WEBVTT

00:00:10.000 --> 00:00:14.999
I can’t believe how many people I talk to quite
that have never heard of the words culture jamming.

00:00:15.000 --> 00:00:19.999
Though, I mean to someone who has never
heard of it before, how would you describe?

00:00:20.000 --> 00:00:24.999
Okay, well, first of all, I want to be contrarian,
well, actually I do wanna be contrarian,

00:00:25.000 --> 00:00:29.999
but I… I don’t wanna be perverse. I… I… must say I don’t
really care if people know the words culture Jam.

00:00:30.000 --> 00:00:34.999
It really has do with activity.

00:00:35.000 --> 00:00:39.999
Speaking of the right to jam, steal the
best ideas, remake them into your own,

00:00:40.000 --> 00:00:44.999
and go out and do something new, I mean, that’s what
artists, and Greeks and Frances have done forever.

00:00:45.000 --> 00:00:49.999
If you think about it, it’s not entirely
accurate. It’s culture jamming, culture,

00:00:50.000 --> 00:00:54.999
culture, culture, culture jamming culture
and then the culture jams with me.

00:00:55.000 --> 00:00:59.999
Sort of a slap in the face, it’s a little something,
a little bit shocking embracing about it,

00:01:00.000 --> 00:01:04.999
you know, it’s sort of a good… good healthy slap.
You got jam as in like jamming the machinery

00:01:05.000 --> 00:01:09.999
like the lights throwing a wrench into
the machine, jamming the machinery.

00:01:10.000 --> 00:01:14.999
We can… we can reconfigure the logos
that confront us. We have that power.

00:01:15.000 --> 00:01:19.999
The words are there, the canvas
is there, go use it, you know,

00:01:20.000 --> 00:01:24.999
just get out there and don’t get caught.
I don’t get caught you.

00:01:25.000 --> 00:01:29.999
When I’m in jail, I don’t like it.

00:01:30.000 --> 00:01:34.999
There’s always that feeling in… in
jail that they’ve lost your records.

00:01:35.000 --> 00:01:39.999
The way to protect yourself from the sort of
insidious corporate culture is the sort of take

00:01:40.000 --> 00:01:44.999
the classic expressions of that
corporate culture and sort of add

00:01:45.000 --> 00:01:49.999
a little sort of uh… a twist that redefines
their meaning in a revolutionary direction

00:01:50.000 --> 00:01:54.999
and send it back in their faces.

00:01:55.000 --> 00:01:59.999
That sounds like a that’s good definition as a culture jamming, is I can come up with
extemparating(ph). What did the… you know, what did the peasants do in the middle ages

00:02:00.000 --> 00:02:04.999
when they’re being wiped out
by the uh… by the aristocracy,

00:02:05.000 --> 00:02:09.999
tried to get a job as court jester. That
really wouldn’t kill them, they’d feed them

00:02:10.000 --> 00:02:14.999
they could make fun of the king and get away with
it. I mean, the wrestling guy that backed a bit.

00:02:15.000 --> 00:02:19.999
Culture jamming, you know, in a
essence, in a single sentence is,

00:02:20.000 --> 00:02:24.999
you know, again Semiological
Gorilla Warfare.

00:02:25.000 --> 00:02:29.999
We have that power.

00:02:30.000 --> 00:02:38.000
[sil.]

00:02:40.000 --> 00:02:48.000
You are arrested. What for? What?

00:02:50.000 --> 00:02:55.000
[sil.]

00:03:15.000 --> 00:03:19.999
Well, I get between 5 and 20 emails
a week from… usually from kids,

00:03:20.000 --> 00:03:24.999
or college kids, or students, or…. And
they all, you know, a lot of them on

00:03:25.000 --> 00:03:29.999
if they want to join Billboard Liberation Front, that’s what I tell them, I write
them all back. And I go look, you know, we’re a bunch of like 50 year old boogies,

00:03:30.000 --> 00:03:34.999
you wouldn’t like our music, you know, we
smell bad, we’re really old and creaky.

00:03:35.000 --> 00:03:40.000
We’d have a hard time keeping up with you. Why don’t
you start your own group? Okay, you have to read it.

00:03:45.000 --> 00:03:50.000
[music]

00:04:10.000 --> 00:04:14.999
Nobody knows where Batman lives, nobody knows where
Superman lives, nobody knows where Spiderman lives,

00:04:15.000 --> 00:04:19.999
and nobody knows where the BLF
lives, partly it lives with me.

