How effective is anti-branding and what does it mean for the design community?

Before you can establish anti-branding, you must rst understand the concept of branding itself. Branding is the relationship you have with a product: its the background knowledge of the company, its reputation. This is delivered by advertising and physical attributes of the product like its packaging. This can suggest quality or evoke an emotional response. The purpose of branding is to entice the consumer into investing in that companys product. Anti-branding is the belief that branding does not truthfully represent the company. It can be said that branding is like a facade, feeding false truths and preying on psychological weaknesses. It hides the true motives behind corporations - making money without thought to ethical considerations. David Loy, an associate of culture jammers Adbusters says A corporation cannot laugh or cry; it cannot enjoy the world or suffer with it. Most of all a corporation cannot love. (Lasn 2006). Multinational corporations also promote homogeny and destruction of culture. Despite different cultures, middle-class youth all over the world seem to live their lives as if in a parallel universe. They get up in the morning, put on their Levi's and Nikes, grab their caps and backpacks, and Sony personal CD players and head for school. (Klein 2000, p.119). According to Kalle Lasn, Co-founder of Adbusters and author of Design Anarchy, When one corporation gains control of almost half of a countrys information delivery system or amasses a global empire the size of Rupert Murdochs, the scope of public discourse shrinks and democracy suffers (2006). In other words cultural diversity is lost. He also says in his lecture The Future of Design (2006) that advertising is said to have negative effects on health. That we could be suffering from post traumatic shock: something people experience after witnessing something horric. Ads produce this kind of shock everyday, which Lasn believes numbs our senses I can no longer reach the heights of ecstasy or the depth of tragedy... all these things simply arent attainable anymore... (2006). The history of Culture Jamming Culture jamming, a term coined by the band Negativland, was born out of the Letterist International, a collective of radical artists and theorists in 1950s Paris. A member of this group, Guy Debord argued in his book The Society of the Spectacle (1967) that modern society has replaced authentic social life with a representation: mediated images rather than social communication. Debord and his peers developed a technique called dtournement which was the rst incarnation of using capitalist media against itself. Twenty years later in the late 1970s, the Billboard Liberation Front founded by Jack Napier in San Francisco began improving billboards much in the same spirit as Debord in France. Their manifesto states, that you can avoid television and choose not to buy ad lled magazines but you cannot escape the billboard. It is their mission to to reveal ethical truths behind the brand advertised. (Napier, J. Thomas, J.1977). A few years later in 1980, band Negativland used visual and sound collages to express creative anticorporate activism. (Negativland. No date) Across the US and over the next decade, Jorge Rodriguez de Gerada was one of the rst culture jamming artists. Gerada grew up in a poor neighbourhood where alcohol and tobacco companies focussed their advertising. He took to subverting these ads to reveal the negative effects of the products. Over to Vancouver Canada, the Adbusters Media foundation was founded by Kalle Lasn and Bill Schmalz. It is a collective of culture jammers who produce a bi-monthly magazine, which only contains their own spoof adverts. They also produce TV anti-advertisements that they fought to be aired. Adbusters promote campaigns such as Buy nothing day and Digital detox week to raise publicity and awareness of the ethical issues of how much our culture consumes. Most recently in 2011 they initiated the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) protesting against the distribution of wealth. Their slogan was we are the 99% the 99% of people who are run by the wealthy 1%. Their physical presence raised awareness much in the way Reclaim the Streets (RTS) did in London in the mid 90s. This group of activists sought to make statements about the way natural space had been taken over. RTS was successful because it did not look or feel like a typical protest. Much political action is predictable and boring; street parties are quite the opposite. (Beautiful Trouble. No Date) The most contemporary culture jammer is Shepherd Fairey creator of the Obey manifesto, which has recently come back into public focus. The Obey logo distributed as stickers and on clothing is a social experiment to stimulate curiosity and as it has no obvious meaning or motive. It is purely to see how it

manifests within itself. When I rst saw the logo I thought it was a statement about the power of the media with its strong visual links to magazine and newspaper mastheads. I then asked my peers what they thought it meant. The results were that it looks commercial, demanding, instructing, aggressive, dominant, pretentious and everywhere. Some made links with the fact that it is used in fashion and has links with skateboarders. I believe that Fairey has achieved his goal of creating something out of nothing. Fairey also controversially culture jammed his own hope Obama poster in support of the Occupy movement. The big 3 Some of the most prolic examples of culture jamming critique three of the largest multinational corporations; McDonalds, Shell and Nike. These companies have created environmental and social issues, which lead to widespread activist campaigns that were ultimately successful in lowering the companies statuses, impacting on prot and changing policies. The McDonalds logo has become a ubiquitous symbol of American capitalism around the world says Eddy Moretti of Vice. The company has been guilty of exploitive advertising, animal cruelty, poor labour conditions and unethical farming. It has also had its part in destroying culture according to George Ritzer in his book The McDonaldization of Society (1993). He explains that McDonalds global expansion has brought its values of efciency, calculability, predictability and control into a vast variety of cultures creating homogeny. For these reasons, culture jammers have aggressively campaigned against them. The London Greenpeace group began distributing leaets 'What's wrong with McDonalds - everything they don't want you to know' in 1986 to which McDonalds response was to take members to libel court in 1990. Two members - out of the ve - Helen Steel and Dave Morris refused to back down. This trial became the longest British libel case lasting two and a half years. Although they lost the case, McDonalds public relations were severely damaged. To add to this fall, powerful culture jamming images came into the public eye. An example of this is a campaign by Adbusters, Grease stickers were distributed and stuck to billboards and even inside McDonalds premises. (Illcic, D.1993) This type of subversive communications caused McDonalds to have its rst losses in 2003 The world's largest restaurant chain posted a net loss of $344m (212m) for the October to December period, compared with a prot of $272m the year before. (BBC 2003) They have also made their childrens meals healthier according to Allison Aubrey of National Public Radio, Bowing to pressure that its kids' meals haven't been healthful enough, McDonald's will downsize french fries and put a fresh fruit or veggie in every Happy Meal. (2011) She also goes on to say that McDonalds is aiming to reduce the amount of sodium in their food by 15% by 2015. Shell has been subject to much controversy on ethical issues but one particular issue that caught the media eye was their activity in Ogoniland, Nigeria. Shell has destroyed the natural environment and has not contributed to their local economy or community. Frequent oil spills have polluted water, damaged crops and lead to an uprising, headed by Mosop (Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People). As a result, Mosop leaders were executed, leading to global protests including this reenactment of the execution in San Francisco by Greenpeace. (Shell Kills Ogoni. No date) Shell pulled out of Ogoniland in 1993 but their effects on the area could take up to 30 years to recover according to a UN report. A victory for activists is that Shell faces a bill of hundreds of millions of dollars after accepting full liability for two massive oil spills that devastated a Nigerian community of 69,000 people and may take at least 20 years to clean up (Vidal, J. 2011).

