"Dreams, be definition, are supposed to be unique and imaginative. Yet the bulk of the population is dreaming the same dream. Its a dream of wealth, power, fame, plenty of sex and exciting recreational opportunities." -Kalle Lasn
“Face the absurdity of the human condition, not to master the chaos, but to create within it.” —Simone De Beauvoir
Samantha Levy
ReplyDeleteWeekly Statement 5
When I visited the AdBusters website, I was immediately drawn to the spoof ads. They provided me with the same sort of sick humor that South Park does, only with more ridiculous truth than animated exaggeration. I really enjoyed the Joe Chemo (mock Camel) ads which almost glamorized the cancer and eventual death of the cigarette smoker. As a society, we are bombarded by advertisements and media, which inevitably have come to control us. The image of wealth, sex and near-fantasy is used in everything from perfume to Quizno’s commercials, and in truth, it works.
AdBusters is working against the current of pop-culture and explores the faults in the culture of advertising. The truths of alcohol are reflected in the mock Absolute ads; Absolute often uses the same bottle-outline template, but the AdBusters takes something an average person would recognize and adds the depth of reality to it. Looking at things from an economic prospective, I asked myself: do I believe that products would sell if we advertised them in their true (and often negative) forms? Probably not. Do I believe that what advertisers are doing is brainwashing Americans and other cultures? Pretty much. If we are left with the dysfunctional companies and products we have right now, it seems to be a lose-lose situation. Unless we have a perfect product with no negative impact on anything, it would be difficult to effectively sell something in full truth. I am searching in my mind for a perfect product while writing this, and there aren’t many (if any). So I am still curious, is there a way to advertise truth without turning off consumers?
I think that AdBusters is pointing us in a good direction by highlighting the wrong-doings of advertisers, but after tearing apart an issue, we need to move forward. Does the issue really lie in the advertisement or the product itself? I think it really is a combination of the two, but I am still left with questions on how to improve without unhinging the economy.
P.S. remember the Paris Hilton Whopper ad? I would really enjoy an AdBusters spoof on that. I may have to take matters into my own hands.
Weekly statement 6
ReplyDeleteAs Lasn said we do spend more time in the virtual world than the real world. I spend most of my time in front of my laptop, either looking up or creating virtual things. I read news feed on facebook and get an idea of what’s going on with my friends’ lives. I can’t even remember what’s the last time I saw some of my friends in person. In fact we don’t even need to meet each other at all. Because a lot of them get together and talk about things that are on TV which can totally be done on line. The virtual world feels so real that we can’t tell the difference between what’s virtual and what’s real.
Being so into the virtual world makes us distant from the real world. We barely spend time in the nature; instead we turn on TV and watch animal planet. We get all our information from TV shows, newspaper or on line. We don’t go and experience and witness things any more. We just listen to whatever the mass media tells us. My brain is jammed with information every day. And the funny thing is I never doubt the reliability of the information that’s being spread by TV or Internet. The mass media affects us on how we dress, how we look and how we live. We are losing our minds on how to make decisions or how to live our lives. Instead we are living according to the value systems that’s on TV or Internet, which does not exist in real life. We are brain washed.
Letao Zhang
I thought the first chapter of culture jam was very interesting. Society is truely lost withought their modern use of technology. For example im not particularly attatched to the TV but if i didnt have a computer or a phone i would go insane. I think a lot of it has to do with the way we communicate now a days. Sure there are occasions where you will meet a friend for a cup of coffee, but lets face it: casual daily conversations take place over facebook and text messages. Although it may be true that if we were more connected with nature it would be part of us and we would treat it as we treat ourselves, i feel that the need for socialization would never cease to be of utmost importance. People rely heavily on relationships between their friends, family and significant others. If i didnt have a steady social life and constant support from my friends and family, i would probably turn into the guy from "Outcast" and start talking to volleyballs. So, yes, society relies on technology but i think the underlying motive is the yearn for socialization.