00:04:20.000 --> 00:04:24.999
We’re here.

00:04:25.000 --> 00:04:29.999
[music]

00:04:30.000 --> 00:04:34.999
And this is that day, this is…

00:04:35.000 --> 00:04:43.000
this is where we decide everything. It’s
our layer to endure. Shield activated.

00:04:45.000 --> 00:04:49.999
I’m calling a meeting to order
a Billboard Liberation Front

00:04:50.000 --> 00:04:54.999
uh… in our 24 year now and now we’re procuring
another outdoor advertising campaign.

00:04:55.000 --> 00:04:59.999
Wait, we don’t have a…
a particular BLF look,

00:05:00.000 --> 00:05:04.999
we don’t have a particular graphic design
concept. If there is any overwriting

00:05:05.000 --> 00:05:09.999
or underwriting sort of
philosophy it’s minimalism.

00:05:10.000 --> 00:05:14.999
So we can bust those same wires
by changing one letter, you know,

00:05:15.000 --> 00:05:19.999
why brand stand by changing the whole sign. Am I right, Jack?
Precisely. The next slide here, the LSD job, for an instance.

00:05:20.000 --> 00:05:24.999
Great example of a… of a massive
alteration with zero budget,

00:05:25.000 --> 00:05:29.999
with zero technology, it’s turning their switches off
on the hills dill sign, and make it to LSD, pal.

00:05:30.000 --> 00:05:34.999
…that didn’t costs us a dime. And matter of fact, we went back to each
layer, we switched it back and then we turned them back off again.

00:05:35.000 --> 00:05:39.999
Now the more times we do it, the more
profitable it is. Am I right, Jack?

00:05:40.000 --> 00:05:44.999
Well, okay. Next slide there, Billboards,
Transit Ads and Street Furniture are

00:05:45.000 --> 00:05:49.999
the three categories of advertising
that we’re most interested in here.

00:05:50.000 --> 00:05:54.999
And I think a lot of them are… are
getting the \"Message.\" The message?

00:05:55.000 --> 00:05:59.999
The message. Oh, yeah, I know, the media.

00:06:00.000 --> 00:06:04.999
Okay, show your hands.

00:06:05.000 --> 00:06:09.999
Medium or message? The message.

00:06:10.000 --> 00:06:14.999
We love billboards. A big part of our mission has been
to encourage people to go ahead and use these canvases,

00:06:15.000 --> 00:06:19.999
artists, uh… maniacs, uh…
business people, you know,

00:06:20.000 --> 00:06:24.999
right wing, left wing, we don’t care, as
long as you’re putting up their own message.

00:06:25.000 --> 00:06:29.999
We are Billboard and Transit advertisement
company. Uh… we are the largest in the world.

00:06:30.000 --> 00:06:34.999
We have uh… approximately 240,000
advertising faces in North America.

00:06:35.000 --> 00:06:39.999
We’re in Canada and we’re also in Mexico.
We’re not out here to extinguish Billboard.

00:06:40.000 --> 00:06:44.999
No. We’re just out here to make them more of a populist
form. And allow more people access to something

00:06:45.000 --> 00:06:49.999
that frankly most people can’t afford. There’s
a new renaissance in… in outdoor advertising.

00:06:50.000 --> 00:06:54.999
Right, they are everywhere, and they are
in your face, and consequently we believe

00:06:55.000 --> 00:06:59.999
that they’re common property. I
mean, since they’re uh… ubiquitous

00:07:00.000 --> 00:07:04.999
You simply can’t avoid billboards you
might as well have fun with them.

00:07:05.000 --> 00:07:09.999
Well, we started in December of 1997

00:07:10.000 --> 00:07:14.999
and we are inspired by another group
the San Francisco Suicide Club

00:07:15.000 --> 00:07:19.999
where we’d go with a smaller bunch of
people and improve the advertising copy.

00:07:20.000 --> 00:07:24.999
[music]

00:07:25.000 --> 00:07:29.999
The advertising campaigns of the ‘70s
were pretty uh… largely happening

00:07:30.000 --> 00:07:34.999
but not very creative and we felt that they
needed some help with their ad copies.

