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-- OwlEyes

Barbie Liberation Movement : Culture Jamming for Children?

I had a Barbie when I was younger -- alright I had a lot of Barbie’s plus her horse and pink convertible.  I brushed the hair, picked out the clothes, and used my imagination to see what Barbie would do next. I never had a talking Barbie, but I think the notion of it would undermine my imagination to be free.

The Barbie Liberation Organization (BLO) is a group of artists and activists who decided that a talking Barbie was the last straw. Not only was Barbie masquerading an anorexic figure which young girls could never match and  making “make believe” into a thing of consumerism, now Barbie had a voice-box that would be giggling :

“Math is hard!”

“I love shopping!”

“Will we ever have enough clothes?”

As if Barbie was not a plastic example of our society’s skewed perfection of the “ideal” body, now she was spouting gendered, stereotypical saying.  The BLO wanted to put a stop to this.

The BLO formed in 1989, in hopes of alerting the public to question and change gender stereotypes. This organization was forming in the midst of the 1990s, in the “middle of a culture war” and when “creative dissent once again gaining popularity and artists and activists were often trying to conceive of new ways to rebel against cultural stereotypes and powerful forms like network TV”(Wikipedia). Criticism was hitting its all-time high for Barbie by 1993, as popular culture and academia were picking on the negative stereotype Barbie was portraying. As their first form of protest was to take the similar voice hardware in the Teen Talk Barbie and the G.I Joe action figure and make a swap. Though it sounds simple enough, and the BLO even posted a ‘Do-It-Yourself’ in PDA format so you could print it off and try it yourself. (I tried searching for the link, but it has since been shut down or taken off)

The result? Barbie is yelling “Vengeance is mine!” while G.I. Joe daydreams “Let’s plan our dream wedding!” The BLO placed stickers  reading “call your local news” on the backs of the boxes to make sure that the media got wind of this form of culture jamming. The organization described their action of returning the toys back to the shelves “reverse shoplifting” – the store makes money twice, making what the BLO did in some way ‘legal’.

In the ninja-like way culture jamming occurs, it was impossible to tell how many Barbies and G.I. Joes had been switched; it was also hard to tell how much of the media attention occurred from angry phone calls from consumers or if it was set up by the artists to ensure that their message was heard. It was estimated that 300 to 500 toys were hacked and then returned to the shelves; another report boasted of up to 3,000 dolls having had “surgery” preformed on them and been shipped off to Canada, France and England.

I think the BLO is effective in getting a message across to consumers, but what exactly is that message? End gendered stereotypes? Or was the actions of the BLO seen as a prank to ‘stick it to’ the consumer companies? Mattel and Hasbro brushed off the accusations of perpetuating gender stereotypes, and claimed to be “outrage by the terrorist attack on children”.

Here is a link to a news report about the BLO voice-switch protest:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OVT4T7OR3iQ

Though this protest happened nearly twenty years ago, it was one of the first outcries against Mattel; I do not agree that this was the best way to get their message across to the public, and that the project is more about a critique about media and television culture at the time rather than against gender stereotypes. However, by switching the overtly masculine and overtly feminine voices of the dolls, children could see through its ridiculous presentation that some things to say were “boy things” while others were “girl things”.

Did this form of protest really work? Does the BLO have feminist undertones in its form of culture jamming?

Star-Schmuck's Coffee House serving elite society coffee to start out their elitest day!

This web cartoon is pretty offensive so just to let people know before clicking!

I love the web cartoon Neurotically Yours, specifically when Foamy the Squirrel rants. When I was thinking about culture jamming, it made me think back to the episodes where the creator animated scenes at the coffee shop Star-Schmuck's Coffee House, which is parodying Star Buck's Coffee House. The videos demonstrate, in satire, that the individual can carry around their unique Star-Schmuck's coffee cup convey a meaning to others that they are trendy and loved by all. The coffee cup is totally a status symbol that you're a sophisticated person to buy a cup of coffee for $5.00! Thus, the customer is a schmuck for buying expensive coffee in which Foamy wants to fight back this coffee house propaganda.

It's funny how at a lot of stores and they offer the customer to use their special store credit card, points card or make a donation within the purchase of whatever before completing a transaction.

That huge 32 ounce coffee cup is so ridiculous. Who really needs that much caffeine? And yet...it's only $15.00!

I thought that it was sad that Foamy now has to buy Star-Schmuck's coffee in the end because they took over all of the local coffee shops within a fifty mile radius from his home.

Now the coffee clerk has to deal with the hipster, emo, punk and indie wannabes (who think they are original and unique) who hang out at the franchise.

It's unfortunate that the coffee clerk conveys the stereotypical gay persona, but yeah...

Electric Erio

Feminist and Political Culture Jams (among others)

http://surface2air.posterous.com/princess-hijab-culture-jamming-feminism-creat

I thought I would just try searching for feminist culture jams, and this photo/culture jam above really jumped out at me. First thoughts of this photo without reading the below article (which is attached to the link below the culture jam) was that the protest could be about many religions, cultures, ethnicities and many other marginalized groups of people who are left out in a sense that they are told by advertising companies that they; the 'other' are not accepted into 'what is normal'/what a 'normal' person looks like.

Also, I thought it was interesting that the photo is of male models and the veils are drawn on them, when in actuality women are veiled in that particular culture. So in my mind it was a protest for women's rights and freedom to be who she is without being 'shut up' or silenced or 'veiled'.

