Culture Jamming

Activism

and

the

art

of

cultural

resistance

Culture jamming (sometimes guerrilla communication, also Brandalism, Subvertising, Laughtivisim or Hacktivsim) is a protest used by many anti-consumerist social movements to disrupt or subvert media culture and its mainstream cultural institutions, including corporate advertising.

It attempts to “expose the methods of domination” of a mass society to foster progressive change.

Srdja (CANVAS): “When picking and issue, or govt policy/action you want to target you need to look into:

1. What are widely held beliefs (like people have right to assemble, or govt should be accountable etc)
2. How concrete politics action PERSONALLY affects people (oppression, corruption, kids cant get medicine, things of that kind) and
3. Which tactic will be provocative enough but NOT too divisive.”

The Science (PPTX) behind Dilema Actions and Laughtivism – Sophia McClennen, Prof. at Penn State University: Laughtivism works at least 2x  better than than ‘just’ non-violent actions

The Yes Men – hacktivism at its best!

Lessons from the Yes Men – the experience of the Yes Men demonstrates that:

• One must know how to dare and carry out transgressive actions that will surprise the ‘opponent’ and public opinion.
• It is important to give a playful dimension to the actions carried out (and to make people laugh).
• It is necessary to focus on the narration of actions (storytelling) and not only on the tools and means at disposal.
• It is important to follow one’s intuition and launch the first actions – even when they are not yet very well structured – before developing and structuring them.
• It is crucial to know how to build a network and develop partnerships with other groups.
• It is important to learn from the actions carried out, to build ‘modus operandi’ and to share them with those who wish to do so.
• It is important to carry out physical actions and to gather activists on the ground, not only on the internet.

FFF Webinar with the YesMen:

Culture Hack Method: Toolkit 1.0

Movement of Action People – ImprovEveryWhere – Tons of group actions!f

The Street Art Manual is the world’s first book to combine tactical guidance with practical advice on creating street art in public spaces

AOC Inspires Group To Run False Facebook Ads Testing Mark Zuckerberg – here‘s the ad.

10 Tactics Remixed curates snapshots of information-activism & tactics database

Brandalism Take Over 100 UK Billboards

Peng! is an explosive concoction of activism, hacking and art battling the barbarism of our time.

Great list of examples and resources – Using Humor to Expose the Ridiculous

Culture Jamming: Hacking, Slashing, and Sniping in the Empire of Signs – Online Book

Beautiful Trouble Post to CultureJamming