00:07:35.000 --> 00:07:39.999
For instance, the uh… the
Fact Cigarette Campaign,

00:07:40.000 --> 00:07:44.999
the caption was \"I’m realistic.
I only smoke Fact.\"

00:07:45.000 --> 00:07:49.999
Now we thought that was pretty silly,
so we changed those Billboards to say,

00:07:50.000 --> 00:07:54.999
\"I’m real sick. I only smoke Facts.\" With an arrow going
from the word Facts to the surgeon general’s warning

00:07:55.000 --> 00:07:59.999
and now, we… we weren’t against
smoking or anything like that

00:08:00.000 --> 00:08:04.999
actually we’re very pro smoking. We just wanted to help them
out with their ad campaign. So it’s a little more truthful.

00:08:05.000 --> 00:08:09.999
[music]

00:08:10.000 --> 00:08:14.999
When you’re putting something on the screen,
that’s 4 by 6 feet on the sidewalks

00:08:15.000 --> 00:08:19.999
uh… backlit and uh… you know,

00:08:20.000 --> 00:08:24.999
people are walking by it, uh…
you’re playing… you’re playing God.

00:08:25.000 --> 00:08:29.999
That’s correct. And if you don’t think for a moment that they’re gonna put
a Nike shoe up on the moon then you clearly haven’t paid much attention

00:08:30.000 --> 00:08:34.999
what we’re capable of, as a race.

00:08:35.000 --> 00:08:39.999
God. Uh… there are many moves afoot
to… to restrict more advertising.

00:08:40.000 --> 00:08:45.000
So it’s… it’s an ongoing war if you will.
Perhaps, a friendly one but an ongoing war.

00:09:00.000 --> 00:09:04.999
Different… think different was
pretty recent that was ‘99.

00:09:05.000 --> 00:09:09.999
And now regardless as to the value of the product, you
know, I might say that Apple Computers are a fine product.

00:09:10.000 --> 00:09:14.999
But they’re using these images uh… of these… these
wonderful spiritually profound people to sell a product.

00:09:15.000 --> 00:09:19.999
And we’re just taken aback, you know, we’re just saying
okay, yeah, okay, you guys sold uh… your computer with

00:09:20.000 --> 00:09:24.999
uh… Amelia Earhart now, we’re…
we’re taking it back for us.

00:09:25.000 --> 00:09:29.999
Yeah, I mean, it’s like what would she think? I mean,
she flew off in a plane and disappeared, I mean,

00:09:30.000 --> 00:09:34.999
she was a doomed icon. You
know, a very romantic image.

00:09:35.000 --> 00:09:39.999
[sil.]

00:09:40.000 --> 00:09:44.999
Oh, yeah this shit happens Billboard was the, probably, our best
know. I think it’s… it’s actually our… our most publicized day.

00:09:45.000 --> 00:09:49.999
But that billboard was,
of course, in response to

00:09:50.000 --> 00:09:54.999
and uh… in support of Exxon Corporation
after they uh… had this oil spill up

00:09:55.000 --> 00:09:59.999
up in uh… southern Alaska
and that was 1989,

00:10:00.000 --> 00:10:04.999
and uh… we were just responding this situation.
It’s very big in the news at that time, you know,

00:10:05.000 --> 00:10:09.999
Billboard Division I said, Hits happens, it was
a radio station billboard. And we changed it

00:10:10.000 --> 00:10:14.999
uh… to… to shit happens, making sure the blabbering the
obvious, I suppose. I sat and watched people walking by

00:10:15.000 --> 00:10:19.999
that for hours and everybody who
looked at it, got a chuckle out of it.

00:10:20.000 --> 00:10:24.999
People from all walks of life. And uh… that was…
that was good, that made me feel good, I mean, fun.

00:10:25.000 --> 00:10:29.999
We did something here, you know, because it didn’t
mean what you want? You wanted to up and spray paint,

00:10:30.000 --> 00:10:34.999
fuck Exxon on the billboard,
I mean, that’s just tacky.

00:10:35.000 --> 00:10:39.999
[music]

00:10:40.000 --> 00:10:44.999
The culture jamming, for me, it’s
like breathing. If you never exhaled,

00:10:45.000 --> 00:10:49.999
you’d suffocate, right? And yeah, we’re just
supposed to sit back and just intake in like all

00:10:50.000 --> 00:10:54.999
the screaming commercials and… and… and television
and messages and I’m supposed to take in.

00:10:55.000 --> 00:11:00.000
It’s just supposed to all
stay inside, no way.

