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
That is a good question. It’s disappointing to know that culture jams are not including the deaf/blind because its intentions are for social equality. The fight isn’t just for women it’s for all of society. Everyone deserves social equality, no matter who you are. Once you think about culture jamming forgetting about the deaf/blind, you start to think about who else they are leaving out. It’s hard for one technique to reach all and I understand that, but that means we are able to say this particular feminist tool has a bit of elitism. Other areas of elitism might include under educated people. If you don’t really understand the culture jam you can’t fully support it or contribute to it. Many culture jams are sort of sneaky in the way they put the message out. Not everyone is able to catch on to the intended meaning, leaving people out of the loop. Having a disability or less education are both examples of where elitism appears in culture jamming. It results in some people not able to participate and give feedback surrounding the jam. Id say its a negative side to the technique because we would like to include everyone in the fight for social equality. We can easily argue the underground movement that ‘speaks to the people’ as well, and I’ll save that for another post.
ReplyDelete-Goldilocks
Hey - some great analysis here; when we looked at the various jams in class the audience's ability to recognize parody / satire was an important part of being able to 'read' a jam as anti-corporate protest. How might that feed into elitism?
ReplyDeleteThe Doctor
If your not a culture jammer yourself, of have previous experience with jams you are probably not going to recognize them. When talking about culture jams, we discussed the fact that when we see a logo (like McDonalds) our mind registers it as an advertisement and we don't look any farther into it. We don't always read the words, we screen the images and think its just another 'normal' advertisement. When your not familiar with culture jamming, this tool don't work for you. If you aren't reading its intended message the culture jam isn't teaching you anything at all. Society isn't always learning what the jammer wanted to teach. Elitism comes into play when your audience may not be able to understand what it is our trying to portray. If your message will only be understood by fellow jammers, your not going to be able to teach mass society like you wished.
ReplyDelete-Goldilocks
I don't think culture jamming is necessarily elitist as when advertisers put out their ads they know they won't be reaching an entire globe but rather people who are interested in their product. So when culture jammers put their work out it could only really affect you if you are looking for it.
ReplyDeleteOn the flip side smart advertisers would create a campaign that could be so flashy and catchy that it might grab the eye of other consumers who don't necessarily always buy into their product.
I think I'm paraphrasing Goldilocks previous comment as I do agree with her.
No one ad or culture jam can be inclusive of all but perhaps a campaign could feature many billboards, ads or commercials that feature and are inclusive of the many who normally are not. If a company consistently puts out ads that do not feature people who don;t fit the mold of herterosexual, able-bodies white male or female we could say they are being elitist.
Not sure if this is making sense......
Bakerella