ReplyDeleteSam Schulman
ReplyDeletePost #7
Section 003
Ashley Lieber
While reading the book Culture Jam, by Kalle Lasn, I could not help but think about the book Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury. I read Fahrenheit 451 I believe in eighth or ninth grade. The book was about a society that was rapidly becoming more dependent on technology to the point where social interaction was very limited; spouses barely spoke to each other and books were being burned. Firemen were no longer working to save lives from fires, but to burn every book available. What was so significant about this book to me is I could see trends that were happening in our current society that the author had written about in the early 1950’s, a time where iPods, computers and cell phones hadn’t been invented, let alone colored TV. As I read the book while on vacation, laying at a pool, I looked around me and watched children in their lounge chairs with plugs in their ears blasting pop music, as their mothers sat next to them talking away on their cell phones. The families had little interaction and were completely “hooked up”. In Fahrenheit 451, Bradbury explains a contraption called “sea-shells”. These plugs that went into everyone’s ears, namely Guy Montag’s (the main character’s) wife, were used to listen to music, the radio, etc. It is crazy to me that in the 50’s Bradbury could basically predict what the 2000’s would look like. It is true that in my spare time it is rare that I would sit down and read a book, but instead go on the computer, play a video game, or listen to music.
While waiting at the doctors office I saw children glued to their Nintendo’s while they waited for their parents to return, never glancing up to see other people that walked in and out and paying attention to the environment they were in. While this might be a parent’s dream-come-true, it is so dangerous for children. Social interaction is limited and they do not feel the need to be observant and therefore they are unaware of their environment and surroundings. Culture Jam poses serious questions about us as consumers and the overload of information that we are fed everyday without much of our knowledge. It is important that citizens question society as Kalle Lasn does and that we stay alert, recognizing underlying propaganda and severe issues that could damage diverse societies around the world.
P.s.- As I spell-checked this post, I noticed that iPod is now in my Microsoft Word dictionary…pretty crazy.
Weekly Response 6
ReplyDelete11/3/09
Adbusters/Culture Jam
A section of Culture Jam that I really related to was where Lasn painted the picture of a typical American family attempting to rekindle their sense of “family” through a family outing, outside of 4 walls. The issues he describes each child having with being “unplugged” are completely realistic while they may seem somewhat absurd. People love technology so much so that they will hide behind it. People have more confidence when talking online, for example. We are a nation that is completely consumed in the mass media.
My family has a cottage up on Lake Michigan, and when you are there, cell phones receive absolutely no reception whatsoever and there is no internet. It is a complete escape from the outside world if you want it to be. We recently got a TV and cable for rainy days, but unfortunately when the cousins come they like to plug in with the Playstation or Xbox and play Guitar Hero instead of going down to the beach and playing Frisbee or swimming. Some friends of mine are hesitant, even, to come visit up there simply because they will be disconnected from their other friends whom they have become accustomed to being connected to or have the possibility of being connected to every second of every day through their cell phone or the internet. This is pretty depressing if you ask me.
While I don’t think it would be very easy to reverse this consumption phenomena or attempt to disconnect people, raising awareness could be helpful. People will not stop consuming but perhaps if they realize the power corporations have over them, they will stop and think twice once in a blue moon before buying their third iPod even though their 1st generation works just fine.
Weekly Statement #7
ReplyDeleteI am really enjoying the book “Culture Jam”. Not only is it written well, but there are also many things in it that I can relate to and I have become more aware of as I read it. The first section of the book talks about how much Americans spend on things they don’t need in order to be “cool” and the effect that advertisements and television have on us that we are not even totally aware of.
One of the first quotes from the book that stood out to me was, “When everything is at hand, nothing is ever hard-won, and when nothing is hard-won, nothing really satisfies. Without satisfaction, our lives become shallow and meaningless.” (p. 11) I think this is so true in our society today. I would have to say that most of my friends come from a family with more money than my own. Their parents give them a large amount of money periodically to spend on whatever they want, so they go out and buy really expensive clothes, go to movies, and eat out at expensive restaurants. This liberty to do whatever they want because they have the money to do so should satisfy them, but it doesn’t. They still complain about not having the best and most expensive car on the market, or the best phone out there. They still complain about being bored and not having anything to do. I am not saying that I don’t do the same things also, however. I remember when I was younger I would constantly be moping around the house and whining to my mother that I had “nothing to do”. Even with all of the toys, television, a great back yard, and a neighborhood filled with kids my age, I apparently had nothing better to do than to complain to my mom about being bored.