00:11:15.000 --> 00:11:19.999
The stickers and

00:11:20.000 --> 00:11:24.999
the jamming is more about having a dialogue

00:11:25.000 --> 00:11:29.999
where there isn’t one and where… and kind of, expressing
a bit of resentment at the fact that there isn’t one,

00:11:30.000 --> 00:11:34.999
participating in my environment ‘cause my
environment is filled with… with images

00:11:35.000 --> 00:11:39.999
and messages. They can
have an impact on me and

00:11:40.000 --> 00:11:44.999
so it’s having an impact back. Feeling like there
is some kind of, you know, like I’m alive.

00:11:45.000 --> 00:11:49.999
[music]

00:11:50.000 --> 00:11:54.999
There’s no… there’s no button on my
television that… so that I can go

00:11:55.000 --> 00:11:59.999
and talk back into it and send it back to
NBC, or ABC, or CBC, or whoever, right?

00:12:00.000 --> 00:12:04.999
There’s no… On the billboard, there’s no place where
they say, \"Okay, what’s your… what’s your reaction?\"

00:12:05.000 --> 00:12:09.999
There’s no design in the system for my
response for any kind of engagement

00:12:10.000 --> 00:12:14.999
or participation. So it’s just
a way of kind of carving out

00:12:15.000 --> 00:12:19.999
that… that place in space.

00:12:20.000 --> 00:12:24.999
I went to University and I took semiotics,

00:12:25.000 --> 00:12:29.999
it’s the study of science and symbols.

00:12:30.000 --> 00:12:34.999
I like this one, it’s already got a lot on it. We had
a book about reconstructing ads and it was just funny

00:12:35.000 --> 00:12:39.999
’cause it’s like, well, I guess we learned how
to deconstruct ads by writing all over them

00:12:40.000 --> 00:12:44.999
’cause if you’re sitting back and you’re looking at
an ad, you’re thinking, \"Man, that ad really bugs me.

00:12:45.000 --> 00:12:49.999
I want to do something back to it.\" You have
to understand the language that the ad’s using

00:12:50.000 --> 00:12:54.999
to manipulate you, before you manipulate it back
because you wanna use the same kind of language.

00:12:55.000 --> 00:13:00.000
There’s like this constant… it’s like this
constant war for territory, mind share.

00:13:05.000 --> 00:13:13.000
[music]

00:13:15.000 --> 00:13:19.999
That there’s always that really interesting moment when I’m
putting up the stickers ‘cause whoever is on… I check out

00:13:20.000 --> 00:13:24.999
the people on the train and umm… sometimes
I’d be… I’m… I’m a little like less obvious

00:13:25.000 --> 00:13:29.999
about it and other times if I’m feeling with a brass I’m
just like, pew it off and look man and like stick it on.

00:13:30.000 --> 00:13:34.999
They’re like, \"Yeah, you’re supposed to do that.\" But
I did it. Like what are you going to do about it?

00:13:35.000 --> 00:13:39.999
I bet sure, you’d like it ‘cause
it’s something interesting to watch.

00:13:40.000 --> 00:13:44.999
[music]

00:13:45.000 --> 00:13:49.999
I got comments from just pedestrians
or like other citizens.

00:13:50.000 --> 00:13:54.999
If they see me doing this, I need to
respond so they’ll don’t read aloud

00:13:55.000 --> 00:13:59.999
but they just go. And look at me and
you can ask me what I mean by it

00:14:00.000 --> 00:14:04.999
or they’ll… they’ll comments on it.

00:14:05.000 --> 00:14:09.999
I’ve didn’t even had too much conflicts. I’ve had about… I’ve had
tones of other friends who’ve got arrested or who gotten stopped

00:14:10.000 --> 00:14:14.999
and have argued their case.
People who don’t like it

00:14:15.000 --> 00:14:19.999
usually don’t say anything. It’s weird.
What do you think about that?

00:14:20.000 --> 00:14:24.999
I think people should have a right
to do that. No, I don’t think so.

00:14:25.000 --> 00:14:29.999
It’s a violation

00:14:30.000 --> 00:14:34.999
of other uh… fenders, advertisements.

00:14:35.000 --> 00:14:39.999
So uh… I would think that
many would find it offensive.

00:14:40.000 --> 00:14:44.999
And do you find it offensive?
Yes. What do you say?

00:14:45.000 --> 00:14:49.999
I do as well. I think it’s
really important to remember

00:14:50.000 --> 00:14:54.999
that we target the brands because the brands are
the ones that are hovering out there above us.

