The Un-Ad

by Kristianna Baird

Recently I had the opportunity to participate in an event, and experience first hand the balancing act dealing with an illusive and slippery line.

There seems to be an increasingly difficult to determine boundary line that divides the big dollar corporate advertisers and visual communications produced by artists and sociologists using "radical communication strategies" to take on the current media environment. This annual event is held each June by Memefest (www.memefest.org), a Slovenian organization that serves internationally as a year round forum for discussion and an exposition site for radical communication strategies. The Memefest website explains, "the name of the festival is taken from the theories of memetics pioneered in the '70s and later taken up by cultural theorists such as Douglas Rushkoff in his book "Media Virus". According to Memetics theory, a meme is a: "contagious idea that replicates like a virus, passed on from mind to mind. Memes function the same way genes and viruses do, propagating through communication networks and face-to-face contact between people."

This year, artists were asked by Memefest to rethink their roles in the world "in which the techniques and apparatus of advertising have persistently been presented... as the most lucrative, effective and desirable" use of talents. Many designers apply their skills to sell inessential goods and services, in turn creating a consumerism monster. It's not so simple to squash this meme monster. One way that might help is to create un-advertisements, images that will undo the effects of commercial advertising.

The accompanying images were my efforts to do this.

But without using familiar corporate names, logos, and slogans, how can a point be made, understood, or remembered? Each attempt I made at getting past corporate advertising ploys--like catchphrases--results in a failed message. Once I erase the logo, the slogan, or the familiar name the un-ad became un-interesting, bland, and most likely not to be remembered by anyone.

This is where the fine line is between big business using manipulative advertising techniques, and concerned individuals getting an anti-advertising point across without using the same media manipulation techniques. Decidedly the placement of the line will vary from person to person. Does an Ad-Busters anti-advertising message appearing on CNN cross the line? Some say that Ad-Busters decided to sell out. Others may decide it was simply the next necessary step to take in order to get the information out to a broader audience.

Invariably many may decide that my final submission at the Memefest, with the use of the large Nike logo as a blindfold, is simply promoting corporate consumerism. Others may decide it takes a pretty good hit at what corporate advertisers are doing to our children.

Though it can be taken either way, the point of the un-ads was to get you thinking. Did it work?

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