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==Campaigns== ===Culture jamming=== [[File:American Corporate Flag.svg|thumb|right|250px|American corporate flag]] [[Culture jamming]] is the primary means through which Adbusters challenges consumerism.<ref>Lasn, Kalle (2000). Culture Jam, New York: Quill.</ref> The magazine was described by [[Joseph Heath]] and Andrew Potter in their book ''[[The Rebel Sell]]'' as "the flagship publication of the culture jamming movement."<ref name="rebel">[[Joseph Heath|Heath, Joseph]] and Potter, Andrew. ''[[The Rebel Sell]]''. Harper Perennial, 2004.</ref> Culture jamming is heavily influenced by the [[Situationist International]] and the tactic of ''[[détournement]]''. The goal is to interrupt the normal consumerist experience in order to reveal the underlying ideology of an advertisement, media message, or consumer artifact. Adbusters believe large corporations control mainstream media and the flow of information, and culture jamming aims to challenge this as a form of protest. The term "jam" contains more than one meaning, including improvising, by re-situating an image or idea already in existence, and interrupting, by attempting to stop the workings of a machine.<ref name="1 April 2009">{{cite web|url=http://www.cordweekly.com/cordweekly/news?news_id=2787 |title=News Article - Cord Weekly |access-date=9 April 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090410234323/http://cordweekly.com/cordweekly/news?news_id=2787 |archive-date=10 April 2009 }}</ref> As already noted, the foundation's approach to culture jamming has its roots in the activities of the [[situationists]] and in particular their concept of ''détournement''. This involves the "turning around" of received messages so that they communicate meanings at variance with their original intention. Situationists argue that consumerism creates "a limitless artificiality", blurring the lines of reality and detracting from the essence of human experience.<ref name="ReferenceA" /> In the "culture jamming" context, ''détournement'' means taking symbols, logos and slogans that are considered to be the vehicles upon which the "dominant discourse" of "late capitalism" is communicated and changing them – frequently in significant but minor ways – to subvert the "monologue of the ruling order" [Debord]. The foundation's activism links grassroots efforts with environmental and social concerns, hoping followers will "reconstruct [their] self through nonconsumption strategies."<ref name="ReferenceA">{{cite journal |doi=10.1002/mar.10006 |title=Consumer Resistance in a World of Advertising Clutter: The Case of ''Adbusters'' |year=2002 | author = Rumbo, Joseph D. |journal=Psychology and Marketing |volume=19 |issue=2 |pages=127–48}}</ref> The foundation is particularly well known for its [[culture jamming]] campaigns,<ref>{{Cite news | author = Willan, Claude |title=We're All Borf in the End |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/22/AR2005072202231_pf.html |newspaper=The Washington Post |date= 24 July 2005 |access-date=20 November 2007 }}</ref> and the magazine often features photographs of politically motivated [[billboard]] or advertisement [[vandalism]] sent in by readers. The campaigns attempt to remove people from the "isolated reality of consumer comforts".<ref name="depts.washington.edu" /> ===Blackspot Shoes campaign=== In 2004, the foundation began selling [[vegan]], indie shoes. The name and logo are "open-source";<ref>{{cite web|url=http://adbusters.org/metas/corpo/blackspotshoes/aboutblackspot.php |title=BlackSpot Shoes : Philosophy Behind the Shoes |access-date=25 June 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070522105440/http://adbusters.org/metas/corpo/blackspotshoes/aboutblackspot.php |archive-date=22 May 2007 }}</ref> in other words, unencumbered by private trademarks.<ref>[http://adbusters.org/metas/corpo/blackspotshoes/info.php#] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080720081744/http://www.adbusters.org/metas/corpo/blackspotshoes/info.php|date=20 July 2008}}</ref> Attached to each pair was a "Rethink the Cool" leaflet, inviting wearers to join a movement, and two spots – one for drawing their own logos and another on the toe for "kicking corporate ass."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://veganline.com/rethinkthecool.htm |title=Rethink the Cool - from Adbusters |website=Veganline.com |access-date=3 January 2017}}</ref> There are three versions of the Blackspot Sneaker. The V1 is designed to resemble the [[Nike, Inc.|Nike]]-owned [[Converse (shoe company)|Converse]] [[Chuck Taylor All-Stars]] (Nike bought Converse in 2003).<ref name="independent">{{Cite news |last=Aitch, Iain |title=Kicking against the system |url=http://news.independent.co.uk/world/politics/article82640.ece |work=The Independent |date=15 December 2003 |access-date=20 November 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071206133717/http://news.independent.co.uk/world/politics/article82640.ece |archive-date=6 December 2007 |url-status=dead}}</ref> There is also a V1 in "fiery red." The V2 is designed by Canadian shoe designer [[John Fluevog]]. It is made from organic [[hemp]] and [[recycled]] car tires. After an extensive search for [[anti-sweatshop movement|anti-sweatshop]] manufacturers around the world, Adbusters found a small union shop in Portugal.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://adbusters.org/metas/corpo/blackspotshoes/info.php |title=Blackspot | Adbusters Culturejammer Headquarters |access-date=29 March 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080720081744/http://www.adbusters.org/metas/corpo/blackspotshoes/info.php |archive-date=20 July 2008 }}</ref> The sale of more than twenty-five thousand pairs<ref name="adbusters.org">{{cite web |url=http://adbusters.org/metas/corpo/blackspotshoes/info.php |title=Blackspot – Blackspot Shoes |publisher=Adbusters.org |access-date=29 March 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080720081744/http://www.adbusters.org/metas/corpo/blackspotshoes/info.php |archive-date=20 July 2008}}</ref> through an alternative distribution network is an example of Western consumer activism marketing.