00:14:55.000 --> 00:14:59.999
And the ones that the companies invest
so much money into creating but

00:15:00.000 --> 00:15:04.999
it’s not just the brands, you know. We’re targeting that to get
something much more deeper that we can’t necessarily access.

00:15:05.000 --> 00:15:09.999
That’s one of the reasons culture jamming

00:15:10.000 --> 00:15:14.999
is so popular among so many people because they
can’t call up, and call Phil Knight from Nike,

00:15:15.000 --> 00:15:19.999
and tell him to have more
responsibility labor practices.

00:15:20.000 --> 00:15:24.999
But they can access one of the many cluster of ads, Nike ads
that are in their environment and they can start knocking

00:15:25.000 --> 00:15:30.000
that brands to have an effect.

00:15:35.000 --> 00:15:39.999
I think revolutionaries
believe that eventually

00:15:40.000 --> 00:15:44.999
the majority will come around to…
to uh… reclaiming their own lives.

00:15:45.000 --> 00:15:49.999
And I believe

00:15:50.000 --> 00:15:54.999
that the resistance to consumerism
is just beneath the surface of lots

00:15:55.000 --> 00:16:00.000
and lots of people in our culture.

00:16:05.000 --> 00:16:13.000
[music]

00:16:50.000 --> 00:16:54.999
It’s that what I don’t have? All right,
put your hands together here now.

00:16:55.000 --> 00:16:59.999
We’re gonna do a little prayer
here, a little prayer, Halleluiah.

00:17:00.000 --> 00:17:04.999
Let’s join our souls, okay. I want
to address the part of the sky

00:17:05.000 --> 00:17:09.999
which is not yet covered with logos.

00:17:10.000 --> 00:17:14.999
We’re gonna go to the Disney store now. And
we’re going to challenge those products.

00:17:15.000 --> 00:17:20.000
Are you really preacher? No, I’m
a fake preacher. You are. Yeah.

00:17:25.000 --> 00:17:29.999
Now, this is Reverend Billy. This is a character
I’ve created, he has a set of beliefs

00:17:30.000 --> 00:17:34.999
and I’ve cast myself in this world.

00:17:35.000 --> 00:17:43.000
You know, the old dare to be foolish and never apply
more than it is, at any time in the industry right now.

00:17:45.000 --> 00:17:49.999
Ladies and gentleman,

00:17:50.000 --> 00:17:54.999
I’m Reverend Billy from the
Church of Stop Shopping.

00:17:55.000 --> 00:17:59.999
We are en route at this time to
the Times Square Disney store.

00:18:00.000 --> 00:18:04.999
When we are in the Times Square,

00:18:05.000 --> 00:18:09.999
we intend, we honestly hope

00:18:10.000 --> 00:18:14.999
that we will disrupt the
shopping process there,

00:18:15.000 --> 00:18:19.999
and take people into understanding
that this is a sweat shop cover.

00:18:20.000 --> 00:18:24.999
Please, wake up Disney. Find
out what other companies

00:18:25.000 --> 00:18:29.999
do this kind of thing. Thank you.

00:18:30.000 --> 00:18:38.000
[music]

00:18:40.000 --> 00:18:44.999
I’m not happy yet. No, I’m just warming up.

00:18:45.000 --> 00:18:49.999
I’m not… I’m not on it yet. Now,
I don’t have the rhythm yet.

00:18:50.000 --> 00:18:54.999
I just sounded sort of like a whining
liberal, which is what I am.

00:18:55.000 --> 00:18:59.999
Boycott, the Sweat shop company, Disney.

00:19:00.000 --> 00:19:04.999
I think at the beginning, I
was really at my wit’s end.

00:19:05.000 --> 00:19:09.999
I had lost my theater in San Francisco, I guess,
I came to New York because it’s supposedly

00:19:10.000 --> 00:19:14.999
the center of my world.

00:19:15.000 --> 00:19:19.999
The Great Mecca Art theater but then
it was systematically already on route

00:19:20.000 --> 00:19:24.999
to submitting to the transnational’s.
Disney was signing this amazing

00:19:25.000 --> 00:19:29.999
Manifest Destiny deal,
to a pick small vendors.

00:19:30.000 --> 00:19:34.999
And police were picking up anybody who didn’t look
as if they were in possession of a credit card.

00:19:35.000 --> 00:19:39.999
And that was happening before my eyes and

00:19:40.000 --> 00:19:44.999
I didn’t want to be associated with… with that
theater. So I started shouting out on the sidewalk,

00:19:45.000 --> 00:19:49.999
preaching, the Mickey
Mouse is the anti-Christ.

