"it did raise the ecological question, whatever that meant, of noise and air-pollution, the excessive consumption of metal and energy. Endless ramifications... 'No' the Doctor said. 'Forget all that, our duty is to destroy billboards." - The Monkey Wrench Gang by Edward Abbey
On a daily occurrence, we are constantly being swamped and assaulted by advertising, logos, brand loyalty, and promotions of unnecessary products. The roads are no longer a place for viewing natural landscapes; they can now be observed in selected areas designated by Eastman Kodak and Polaroid. Stopping to get a bite of healthy food seems almost impossible off of any freeway, as the options seem limited to the Golden Arches, the Burger King, or the Dairy Queen. Between these exits of excess, the driver is also granted a flurry of billboards designed to capture the eye of the traveler, and more importantly, capture their common sense and replace it with the notion of over-consumption. What can be done as Viacom and Clear Channel, as if they didn't own enough of our airwaves, decide to sell every visual inch made accessible to the roads? The natural response is direct action against these already aggressively existing eyesores. Manipulation of product, disruption of brand identity, anything and everything, that will alter the beasts which seem to swell as each moment passes.
As Dr. Sarvis' obsession with the destruction and demise of billboards in Edward Abbey's novel The Monkey Wrench Gang suggests, there are many ways towards taking action. The act of removing billboards altogether, via flame or saw, may seem drastic and highly destructive for some, so alternatives of visual manipulation are also highly accessible. The Billboard Liberation Front has been altering logos, catch phrases, and overall messages for years in attempts to jolt the hazy-dazed consumer out of their "brandwashed" states. These simple acts do not stop advertising, nor do they greatly affect the outcome of over-consumption and greed. What they do instead, is offer an alternative to passivity and laziness. These acts command a challenge to the mind, and the capitalist structure which rests as the foundation of our modern society. We do not have to sit back and accept this bombardment of values and norms delegated by major corporations. They may own the government, the military, and the airwaves, but they don't own our minds. When these images of heirarchy, of consumption, of beauty, of wealth become established and acceptable forms of landscape, we've lost the battle.
"We'll work it all out as we go along. Let our practice form our doctrine thus assuring precise theoretical coherence."
The work that needs to be done must be creative, it must challenge the viewer in ways they've never thought before. A simple ad for Coca-Cola can simply read "fuck coke" but what does that really do for the passerby? If you encounter a defaced Coke ad reading something along the lines of "Suppression, Exploitation, Bless this Sugary Madness!", it might make the spectator pause for a moment, having never associated their favorite carbonated beverage with exploitation. The seed has been planted.
This billboard, discovered in Portland, does similar things when first encountered. Although "Fuck the patriarchy" may come off as aggressive, it still brings to light the unspoken existence of the power system which controls our lives. "Good women clean" is a great cry for a feminist revival against the destructive patriarchy. These elements force those exposed to the altered ad to stop and consider what we're being sold. Is it something so innocent as a roll of paper towels, or is it a continued foundation which keeps the majority of the world's population under oppression? That can be left for the individual to decide, but at least now the question potentially exists.
The reason these actions are so valuable is more than just the forms of expression and outrage expressed in our oversaturated capitalist environment. Additionally, these actions allow people to come to the understanding that although illegal, perhaps it isn't such a bad thing to act out against these enormous ads, which we were never asked if we approved of. These acts call for a change from passivity and complacency to empowerment and action.
A more recent outburst of creative commentary styled similarly to billboards are highway or freeway blogs. These are the illegal acts of hanging signs on overpasses which hope to challenge or create some emotion stirring in the driver which is forced to deal with (hopefully) creative commentary on society and our actions. Also not approved by the spectator, these ads do lack one thing that standard billboards possess: the pursuit of profit.
What you can do: create, adjust, alter, design, skew, rearrange, take over. Advertising is no longer limited to corporate boardrooms and executives of manipulation for higher capital. Advertising can exist simply with a sheet and some paint, accompanied by some challenging ideas busting through social norms and standardized values. There seems to be no letting up of the assault of our environment with products and their ads. We can accept this and continue our paths of passivity or attempt to make a change, no matter how small. It is our choice to make.
Previous public advertisements Salvation Inc has created can be seen here and here.
Check out RTMark for some beautiful work .
Posted by craig at April 19, 2005 06:23 PM