I agree a lot with what Kalle Lasn says in “Culture Jam” about television and ads that have changed the way we think. I don’t have a TV in my house here at school, and I am actually really glad that I don’t. I would waste so much time watching pointless television (usually MTV or stupid reality shows) before. I was suckered in to watching these shows where the producers only cared about getting more audiences by cramming in shock value and jolts. And the more we watch, the more shock value they have to put in because we are becoming desensitized by each crazy thing we see.
When the TV show cuts to commercial, I can always tell, even when I am not in the same room, because the TV gets louder. The commercials are basically shouting at you to buy their products. And the more ads that get produced, the more unaware of them we become. Especially when ads are not just on TV but on billboards, in magazines, on buses, on the radio, on people’s clothing, etc. These subliminal messages get into our brains, then, without us realizing and it turns us into different people. We are persuaded by things in the media, and conform with the people that we see. A quote that really made me think in the book was, “Are the myriad daily choices I make, apparently freely, truly the product of my own free will?” (p. 40) I think a lot of times they aren’t. I also like and believe another quote that made me realize something: “Ten years ago we didn’t think twice about the chemicals in our food or the toxins generated by industry; we thought they were ‘well-within acceptable limits.’ We were dead wrong about that and today we may be repeating the same mistake with ‘mental pollution’ – non-chalantly absorbing massive doses of it without a second thought.” (p. 13)
Weekly Response: Seven
ReplyDeleteAdbusters and Culture Jam
Generations of Americans have been exposed to subliminal advertising and have been raised to believe that success in the world means the ability to consume. Essentially, the “American Dream” has changed from the ability to come from a distant land, find work, have a nice home and provide for your family. The “New American Dream” has been altered to include the capability to purchase extraordinary amounts of luxury goods, afford lavished vacations and a second home. If Americans were robots out sole function would be to consume. Our brains have been hotwired to believe that consumption is our key to happiness and that the more you own, the more respectable you appear to the rest of society. I have been open to the reality of this situation for nearly a decade. I have always been extremely skeptical about most everything. Middle school was my first and only attempt to fit in with the rest of my classmates by buying $80 Abercrombie t-shirts, ripped jeans, three striped Adiddas tennis shoes and Hollister hoodies. I never understood why these brands were so powerful. All of the popular kids wore these brands and all looked the same because they all dressed and acted the same. When I went out and bought these items I was immediately more accepted at school. The fact that my parent had the ability to purchase over- priced poor quality clothing with store logos pasted on the front of them all the sudden opened a locked door to acceptance in middle school. The key was money. I made friends with popular kids but it all felt terribly artificial. The next year, I cut my hair off, only wore solid color clothing with no labels and avoided having store labels branded on my clothes. People do not understand the damage their consumption is causing physiologically, economically and environmentally. I have been reading Adbusters for a number of years and am in full support of their efforts to bring a sense of reality to readers.
I have skimmed through Culture Jam a year ago for University class but am glad to re-read it for this class. While I totally agree with the information being brought forward by the book, I feel as though I have had an understanding of it for years already and an unphased by the material. I came to the same conclusions when I was a teenager and have been living in a true reality and understanding of the world for several years.
I was excited to read the rest of the classes responses to the book because I wanted to know what they thought of their lifestyles after taking in the information provided.
Mental illness is the newest fashion accessory. Prescriptions for mental illness have skyrocketed in the past decade because of the way medications are advertised. Every parent thinks that their child has ADD or ADHAD or depression or that they themselves have restless leg syndrome, depression or anxiety. While many of these illnesses may actually afflicting people, a lot of it is in the mind of the beholder. I myself suffer from manic depression because It runs in my family but I avoid all medications when I can because I find that the ability to overcome problems without the use of prescription drugs is much more powerful than taking a pill that changes your personality. Our society is depressed because we can’t meet the expectations we set for ourselves.
Sam Schulman
ReplyDelete11/9/09
Statement #8
While Kalle Lasn’s, Culture Jam is an interesting read, it is a walking contradiction. Lasn speaks of the persuasive ad companies as he desperately seeks approval and support from his readers at the same time.