<ref name="adbusters.org" /> Adbusters describes its goals vis-à-vis Blackspot as follows: {{blockquote|Blackspot shoes is our experiment with grassroots capitalism. After spending many years railing against the practices of megacorporations like McDonalds, Starbucks and Nike, we wanted to prove that running an ethical, environmentally responsible business is possible ... and that taking market share away from megacorporations is better than whining about them.<ref>{{cite web | title = Support + Subscribe | work = Adbusters.org | url = http://www.adbusters.org/support_subscribe | access-date = 20 May 2012 | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120519224410/http://www.adbusters.org/support_subscribe | archive-date = 19 May 2012}} Text 'hidden' under the "Why do we sell?" tab.</ref>}} ====Reception==== Heath and Potter's ''[[The Rebel Sell]]'', which is critical of Adbusters, claimed that the blackspot shoe's existence proves that "no rational person could possibly believe that there is any tension between 'mainstream' and 'alternative' culture."<ref name="rebel" /> In the June 2008 cover story of ''[[Businessweek|BusinessWeek Small Business Magazine]]'', the Blackspot campaign was among three profiled in a piece focusing on "antipreneurs." Two advertising executives were asked to review the campaign for the article's "Ask the Experts" sidebar. Brian Martin of ''Brand Connections'' and Dave Weaver of [[TM Advertising]] both gave the campaign favorable reviews. Martin noted that Blackspot was effectively telling consumers, "We know we are marketing to you, and you are as good as we are at this, and your opinion matters," while Weaver stated that "This is not a call to sales of the shoe so much as it is a call to participate in the community of Adbusters by buying the shoe."<ref>{{cite web | title = Meet the Antipreneurs | date = June–July 2008 |publisher = businessweek.com | url = http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/08_66/s0806039879656.htm?chan=search | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090201224951/http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/08_66/s0806039879656.htm?chan=search | url-status = dead | archive-date = 1 February 2009 | access-date =31 July 2008 }}</ref> ===Occupy Wall Street=== {{main|Occupy Wall Street}} <!-- This use of this image does not have a separate, detailed, named rationale for use in this article on the image's page. Please read [[Wikipedia:NFCC#10c]] [[File:Wall-Street-1.jpg|thumb|right|The poster Adbusters used to promote Occupy Wall Street|alt=Poster depicting a female ballerina pirouetting on the back of the Charging Bull statue on Wall Street; on the street behind her, a line of gas-masked rioters struggle through smoke. Text on the poster reads: "What is our one demand?#OCCUPYWALLSTREET September 17th. Bring Tent."]] --> In mid-2011, Adbusters Foundation proposed a peaceful occupation of Wall Street to protest corporate influence on democracy, a growing disparity in wealth, and the absence of legal repercussions behind the recent global financial crisis.<ref name="Fleming">{{cite web|last=Fleming|first=Andrew|title=Adbusters sparks Wall Street protest Vancouver-based activists behind street actions in the U.S|url=http://www.vancourier.com/Adbusters+sparks+Wall+Street+protest/5466332/story.html|publisher=The Vancouver Courier|date=27 September 2011|access-date=30 September 2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121011160015/http://www.vancourier.com/Adbusters+sparks+Wall+Street+protest/5466332/story.html|archive-date=11 October 2012}}</ref> They sought to combine the symbolic location of the 2011 protests in [[Tahrir Square#2011 revolution|Tahrir Square]] with the [[consensus decision making]] of the [[2011 Spanish protests]].<ref>[http://www.huffingtonpost.com/shira-lazar/micah-white-adbusters-_b_996931.html Sira Lazar "Occupy Wall Street: Interview With Micah White From Adbusters"], Huffington Post, 7 October 2011, at 3:40 in interview</ref> Adbusters' senior editor [[Micah M. White|Micah White]] said they had suggested the protest via their email list and it "was spontaneously taken up by all the people of the world."<ref name="Fleming"/> Adbusters' website said that from their "one simple demand—a presidential commission to separate money from politics" they would "start setting the agenda for a new America."<ref name="wallstreet">{{cite web |url=http://www.adbusters.org/blogs/adbusters-blog/occupywallstreet.html |title=#OCCUPYWALLSTREET | Adbusters Culturejammer Headquarters |access-date=17 October 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111102212644/http://www.adbusters.org/blogs/adbusters-blog/occupywallstreet.html |archive-date=2 November 2011}}</ref> They promoted the protest with a poster featuring a dancer atop Wall Street's iconic [[Charging Bull]].<ref name="inline.poster">{{cite journal|journal=[[The Link (newspaper)|The Link]]|title=The Ballerina and the Bull: Adbusters' Micah White on 'The Last Great Social Movement'|first=Laura|last=Beeston|date=11 October 2011|url=http://thelinknewspaper.ca/article/1951|access-date=12 October 2011}}</ref><ref name="nation.FAQ">{{cite magazine|title=Occupy Wall Street: FAQ|first=Nathan|last=Schneider|date=29 September 2011|magazine=[[The Nation]]|url=http://www.thenation.com/article/163719/occupy-wall-street-faq|access-date=12 October 2011}}</ref> On 13 July 2011 it was the staff at the magazine that created the #OCCUPYWALLSTREET hashtag on Twitter.<ref name=branding/> While the movement was started by Adbusters, the group does not control the movement, and it has since [[Occupy movement|grown worldwide]].
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