00:19:50.000 --> 00:19:54.999
Now, I was doing it in Times Square
in front of their flagship store.

00:19:55.000 --> 00:19:59.999
This is all commoditized. We’re just
buying things and we think that that’s

00:20:00.000 --> 00:20:04.999
the way that we construct the meaning in our lives. And
we wonder why we have an empty feeling, a dull feeling.

00:20:05.000 --> 00:20:09.999
Of course, they want us to
have that empty dull feeling

00:20:10.000 --> 00:20:14.999
’cause we just getting to the vicious cycle, we have to go back and buy
something else. And don’t get me wrong, I like nice things, I like nice cars,

00:20:15.000 --> 00:20:19.999
I like nice guns, I like nice
dinner in a nice restaurant

00:20:20.000 --> 00:20:24.999
but that’s only a part of the, you know, the
other part is uh… I mean, it’s going out there

00:20:25.000 --> 00:20:29.999
and being with other human beings and
having an adventure, that’s part of life.

00:20:30.000 --> 00:20:34.999
I mean doing something together,
working together, climbing something,

00:20:35.000 --> 00:20:39.999
you know, I mean, hiking through the woods. Uh… you know,
where you’re not just consuming a prepackaged event

00:20:40.000 --> 00:20:44.999
or a prepackaged umm… xperience.

00:20:45.000 --> 00:20:49.999
Okay, this one is really, really earnest and cheesy and like
we should all get together and we can fix it all, okay?

00:20:50.000 --> 00:20:54.999
Navigating through the world
in your imaginations,

00:20:55.000 --> 00:20:59.999
try not to drown in all the information

00:21:00.000 --> 00:21:04.999
that saturate itself overwhelmed by simulation.
The only way out is to follow inspiration.

00:21:05.000 --> 00:21:09.999
The best defense against the barrage
is to commence a culture collage.

00:21:10.000 --> 00:21:14.999
I’d like you to consider the concepts I deliver and
times the words are with it, just as everything does

00:21:15.000 --> 00:21:19.999
’cause the entropy rules and rules are made for
fools to follow, and wise people to interpret.

00:21:20.000 --> 00:21:24.999
I heard it through the great vine, we just need to
unwind. Stop being a on con, open up a closed minds.

00:21:25.000 --> 00:21:29.999
Open up a closed minds. I’d like you
to consider the concepts, I deliver.

00:21:30.000 --> 00:21:34.999
Probably, kids see more

00:21:35.000 --> 00:21:39.999
mediated images than real people.

00:21:40.000 --> 00:21:44.999
You’ll get marketed at the same product.
In a… in a tons of different environments

00:21:45.000 --> 00:21:49.999
where the same family of products. It can
be a toy, and a movie, and a soundtrack,

00:21:50.000 --> 00:21:54.999
and a clothing label, and a sports
celebrity. They’re all moving together

00:21:55.000 --> 00:21:59.999
and throughout your day you go to different places and you’ll get
marketed one, it’s when you’re on the toilet, in the bathroom,

00:22:00.000 --> 00:22:04.999
on a commercial that’s on the stall. The other is in a magazine
you’re reading, the other is in a television screen in the elevator.

00:22:05.000 --> 00:22:09.999
The other is uh… a logo on someone’s
shirt or tattooed on their body,

00:22:10.000 --> 00:22:14.999
you know, the other is cultural references.
People continually bring up in their conversation

00:22:15.000 --> 00:22:19.999
like everywhere you go, it’s very… it’s very pervasive
and I would say, way more pervasive than it used to be.

00:22:20.000 --> 00:22:28.000
[music]

00:22:30.000 --> 00:22:34.999
What system of Information
and Communication

00:22:35.000 --> 00:22:39.999
is out there that’s not influenced
by interests, corporate interests?

00:22:40.000 --> 00:22:44.999
Not at all. Do what we learn in
school is that a biased. Well,

00:22:45.000 --> 00:22:49.999
let’s just take a little scroll.

00:22:50.000 --> 00:22:54.999
Do you have any soft drinks
that are exclusively in school?

00:22:55.000 --> 00:22:59.999
Which soft drink? Coke. So
there’s no Pepsi nothing else.

00:23:00.000 --> 00:23:04.999
So you’ve been branded in two ways,

00:23:05.000 --> 00:23:09.999
you’ve got your mac and your coke. This
is what our culture’s all about, right?