In 1991 the Brent Spar oil rig off the coast of Scotland was decommissioned. Greenpeace opposed Shells plans to sink the structure and potentially damage untouched areas of the sea oor rather than spending more to dispose of it safely on land. The public outcry over this issue and the issues in Ogoniland resulted in mass boycotting of Shell with losses of 30-50% of their prots. They also gave into public pressure choosing to spend the extra money taking it down and reusing the scrap to build the foundations of a new ferry terminal. (BBC. 1998) In 1984 Nike closed its remaining US factories. It now gives its trade to the lowest possible bidder meaning that a $100 shoe will only cost $5 to make. This means that workers in these sweatshops are paid less than $2 a day which is far below their living costs. (Klein, N. 2000) Images were circulated to raise awareness to this maltreatment. However protests outside shopping malls did not affect Nikes main client base. For youth in poor areas of America, Nike became a symbol of status in gangs. The company played on their need of belonging and esteem (Maslow, A. 1954) to sell their shoes by sponsoring black sports heroes such as Michael Jordan. The resulting boycott and protest by these 11-15 year olds and PUSH (People United To Serve Humanity) made media headlines. This developed on an international scale on 18 October 1997 where 85 cities in 13 countries took part in an International Nike Day of Action with slogans like Nike- Fair Play? and Just dont do it. Even Nikes charity contributions came under question as schools and sports groups in minority areas felt that they would be benetting through others suffering - blood money. Culture jammers Adbusters produced their own eco friendly alternative to Nikes converse made of hemp and recycled tires in a Fair Trade shop. (Unswoosh 2011) In 2001 Jonah Peretti, an internet jammer requested custom Nike trainers with sweatshop as the personal ID. Nikes most logical response was that they simply do not want to place [the word] on our products. (The Guardian 2001). Twenty years of campaigning later, Rob Harrison, editor of the Ethical Consumer said For a company which 20 years ago was denying that workers rights at the supplier factories were any of its concern, Nike has come a long way. Reports on Nikes factory inspections are now conducted by third parties are even viewable to the public. They also have plans to go toxic-free by 2012 in response to Greenpeaces detox challenge. What this means for graphic designers Design is ever changing with current trends, but what does it mean for designers when the trend moves away from their traditional medium of branding and advertising. Practitioners have been concerned about this from as early as the 30s according to a quote by James Rorty in Naomi Kleins No Logo Often I have lunched with an agency friend, a half dozen worried copy writers and art directors have accompanied us. Invariably they want to know when the revolution is coming (Klein 2000, p.279). A solution to this is to take on the beliefs of a group of 33 designers who in 2000 signed the First Things First manifesto (Eye.1999). This manifesto was written in 1964 by Ken Garland to call for the reversal of priorities in favour of the more useful and lasting forms of communication. Their aim is to concentrate their skills on environmental, social and cultural issues rather than pure commercialism. Kalle Lasn said well design our way out of a terrifying future (2006). This has links with Modernist belief systems in which their social and political beliefs (largely left-leaning) which held that design and art could, and should, transform society.(V&A 2006). Lasn also says in his Future of Design (2006) lecture that Designers are powerful people. We are the creators of meaning. However, this power could be used to keep advertising going strong. Culture jamming has taken a turn and is being used by ad agencies they aim to destroy, as a marketing tool. The fake graftied Go Compare ads is an example of this. The billboards have certainly turned heads and got people talking. says Nick Hall, Go Compares head of marketing. (Rigby, R 2012) Another example of this is when grafti artist Kidult spray painted ART over a Marc Jacobs store. The company then used the image in their favour to produce a $689 tshirt. (Hufngton Post 2012).

Conclusion I think that anti-branding has the potential to change society. However I feel that it is not being used on a large enough scale to break through into the publics everyday lives. I believe it has been successful in changing the a limited amount of public opinion, as evidenced by the targeted companies losing prot. But there will always be people who are not ethically minded, no matter how much they are persuaded. In my opinion stronger evidence is needed to show that large corporations harm the planet as much as they do and studies should be conducted into the negative psychological effects advertising creates. It is evidence and communication on different and more inventive levels which will take this campaign forward and designers are the people who will make a difference.

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Bibliography
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