Based in Vancouver, British, Canada, Adbusters is a not-for-profit, reader-supported, 120,000-circulation magazine concerned about the erosion of our physical and cultural environments by commercial forces. In addition, annual social marketing campaigns like Buy Nothing Day and TV Turnoff Week have made of Adbusters an important activist networking group. Adbusters campaigns involve artists, activists, writers, pranksters, students, educators and entrepreneurs who want to advance the new social activist movement of the information age. The aim is to topple existing power structures and forge a major shift in the way we will live in the 21st century.
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A trip to Tokyo and an epiphany. |
The two sides of the present: a trillion $ communication network, consumer culture, freedom and opportunities. The other side: from unbreathable air to a choiceless democracy, from war and inequity to disfunctional communities and mood disorder. |
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The 3 divisions inside Adbusters: the magazine; the on line culture jammers headquarters; and Powershift, a social marketing agency. An example of tv spot: "Economists must learn to subtract". Communicating ideas in very accessible formats and concentrating a complex issue in 30 seconds: we want to show people ideas that are in the back of their minds. |
Meme warfare vs. the American dream. The "Unbrandamerica" campaign. "Think of America as a brand, based on three pillars spread from the constitution to marketing campaigns: opportunity, democracy, freedom"... The "Hope and Memory" web feature exposing American interventions in foreign countries since the 19th century. |
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Meme warfare vs. corporate cool (continues). "We've challenged people to become antipreneurs." The blackspot anticorporation. "It's not that we pioneered or that it is new, but we certainly put some marketing spin on it". |