00:23:10.000 --> 00:23:14.999
All of these brands the reason
that they mean anything to you is

00:23:15.000 --> 00:23:19.999
because people put a lot of work into
just what it’s gonna mean in your head.

00:23:20.000 --> 00:23:24.999
There’s an expression called mind share.
And companies who make brands

00:23:25.000 --> 00:23:29.999
are concerned about the mind share that
they have, in the youth population.

00:23:30.000 --> 00:23:34.999
This is basically, they’re saying, \"Yeah,
we’ve branded their brain really good.\"

00:23:35.000 --> 00:23:39.999
It’s like we’ve got a lot of mind share that they know what our
brand is and they like what it means and if someone is gonna go out

00:23:40.000 --> 00:23:44.999
and do something to poke fun at
this or to subvert it or to expose

00:23:45.000 --> 00:23:49.999
what’s really going on, suddenly that’s threatening
some things that they’ve put so much money

00:23:50.000 --> 00:23:54.999
into in such a simple way, like you’ve been
staring… you’ve been giving me the stare.

00:23:55.000 --> 00:23:59.999
You’ve been giving me that
stare for like a while

00:24:00.000 --> 00:24:04.999
and I wanna know what’s going on in that head of yours like
what… what… what are you thinking about this? You wanna

00:24:05.000 --> 00:24:09.999
publish magazines yourself?

00:24:10.000 --> 00:24:14.999
And uh… We’re on like completely different end. Where
and how and why? Well, ‘Cause like even in this class

00:24:15.000 --> 00:24:19.999
right, like they were talking about this the
other day, we’re learning to make media, right?

00:24:20.000 --> 00:24:24.999
And we’re learning to put together stuff to actually
grab people’s attention and brand them or whatever.

00:24:25.000 --> 00:24:29.999
And then you’re completely like coming in on
the other side and say, \"That’s not good.\"

00:24:30.000 --> 00:24:34.999
Yeah, see but the… but you know what
we have in common? We both like media.

00:24:35.000 --> 00:24:39.999
A lot of them just think ads
are just a public service.

00:24:40.000 --> 00:24:44.999
Telling them what’s out there to choose from.
Like I still love Barbie and I can’t stop.

00:24:45.000 --> 00:24:49.999
It’s everywhere in my house, I have backpacks and gym
bags. I have everything Barbie and I can’t stop.

00:24:50.000 --> 00:24:54.999
I have soap, Barbie soap that I still use.
I cannot stop

00:24:55.000 --> 00:24:59.999
like that’s scary and I don’t want my kids to be like that. Have you done
anything around Barbie like have you done any of the work on your own Barbie? No.

00:25:00.000 --> 00:25:04.999
You got a lot of stuff
you get to work with.

00:25:05.000 --> 00:25:09.999
I know that, you know, (inaudible) I knew
all that but I really like Barbie a lot.

00:25:10.000 --> 00:25:14.999
I’d never tell them to go out and do it themselves
without being fully aware of how responsible they are.

00:25:15.000 --> 00:25:19.999
The teacher never has to condone what we’re saying,
the teacher says… usually the teacher says,

00:25:20.000 --> 00:25:24.999
\"I don’t condone.\" This, but you should know about it
and I mean, it’s the same case with so many issues

00:25:25.000 --> 00:25:29.999
like kids should know about them, not necessarily
be encouraged to it but knowledge is power.

00:25:30.000 --> 00:25:34.999
And there have been some books, as of late. Let’s
say the ‘90s like there is probably 10 books.

00:25:35.000 --> 00:25:39.999
And Adbusters, as I’m sure, you know, there’s a magazine, an
International magazine that’s quite popular and available in a

00:25:40.000 --> 00:25:44.999
a lot of bookstores by the way and everybody seems to
know about that. And now the… the web has opened up.

00:25:45.000 --> 00:25:49.999
You know, and you actually culture Jamming
is a category as you may know on the…

00:25:50.000 --> 00:25:54.999
on the search engine so. You know, it did…
it wasn’t true about three or four years ago

00:25:55.000 --> 00:25:59.999
and so uh… it’s earned a place so to speak uh… you
know, in this spectrum of sub cultural activities.

00:26:00.000 --> 00:26:04.999
So in that sense,

00:26:05.000 --> 00:26:09.999
it is kind of vernacular media
criticism done by ordinary folks

00:26:10.000 --> 00:26:14.999
outside the academy. It’s academy
hacking, in that regard.