In regards to this culture jam I had many thoughts which some are stated above, however after reading the article below the posted culture jam I realized it was much deeper than that, in discussing how "France, Switzerland, Belgium and other European nations have had a difficult time reconciling Islamic communities and their emergent visibility in cities and suburbs" (Surface2air, 2010). Obviously this culture jam recognizes racism across community/country leaders, and demonstrates it by painting the veils on white, male, American-cultured models from a well known advertising company in order to reach audiences who may have not given much thought to the political racism going on in our present time because it is so out of sight. Issues like the one this culture jam is expressing are only shown in snip-its of media coverage, and perhaps only more often if a person is looking for information on the issue to begin with through media sources like the internet, or newspaper articles, etc. 


Culture jamming can be seen as elitist in the view that without education on the issue being presented through the jam, one will not understand the larger message. However, without myself fully knowing/understanding the extent of this message it still got me interested and stuck out greatly in my mind. This is one of the more political culture jams I've come across so far, and while I did not fully understand the intended message to begin with, I became educated on the issue myself because of the interest it sparked within me after having viewed it. So regardless of culture jamming being elitist, I believe that the messages put out there by jammers will reach vast audiences regardless of how educated on the issue they are, and perhaps will get more people involved in the movement and with the issues in the world that are so often forgotten about, hopefully making culture jamming applicable to larger and larger audiences. 


-Dougie

Culture Jamming as Elitist

I just wanted to touch on culture jamming as elitist since I didn't exactly do so in my first post. I think that it is mostly not elitist in that in the videos shown on the blog so far gives examples of culture jamming from all sorts of people who are using culture jamming as a way of reaching all people, and for it to be elitist in my mind these images and words would not be accessible to all audiences just as the advertisements themselves try to reach people of all audiences. The only way that it would skip groups of people and perhaps make it look as if it were an elitist form of protest was if certain audiences did not understand the message and therefore are not included within the target audience as being able to understand the rhetoric of the advertisement.

Also, I was thinking about how we are all in contact with or under the influence of advertising and branding of labels in our daily lives, however for a person who is blind or deaf, they would perhaps be less influenced because all advertising only targets those who have sight and those who have full/some use of their hearing, as do culture jams. Would this make culture jamming and advertisements elitist in some way, in that they are making it seem like one audience is superior to another by not advertising or sharing culture jams to one of the groups?

-Dougie

Culture Jamming as Informative and Necessary

I was definitely unaware of the term culture jamming prior to this course, however this does not mean that i was unaware of the mockery of common advertisements in order to put forth an important message that perhaps many people have thought critically about, but have been too shy to comment on because they feel voicing their opinion will not do much as they are not corporate and therefore the "little guy". 

Culture jamming allows for a voice that is almost always unheard by corporate companies and shoves the true message of the advertisement or rather the hidden message behind the advertisement as well as skeletons of the company to be revealed to passers-by. I believe that this is positive toward changing ignorant minds and introducing the harsh realities behind advertisements, products and how advertising messages can shape, humiliate and dehumanize people. The fact that companies reserve the right to buy space in which to do these things to people and 'guide' them along the path of ignorance definitely deserve to be shown the same respect by the people brave enough to voice a counter-opinion through the same mode of communication/medium.

-Dougie

Culture Jamming as Offensive?

It seems like ace55kg got to the Culture Jam video before I could post it, aha. I have the full video here if anyone is interested.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1777885894535257561

In response to the video, I thought it portrays culture jamming not as elitist. Culture jamming makes society aware of questionable advertisements and brands in order to push back the “norm” and resist it. Culture jamming can be snarky, give an advertisement a whole new meaning and may allow consumers to rethink purchasing the product if seen in a different light. For example, if a certain brand is make by people in sweat shops, would a consumer still want to purchase and support the item in question? Deconstructing ads can fulfill an individual's right to voice their opinion on an issue involved with the brand or product.

There is not a button a person can press in order to talk back to the television, billboards or similar media advertisements. Then, I began to think about Internet Culture and memes. Sometimes culture jamming can be elitist and can be offensive. If a culture jamming individual or group is too offensive, then I do not think it is an appropriate feminist tool, but it still can get messages across to the audience or viewers.

Before I was aware of the term culture jamming, I knew of a culture jamming group without even knowing it! I think the group Anonymous intentionally creates disobedience, snarky remarks and can be recognized as elitist. Even the symbol of the group is a formal tuxedo. The group name itself indicates that anyone can be apart of Anonymous and be involved for the sake of “lulz”. The philosophy of Anonymous is a bit complicated. Anonymous can be offensive to purposely upset people. For example, Anonymous hacks websites if it goes against their moral beliefs, like racism, homophobia and child pornography. Hacktivism!

Anonymous's goal is allow Internet users to have freedom of speech.

Anonymous hacks the homophobic Westboro Baptist Church website and refers to the internet meme of having “over 9000” sins, although Shirley did not understand the joke, thus creating the “lulz.”

Can the art of trolling (like Anonymous) and creating Internet memes also be a form of culture jamming?

 

Electric Erio

Welcome to the Counter Culture Blog!

Here's where you post your research findings / musings / etc. Please remember that I'll be moderating the blogs to ensure that discussions stay within the Human Rights Code. I'm looking forward to reading all your great ideas and analysis! Remember to sign your name under your post, and to hit "Publish"

The Doctor