Culture Jam
Nabisco, Kraft, Nestle, Miller,
Planters—Why are you buying food from a Tobacco Company? Down with the Philip
Morris monopoly.
Culture Jam is the
manifesto for new age anti-commercialism. Written by Kalle Lasn, of Adbusters
Media Foundation fame (www.adbusters.org) it is an attack on corporate America
and it’s grip on the world’s culture. In Culture Jam, Lasn calls for
an end to the Corporate Cooling of mass culture, a culture produced by
television, GM food, (and most emphatically) advertisement. Not really a
narrative, Culture Jam seems to be a coagulated series of exciting and
powerful rants. This book shakes your notions of who exactly is in control of
the world and society we participate in, and is a call to arms to return to
authentic, non-homogenous culture. The book itself is written in four parts,
ordered and titled according to the seasons.
In the section entitled Autumn, Lasn states the
problems and their effect on the world at large. This portion of the book
stretches from the psychology of mood disorders to the origins of corporate
control. It points out our dependency on the corporate machine for our
entertainment, nutrition and even our libido. Most prominently, the author
comments on corporate rights and maintains that corporations have more
privileges and rights secured to them than the average citizen He states the
landmark case Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad, which named
corporations as “natural citizens” with all the rights entitles in that
name.
In Winter, the notion is the American Corporate juggernaught
has spread to all corners of the globe and we were happy to accommodate it.
Winter speaks of corporations flexing their legal muscles, backed by egregious
sums of money. The book dives into the saturation of big business in our daily
lives, kickin’ ass and taking names (Calvin Klein, Philip Morris,
Monsanto, McDonald’s) in the process. He says our “consumer trance”
changed the American dream from living to the fullest to buying to the fullest.
While the first two sections of
the book open your eyes and anger you about corporate control, the last two
sections of the book empower and encourage you to fight back. In Spring, Lasn
speaks of a revolution to get corporate America away from our food, our thoughts
and our legal system. He gives you ideas and options that help set yourself free
from the consumer binge, and puts the power back in your hands. Culture Jam
brings up the suggestion of anti-corporate memes, anti-slogans (like the one at
the top of the page) that set minds away from must-buy compulsivity and toward
authentic thought. Spring is the corporate underminers handbook, it teaches you
to be a “Culture Jammer.”
In the last section, Culture
Jam treads into the future, a future free of big business control. Summer
projects a world where the Culture Jammers have won. In this world, people are
free of logo-influenced thought, and spontaneity and authenticity have
returned.
Culture Jam is
an important book in the age of over-commercialism and the mindless chase after
the
Corporate Cool machine. It’s the
Common Sense for the new
revolutionaries and should be read by all. The businesses of America have had
their say over the airwaves and in the stores, now it’s our turn to respond.
Culture Jam is a critical tool in our arsenal of response, using countless facts
and quotes to bring the point home. If you want to be angered, inspired, or
empowered,
read Culture
Jam.