I did find the section where he spoke about the trouble he had getting an ad to air in British Columbia aired because it stood against the lumber organizations that economically ruled this area, extremely interesting. It was a scary, yet honest depiction of what “freedom of speech” really means in America, and sadly it means quite little. Freedom of speech is basically based on how much wealth you can contribute, without wealth, your voice will probably not be heard. Yes, it is the TV stations or radio stations decision what and what not to air, but to turn away a paying customer as not to publicize two sides of a story is biased and an untruthful portrayal of many issues to the naïve American public.
I do believe it is important to see both sides of the story, and sadly it is only by reading books such as culture jam that citizens can be exposed to a fair playing ground of opinions, but I believe it is almost impossible to relay facts or news without some form of bias. Even our textbooks for such subjects as political science, History, and English can be filled with the biases of the authors, even in subjects where an opinion is not needed. It is up to us as American consumers to be aware of all different viewpoints and when they are present so we can formulate opinions on our own. Through observance, research, and reading we can learn to identify biases so that we will not be manipulated as easily. This is an important task that we must take on in order to combat the changing times and technological advancements we are seeing in our culture today.
Weekly Response 7
ReplyDelete11/10/09
Adbusters is something I have found interesting in this weeks lecture/discussion. While adbusters is anti-consumerist and aims to detach people from the media that consumes them, I think that if they are not careful, they may just turn into advertising and propaganda themselves, adding to the commercial clutter of our lives. Every advertisement is promoting something, they just happen to be promoting ANTI-consumerism. Kind of an oxymoron. Since they are currently a magazine, the only people being reached by this idea are people already interested or made aware of the situation. The people who look to purchase the magazine off the shelf at Borders. Yet, if they advertised their ideals and goals it may turn out to go against their ideals anyway.
I think that if adbusters began putting out their ads, there would be more conflict in media than there already is because the companies Adbusters targets will not appreciate their ploy. However, the corporations may take the high road and actually take Adbusters accusations into account. They could begin to promote their products or ideals in ways that could not be targeted by adbusters. Or perhaps begin to create products that are true to their embellished advertising schemes, thus not embellishing near as much.
If adbusters and other corporate media attempted to work together, a lot of these over consumption issues could be turned around. I do not see an end to consumption though. People have been living this way, seemingly brainwashed, for generations. The only possibility would be to make sure the situation doesn’t get any worse and people lose virtually all human interaction. Like in WALL-E, the people are all obese and sit in little capsules where every need is provided. That movie was a great eye opener, but they even used some false advertising in their movie trailers. By the looks of the movie trailers it is all about this two robots falling in love amidst a world completely devastated, but it turns out that humans are the target of the film. Upon watching it, viewers most likely feel disgusted by society and fear for the future.
Erica Wagner
ReplyDeleteTechnology Overload
I have always wanted to go camping, ever since I was little because I used to live in New Hampshire and all of my friends and their families would go out these outings to camp, while I stayed home with my family. The one thing that stuck out to me about these events was when I asked my mom if we could do the same and go camping she said no because there were no outlets. The fact that even when I was that young being “unplugged” from our society was an issue is really scary.
Now I have a little sister who is 11 years old, and has a cell phone, and iPod, a DS Nintendo system, and watches TV at least 5-6 hours a day. This makes me so sad because when I was her age I feel like I was always outside. She plays on sports teams with her friends and my dad couches them, which is a good start, but unless she is forced to be outside for practice or games, she does not just go outside for fun whereas I was always being forced to come inside when I was little.
I like what Sam said about how she noticed how detached we are as a society from one another when her and her family was at the pool that one day. I feel that way everyday walking to class. Since taking this class and reading all of these books about our detachment from nature and one another I have noticed just how true that is. When I’m waiting at the bus stop I have began to count how many people I see when their iPod buds in their ears, looking down at their cell phones, and completely ignoring the outside world that surrounds them. The numbers go up every time I sit there I feel, and whets sad is that I am sitting on the bench with my headphones in as well as I sit and judge these other people.
The bus is even worse. People literally are touching, our space is so limited and close in proximity, yet no one ever usually speaks unless their already good friends. Contact is avoided like the plague, and everyone is in touch with their technology in some form, any form, any way to cut ourselves off from interaction with other human beings, it is as if we are afraid of interaction with actually humans, so to escape we cut ourselves off with our iPhones, and Music, and emails, or text messages, or facebook. This technology overload is getting more and more out of control, and I doubt will get much better as the years go on because products are changing so rapidly that everyone just WANTS what new technology can cut them off from reality fastest.
