Subvertising: Difference between revisions

{{shortShort description|MakingParody spoofs or parodies of corporate and political advertisementsadvertising}}

'''Subvertising''' (a [[portmanteau]] of ''[[subversion (political)|subvert]]'' and ''advertising'') is the practice of making spoofs or [[parody|parodies]] of [[corporation|corporate]] and [[politics|political]] [[advertising|advertisements]].<ref name="state">{{citeCite news |authorfirst=Alexander |last=Barley |date=May 21, 2001 |title=Battle of the image |work=[[New Statesman]] |url=http://www.newstatesman.com/node/153475 |quote=Subvertising is an attempt to turn the iconography of the advertisers into a noose around their neck. If images can create a brand, they can also destroy one. A subvert is a satirical version or the defacing of an existing advert, a detournement, an inversion designed to make us forget consumerism and consider instead social or political issues. |newspaper=[[New Statesman]] |date=May 21, 2001 |access-date=2010-12-09}}</ref> The cultural critic [[Mark Dery]] coined the term in 1991.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Dekeyser |first=Thomas |date=2020-08-09 |title=Dismantling the advertising city: Subvertising and the urban commons to come |journal=Environment and Planning D: Society and Space |volume=39 |issue=2 |language=en |pages=0263775820946755309–327 |doi=10.1177/0263775820946755 |issn=0263-7758 |doi-access=free}}</ref> Subvertisements are anti-ads that deflect advertising's attempts to turn the people's attention in a given direction.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Dery |first=Mark |url=https://www.markdery.com/books/culture-jamming-hacking-slashing-and-sniping-in-the-empire-of-signs-2/ |title=Culture Jamming: Hacking, Slashing, and Sniping in the Empire of Signs |publisher=Open Media |year=1993 |location=New York}}</ref> According to author [[Naomi Klein]], subvertising offers a way of speaking back to advertising, ‘forcing a dialogue where before there was only a declaration.’<ref>{{Cite news |last=Klein |first=Naomi |date=8 May 1997 |title=Subvertising: Culture jamming reemerges on the media landscape |work=The Village Voice |url=http://ecumedesjours.com/artjammer.com/jamming_article.html}}</ref> They may take the form of a new image or an alteration to an existing image or icon, often in a [[satire|satirical]] manner.<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Bonner |first1=Matt |last2=Raoul |first2=Vyvian |date=2022-11-28 |title=Subvertising: Sharing a Different Set of Messages |url=https://commonslibrary.org/subvertising-sharing-a-different-set-of-messages/ |access-date=2023-03-02 |website=The Commons Social Change Library |language=en-AU}}</ref>

A subvertisement can also be referred to as a [[meme hack]] and can be a part of [[social hacking]], [[billboard hacking]] or [[culture jamming]].<ref>{{citeCite news |date=March 4, 2009 |title=Clearing the Mindscape |work=[[Adbusters]] |url=http://www.adbusters.org/category/tags/subvertising |quoteurl-status=So I think that, for me, "subvertising", or "culture jamming", as I call it, is the art of creating a new kind of cool. |newspaper=[[Adbusters]] |date=March 4, 2009dead |access-date=2010-12-09 |url-status = dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927050110/http://www.adbusters.org/category/tags/subvertising |archive-date=September 27, 2011 }}</ref> According to ''[[Adbusters]]'', a [[Canada|Canadian]] magazine and a proponent of counter-culture and subvertising, "A well-produced 'subvert' mimics the look and feel of the targeted ad, promoting the classic '[[double-take (comedy)|double-take]]' as viewers suddenly realize they have been duped. Subverts create [[cognitive dissonance]], with the apparent aim of cutting through the '[[:wikt:hype|hype]] and glitz of our mediated reality' to reveal a 'deeper truth within'.{{Citation needed|date=May 2019}}

In 1972, the logo of Richard Nixon's reelection campaign posters was subverted with two x's in Nixon's name (as in the [[Exxon]] logo) to suggest the corporate ownership of the Republican party.<ref>{{citeCite newsmagazine |date=March 5, 1973 |title=Exxon Victorious |magazine=Time |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,903902,00.html |quoteurl-status=Onedead sure sign that Exxon has arrived as a brand name is that it has become the butt of cartoonists' jokes. For example, a cartoon in [[Mad (magazine)|''Mad'' magazine]] shows a picture of the White House with a sign overhead emblazoned Nixxonarchive-url=https://web.archive. The captionorg/web/20080205043902/http: 'But it's still the same old gas'//www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,903902,00.html |work=Time |archive-date=MarchFebruary 5, 19732008}}</ref><ref>{{citeCite web|url=http://archives.cnn.com/2000/ALLPOLITICS/stories/12/04/stickers.election/ |title=Sore-Loserman: From political parody to charity's windfall. CNN. 4 Dec. 2000 |publisherurl=Archiveshttp://edition.cnn.com/2000/ALLPOLITICS/stories/12/04/stickers.election/ |access-date=2014-03-29 |publisher=Archives.cnn.com}}</ref>

AtIn the2017, 2015Brandalism Parisand COP21other climategroups conference,of subvertisers founded the collective knownSubvertisers asInternational.<ref>{{Cite [[Brandalism]]web installed|first=Kieron 600|last=Monks posters|title='Subvertising' thathackers attackedare whatusing theystreet perceivedads asto theprotest hypocrisy of corporate sponsors.<ref name="cnn.com">{{cite web|url=https://editionwww.cnn.com/style/article/subvertising-ads-posters-billboards/index.html |titleaccess-date=The2020-08-15 hackers|website=CNN using street ads to protest|date=23 March 2018 |language=en}}</ref> Using billboard hacking and other forms of subvertising, they promote the idea that advertising creates unhealthy body images, impacts democracy negatively, and sustains a culture of [[consumerism]] that takes a heavy toll on the planet.