Adbusters - 'POST-WEST'

Adbusters is a non-profit, anti capitalist and anti consumerist magazine. They specialize in subverting typical and traditional magazine conventions with no adverts whatsoever. They take mainstream conglomerate adverts and culture jam them throughout the magazine to promote their message. Adbuster magazines also contain articles that relate to their post modern world message. As shown in the covers (left and right) although they brand their magazines the font is in a different style to avoid branding.


Set Cover:

-Masthead: Plain, white, sans serif font clearly viable at the top of the cover however pasted over/partially covered by a
dirt affect.

-Title: 'POST WEST' in same white font as the mast head social/political message - image linked to article 'time for a radical rethink of what is considered a normal life in the decadent west'. Also suggesting a link to 'post-truth'

-image not fully anchored - assumes a level of understanding in the audience.

-gesture/clothing black background, main image of male in khaki camouflage jacket, angry, animal-like expression, clenched fist -subverts codes of consumer/lifestyle magazines.

"CHRISTIAN LOUIBOUTON"

This is a culture jam of Christian Louboutin's advert for high-heels. As shown where the high heels should be have been replaced by two bottles used as the soles of flip-flops with pieces of string. Instead of a typical model they have used a shot of the feet of a stereotypical African in poverty. As shown the photo is taken in a dry dusty part of Africa perhaps Zambia or Ethiopia adhering to shared conceptual road maps of said countries. Paul Gilroy's Post Colonial theory can be applied to this page as the bottles are likely to have come from places such as the UK, without us it is unlikely a person in Africa would have ever come across such bottles without British colonisation.

The culture jam on the page is criticising how pointless the Christian Louboutin high heels are as although shown in the media as the 'nicest' high heels that should be the most expensive, in reality their worth is probably much less and it's functionality awful. The shoes shown in the image could be identified as being more functional than high heels as high heels often cause problems in foot growth. Furthermore the caption 'Red soles are always in season' perhaps further criticise the consumerist view of wanting these high heels with red soles and how people in this situation possibly have red soles on the bottom of their feet. This perhaps graphic imagery is what Adbusters aim for in their magazine to convey a dramatic message.

Norman Gall - Osasco

The first article presented is written by journalist Norman Gall. Norman Gall has been to multiple LICs and observed the lack of basic resources such as toilets, food and water. The article focuses on Osasco in Sao Paulo where 'people rise at 3:30AM to collect water' that he describes as polluted and disease ridden.

'Him' - Zucchetti.

The next page tremendously juxtaposes the last article. Although it is an ad for Zucchetti's bathroom wear the ad is placed in the magazine to mock it and to ruin it's image. The image shown of the tap shows a rather slick and expensive tap that is likely to be overpriced simply for it's design rather than it's actual function. This makes a mockery of Zucchetti and those who purchase items from Zucchetti because it shows how the consumerist lifestyle takes water for granted and is more bothered with the look of a tap and the water coming out rather than actually being grateful to have water whatsoever. When looking at the website Adbusters point is further emphasized by Zucchetti's pretentious tone that is only present to entice the audience.

350ppm and Justin Gillis

The next two pages are referencing climate change. The first image has a rough black background with an image of a model with a painted '350ppm' over the image. '350ppm' refers to 350 parts per million, this is the limit of how much CO2 needs to be in the atmosphere before the greenhouse effect takes place. The use of this over the model is significant because the cosmetics industry is known for it's pollution and contribution to climate change.

To the right of this image we have a second image followed by a paragraph written by Justin Gillis who is an author and activist in preventing climate change. The second image shows a woman who is begging in the middle of a city center. She contrasts to the model as firstly she is of much lower class and arguably closer to the bottom of Maslow's hierarchy of needs to the model who is closer to the top. Furthermore they contrast because the woman on the street has likely had very little contribution to climate change whereas the model is advertising the cosmetics industry that has a very large contribution to climate change.

'Save the Planet Kill Yourself'

This next article is the longest article in the magazine. It is written by David Joez and is taken from his book 'Villaverde's Save the Planet Kill Yourself: A Guide to Living in the End Times.' He is a writter and a poet in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

This article has a very protestant tone that directly targets audiences in the west. The article is structured in the order of items in a supermarket or shop and gives a story of information about how each product effects the human body, mind and how it pollutes the world/environment around us. It has a very left wing anti-consumerist view that targets large corporations such as 'Coca-Cola' and the places that we shop at. It criticizes these capitalist firms and gives a bad image of there completely profit oriented views.

This article is one of the many aspects of the magazine that make it deviate from normal mainstream magazines. This large article of a dense two pages of text is unusual as it allows no room for advertisements. Furthermore it criticizes other magazines as they also produce lots of harmful by-products for the environment.

The quote "you learned long ago to ignore reality" and "like how you call pig pork or bacon or sausage instead of calling it pig[to appear more stomach friendly]" use personal pronouns to directly talk to and target the audience reading. It criticisms them in a very 'telling of ' tone. Further quotes such as "the second leading ingredient in Coca-Cola, high fructose corn syrup, is problematic far beyond it's deleterious health effects" show how Adbusters are targeting big capitalist corporations and their methods.