to start work in half an hour. I think to myself it must be nice to be the timekeeper, and not the one required to fulfill the obligations. 

My cell phone has a myriad of different functions, it holds my address book, a calculator, can give me GPS directions, let me surf the web, takes pictures, allows me to communicate with others through talk/text and informs me how much I owe on my phone bill.  Of course, I am the one who selects the music to put on my phone, I set the alarm which wakes me up, I choose which calls I accept, but all of these “choices” don’t protect me from the fact that a simple rectangle of metal and wire dominates and influences my daily functions.

I wonder what the world is coming to when I have lost the ability to wake myself up and guide my day. I always thought that I was technologically inept and would shy away from being “modern”, as I consider myself of the old-fashioned variety. I suppose this implies that I have six in one basket and a half dozen in the other. Should I be worried about how mediated I am by my cell-phone? If the world does come to relying on robots will I be the first to accept Mr. Executron with open arms as my new boss?

Leaving with a pathetic feeling in my stomach, and a strong desire pack up and become a Rocky Mountain hermit,

-j.

Theory/Praxis: Media Literacy

Media literacy is a theory popularized by Marshall McLuhan, it implies an ability by an audience to sift through and scrutinize the messages given to us by the mass media that inform us, entertain us, and sell to us every time we tune into the media and even unconsciously while we commute, through advertisements displayed on billboards, large LCD screens, and store front windows.

The goal of media literacy is to have the audience use critical thinking when absorbing the media, by asking questions, and taking note of what is included in the message and sometimes more importantly, what isn’t.

I strongly agree with media literacy being included in grade school curriculum. It helps to combat the mentality given to today’s children who are increasingly being raised by the media. It teaches them to think critically and to not just absorb. Until commercialism in media content is more heavily regulated, which it may never be, because as we all know the advertisements pay for the content, I think media literacy programs are important to save our future generations from becoming blind, greedy, and want driven consumers.

I have always been wary of messages given to me in the media, not that I have never been wooed into purchasing something or relaying a concept that I picked up from the news, but I try to be as alert as I can to the messages I am being given and why I am receiving them. As I find myself without a television, in my home at least I have drastically reduced the amount of media messages I receive on a regular basis.

Since I strongly support literacy media programs in schools, I thought I should outline the eight key concepts of media literacy;

1. All media are construction

2. The media construct reality

3. Audiences negotiate meaning in the media

4. Media have commercial implications

5. Media contain ideological and value messages

6. Media have social and political implications

7. Form and content are closely related in the media

8. Each medium has a unique aesthetic form

Source: John Pungente, S.J. From Barry Duncan et al. Media Literacy Resource Guide, Ontario Ministry of Education, Toronto, ON. Canada, 1989.

Never stop asking, “why?”

-j.