Culture jamming is the practice of hijacking mainstream cultural institutions, products or media, and subverting them in order to communicate a new message; to make critical and often disparaging comment about the destructive nature of the product, idea, or corporation. The result can be overt or extremely subtle, requiring close scrutiny in order to differentiate it from the original. Whatever forms these activist mechanisms take, the goal of ad-busters, billboard-improvers and logo-tweakers is to make people think about what role products, media, and ideas play in our lives, and how we live them, as individuals and as a society.
First Culture Jam
The term ‘culture jam’ was first coined in by Crosley Bendix of art/rock band Negativland in 1984 (Williams, 1999). In 1991 the group released a ‘mash-up’ track that included samples from the U2 song, I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For (U2, 1987), leading to a controversial legal battle with U2’s label, Island Records. Despite the origins of the term, however, the first culture jams, as they are defined today, are often credited to the clearly subversive actions of the Billboard Liberation Front (BLF). On their website, the BLF in fact credits its existence to a 1977 event sponsored by a club entitled ‘Enter the Unknown’ (Billboard Liberation Front, 2010). During the event, attendees were encouraged to help ‘improve’ two billboards... an exploit which resulted in the apprehension of all jammers present.
Still other cultural historians point to the rise of the Dada and later Surrealist movements in the early twentieth century as the birthplace of the activist spirit that ultimately evolved into the modern culture jamming movement. A reaction against the horrors of war and fascism, the movement in art, literature, music and film was generally expressed in absurdist and illogical terms that also flouted the artistic and social conventions of that era (Oxford University Press, 2010).
Most Influential Culture Jam
Various independent commentators have claimed that this or that example of culture jamming is the most effective. It seems reasonable to conslude that any project that has come to the attention of someone who doesn’t spend much time on the web, doesn’t watch television, and has only recently been made aware of this activist movement (that would be me) must have achieved some degree of success.
First Culture Jam
The term ‘culture jam’ was first coined in by Crosley Bendix of art/rock band Negativland in 1984 (Williams, 1999). In 1991 the group released a ‘mash-up’ track that included samples from the U2 song, I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For (U2, 1987), leading to a controversial legal battle with U2’s label, Island Records. Despite the origins of the term, however, the first culture jams, as they are defined today, are often credited to the clearly subversive actions of the Billboard Liberation Front (BLF). On their website, the BLF in fact credits its existence to a 1977 event sponsored by a club entitled ‘Enter the Unknown’ (Billboard Liberation Front, 2010). During the event, attendees were encouraged to help ‘improve’ two billboards... an exploit which resulted in the apprehension of all jammers present.
Still other cultural historians point to the rise of the Dada and later Surrealist movements in the early twentieth century as the birthplace of the activist spirit that ultimately evolved into the modern culture jamming movement. A reaction against the horrors of war and fascism, the movement in art, literature, music and film was generally expressed in absurdist and illogical terms that also flouted the artistic and social conventions of that era (Oxford University Press, 2010).
Most Influential Culture Jam
Various independent commentators have claimed that this or that example of culture jamming is the most effective. It seems reasonable to conslude that any project that has come to the attention of someone who doesn’t spend much time on the web, doesn’t watch television, and has only recently been made aware of this activist movement (that would be me) must have achieved some degree of success.
I would argue that independent filmmaker Morgan Spurlock’s documentary Supersize Me (2004) has been one of the most effective culture jams to gain mainstream media attention. This work has gained exposure on a global level, and also served as a powerful catalyst for debate amongst health professionals, governments, fast-food chains, and communities. One might argue that this film not only exposed the negative impacts of McDonalds’ products on the physical and psychological health of consumers, but also led to the increased scrutiny of health organisations and the implementation of ‘healthy options’ menus in McDonalds and other food chains. Television shows such as The Biggest Loser (Broome, 2004) may well demonstrate the continuing impact of this cultural jam on society and its relationship with the fast food industry and health in general.
Most Damaging Culture Jam
In truth, a successful culture jam must inflict damage – not on the ‘innocent’ consumers of society, but rather on the productivity and profiteering of multi-national corporations, groups operating with questionable ethics, and otherwise irritating advertising campaigns unfortunate enough to come to the attention of ‘media hackers’. In opening the eyes of society to the offensive or objectionable nature of a media campaign or product, witty re-brandings and image-alterations also necessarily injure the reputation and marketability of the product.
On occasion the damage inflicted by a culture jamming project is not limited to its original target.
Reference List
Billboard Liberation Front. (2010). History and Timeline. Retrieved August 26, 2010, from
http://www.billboardliberation.com/history.html
http://www.billboardliberation.com/history.html
Oxford University Press. (2010). Oxford Dictionaries: Dada. Retrieved August 26, 2010 from
http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/Dada?rskey=LadgIM&result=1#m_en_gb0202070
http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/Dada?rskey=LadgIM&result=1#m_en_gb0202070
Williams, S. (1999). Culture Jamming 2.0 [Electronic version]. Retrieved August 22, 2010, from
http://www2.inow.com/~sam/cultjam2.html
http://www2.inow.com/~sam/cultjam2.html
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