OurSpace: Resisting the Corporate Control of Culture

by Christine Harold

When reporters asked about the Bush administration’s timing in making their case for the Iraq war, then Chief of Staff Andrew Card responded that “from an marketing point of view, you don’t introduce new products in August.” While surprising only in its candor, this statement signified the extent to which consumer culture has pervaded every aspect of life. For those troubled by the long reach of the marketplace, resistance can seem futile. However, a new generation of progressive activists has begun to combat the media supremacy of multinational corporations by using the very tools and techniques employed by their adversaries. In OurSpace, Christine Harold examines the deployment and limitations of “culture jamming” by activists. These techniques defy repressive corporate culture through parodies, hoaxes, and pranks. Among the examples of sabotage she analyzes are the magazine Adbusters’ spoofs of familiar ads and the Yes Men’s impersonations of company spokespersons. While these strategies are appealing, Harold argues that they are severely limited in their ability to challenge capitalism. Indeed, many of these tactics have already been appropriated by corporate marketers to create an aura of authenticity and to sell even more products. For Harold, it is a different type of opposition that offers a genuine alternative to corporate consumerism. Exploring the revolutionary Creative Commons movement, copyleft, and open source technology, she advocates a more inclusive approach to intellectual property that invites innovation and wider participation in the creative process. From switching the digital voice boxes of Barbie dolls and G.I. Joe action figures to inserting the silhouetted image of Abu Ghraib’s iconic hooded and wired victim into Apple’s iPod ads, high-profile instances of anticorporate activism over the past decade have challenged, but not toppled, corporate media domination. OurSpace makes the case for a provocative new approach by co-opting the logic of capitalism itself. Christine Harold is assistant professor of speech communication at the University of Georgia.

Genres: Politics

232 pages, Hardcover

First published May 17, 2007

Reviews

[Noah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Considering this book references many of the authors and artists that I cite in my Design Rebels class on socially conscious design I was expecting this to become one of my new favorite references. Sadly it reads more like a very well researched graduate paper than a standalone book. Ultimately Harold argues that Adbusters style of subvertising is really not an effective update of the detournement of the Situationists and that Creative Commons' version of reinventing the relationship between creation and consumption is much more successful. While I agree, most of the folks involved had already moved on to other issues by the time this book was published and it reads more like a record of a moment rather than a prescription for the future. You're better off reading the source material than this book.

[Kaija · Rating 3 out of 5]

I good book about corporate culture. However, I found each section and chapter long-winded. As a result I tended to skip the last pages of a chapter, and the last few paragraphs of each section.
I did really enjoy the part dedicated to sabotage, especially relating to Barbie.

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting so far, though she's unfortunately an acolyte of the culture jammers.

[Tara Brabazon · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book. It was theoretically rigorous and provided a context for the (now declining) MySpace. There is strong attention to cultural jammers and the politics of branding.

[Maggie]

-_- ....thats all I have to say...