Adbusters Media Foundation: An Active Space for Participation

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Adbusters Media Foundation:

An Active Space for Participation

We live in the age of consumerism; we are constantly surrounded by advertisements in our everyday environments. Through television, print, billboards, radio, the Internet and countless other mediums, it seems as though we cannot escape ads. We have become so accustomed to advertisements that most of the time we are unaware of the impact they can have on us. To help us become more aware of the effects of advertisements and consumerism, activist groups like Adbusters has helped bring more attention and awareness to how information and meaning gets generated and transmitted in our society today.

Adbusters is labeled as a media activist group, that is a non-profit organization that aims to change mainstream thinking by replacing these mainstream messages with alternative narratives through various communicative practices (The Canadian Press, 2011). Adbusters targets two main areas of resistance, capitalism and consumerism. It is dedicated to help us see the truth about our surroundings behind the shadows of advertisements and large corporations. Adbusters’ largest communicative medium is their magazine, Adbusters. Adbusters also challenges mainstream messages through a practice called culture jamming. By taking popular ads from the media Adbusters challenges corporations and mainstream media by interrupting the consumer experience by revealing the underlying message and meaning behind the ad. This essay will argue that through Adbusters’ communicative practices, like the use of technology, print media, culture jamming and campaigns, the media activist group is making a significant impact in moving people from spectators to actors by providing us with an alternative...

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...e in a world of advertising clutter: The case of adbusters. Psychology & Marketing: Wiley, 19(2), 127-148.

Sandlin, J. A. (2007). Popular culture, cultural resistance, and anticonsumption activism: An exploration of culture jamming as critical education. Wiley InterScience, 115, 73-82.

Sandlin, J. A., & Milam, J. L. (2008). “Mixing pop (culture) and politics”: Cultural resistance, culture jamming, and anti-consumption activism as critical public pedagogy. Wiley Periodicals Inc., 38(3), 323-350.

Sommer, J. (2012, December 22). The war against too much of everything. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/23/business/adbusters-war-against-too-much-of-everything.html?r=0

The Canadian Press. (2011, October 14). Adbusters founders cheer their occupy idea. Retrieved from http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/adbusters-founders-cheer-their-occupy-idea-1.1063405

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