Tenth Weekly Statement
ReplyDeleteJim Christian
11/28/09
Last night, I was hanging out with a group of friends from high school, enjoying our Thanksgiving break, and sharing stories about fall semester. Cody, my best friend of 12 years says to me, “I had the strangest craving the other day. I was walking back from class and I really, really wanted to smoke a cigarette.”
Now, Cody has never in his life smoked a cigarette. The only way he knows what cigarettes taste like is from second hand smoke, and the only way he knows what smoking feels like is from… So, a guy that I’ve known for 12 years, who has always claimed he thought smoking was absolutely disgusting, suddenly wants a cigarette. Is this some sort deep desire ingrained in his subconscious? Does he crave the perceived flavor that he does not know? What is our assumption of the flavor of a cigarette, and where does it come from? Or is smoking still perceived as “cool” in his mind? Kalle Lasn has totally gotten into my head.
Another example is my girlfriend, who owns a pack of cigarettes and a lighter. However, she smoked one or two of them with a friend two summers ago and hasn’t touched them since. Both of my parents have quite smoking multiple times, and both of them are successfully nicotine-free as of now. So, I’ve seen what it puts people through, and I would absolutely hate to see my girlfriend go through this. Therefore, those cigarettes in her drawer under her desk really piss me off. Every time I see them, I get tense, and I feel the need to say something to her about how I would stop dating her if she started smoking. Despite my best efforts, though, she will not throw them away.
The interesting thing here is that most of us openly admit that smoking is not cool, but at the same time there is something deep down inside of us that occasionally wells up and takes over. There is something at a subconscious level that will not let go. I’m not sure if its just the devil on our shoulder or if it’s the remains of exposure to smoking advertisements as a child. Or, maybe it’s the smell of mom when she burned a cigarette outside then came back in to give me a smoky hug.
I guess this entry is more of a question than a statement. The only real evident piece of fact that I can pull out of these situations is that our desires are not as rational as our words. As a person who favors rationality, I’ve subdued any desires to smoke. Likewise, I’ve subdued any desires to gamble, cheat, steal, or use facebook.
Kyla Suchy
ReplyDeleteWeekly Statement: Week 8
Prior to my visiting of the Adbusters’ website, I had assumed their role solely on their name: they bust advertisements. After a Google image search, my thoughts were confirmed. The spoof ads not only offered hilarity but also a realization of how much companies try to manipulate us through advertising. The website however, delves deeper into what the magazine is really all about. The aim of Adbusters is not only to satirize popular ads from large companies, but it is to break consumers from the cycle they are trapped in. Consumers are fed information from powerful companies and for lack of better resources they believe it. Adbusters is not against media; instead they are trying to topple the power the media has over the way we think. By pointing out where advertisers are going overboard, we as consumers can better separate the legitimate claims from the outrageous exaggerations.
It is unfortunate that we need to be reminded that commercials do not always speak the truth, but it is a hopeful thought that someone is looking out for the misinformed in the world.
Alexis Newton
ReplyDeleteWeekly Statement #13
Culture Jam
The quote about how Americans are all living the same dream is quite disturbing. At first it seems almost absurd, that everyone can be hoping for the same things in life, and then when you think about it, you realize that it’s the truth. Most of what can be defined as American culture is made up of the products we use and the things we consume. With logos everywhere we are, from the time we are born, it’s hard not to do be affected by them.
From the time I was born, my parents always told me to do well in school, so that I could go to a good college and get a good job. Though I know now that college is the right choice for me right now, it was also what I felt that I was supposed to do. A large house with cars and a flat screen TV are things that most kids grow up thinking what makes up a successful life.
If the idea of living a more sustainable life was shown as an example of a successful life to Americans from the time they are born, maybe we would have a lesser impact on the environment. We might even realize that we can do so much more than strive for a large home with multiple cars.
As soon as we can stop defining our lives by the things we own, we can start to live individual dreams of our own, instead on the common American dream that is dreamt by all Americans.