00:26:15.000 --> 00:26:19.999
It’s drive by cultural criticism.

00:26:20.000 --> 00:26:28.000
[music]

00:26:30.000 --> 00:26:34.999
For the first step in the uh… in a process is a
scouting actions, which usually involves a six McAfee

00:26:35.000 --> 00:26:39.999
and an additional camera and
a lot of time on our hands.

00:26:40.000 --> 00:26:44.999
We’re trying to find that ideal mix
that great tradeoff between traffic

00:26:45.000 --> 00:26:49.999
and accessibility.

00:26:50.000 --> 00:26:54.999
Umm… We want a high traffic location but some of them are so high traffic that
obviously, you can’t get on without a… without an unseen satisfactory risk factor.

00:26:55.000 --> 00:26:59.999
[music]

00:27:00.000 --> 00:27:04.999
In this latest action, we wanted to find the highest
concentration of .com billboards that we could.

00:27:05.000 --> 00:27:09.999
So we went straight to the US 101 quarter,
between San Francisco in Silicon Valley.

00:27:10.000 --> 00:27:14.999
This is a commute route for everybody who works in the
valley and papered with uh… with boards on both sides

00:27:15.000 --> 00:27:19.999
with enormous structures that uh… are
some of the most expensive structures in

00:27:20.000 --> 00:27:24.999
the uh… world, by the way, it’s as much as
$80,000 a month to get on with those babies.

00:27:25.000 --> 00:27:29.999
That’s the rental for one of these
billboards, $80,000 a month.

00:27:30.000 --> 00:27:34.999
The next step will be creating mechanicals from
that uh… which is where we’ll create our overlay

00:27:35.000 --> 00:27:39.999
and uh… actually put that into production.
Our method of choice now is to pay stuff on

00:27:40.000 --> 00:27:44.999
onto a lightweight foam floor with a two-sided
tape, double stick tape, wonderful stuff.

00:27:45.000 --> 00:27:49.999
It’s uh… easy on, easy off and uh… no
damage to the underlying billboard, right,

00:27:50.000 --> 00:27:54.999
which… which is important to us, because we… we
always keep in the back of mind that there are real

00:27:55.000 --> 00:27:59.999
people, who are gonna have to come up and clean up our mess
after us. I mean, they get up there and they do some stuff.

00:28:00.000 --> 00:28:04.999
We like to make a habit of leaving uh…
leaving a little something behind.

00:28:05.000 --> 00:28:09.999
That’s right, usually, we leave
a 12 pack of beer and not

00:28:10.000 --> 00:28:14.999
the cheap stuff either, no Old Milwaukee. It’s… we’re
just no big deal. We just take down and change it.

00:28:15.000 --> 00:28:19.999
It still entirely illegal but I think
we get some points for style, yey.

00:28:20.000 --> 00:28:28.000
[music]

00:28:30.000 --> 00:28:34.999
I think it’s… it’s… it’s more challenging,

00:28:35.000 --> 00:28:39.999
more funny, it’s smarter, you know, again
to… to uh… conduct some kind of battle

00:28:40.000 --> 00:28:44.999
at level of language, you know,
and… and iconography then uh…

00:28:45.000 --> 00:28:49.999
What I would call this just
cancellation or obliteration

00:28:50.000 --> 00:28:54.999
because in the long run, they’ll always be able to build those things
back up. What we’re really talking most changing the consciousness

00:28:55.000 --> 00:28:59.999
you know and sort of encouraging
critical perspective. Boycott Disney.

00:29:00.000 --> 00:29:04.999
There’s a sweat shop company.

00:29:05.000 --> 00:29:09.999
Take the mouse off the cross. Its
something Catholic and I find it very,

00:29:10.000 --> 00:29:14.999
very offensive to be taking a symbol of my religion and
putting a freaking toy on it, like it means nothing, okay.

00:29:15.000 --> 00:29:19.999
Yeah, I’ve gotta be down and that
we were… were a certain… a certain

00:29:20.000 --> 00:29:24.999
number of people being are upset. I really want their… I
want their symbols and their meanings to sort of fly away

00:29:25.000 --> 00:29:29.999
and… and I want that to be taking place
and I hope, I don’t get killed doing it.

00:29:30.000 --> 00:29:34.999
You know, what was Christ if not

00:29:35.000 --> 00:29:39.999
the Andy Kaufman of this day. You know,

00:29:40.000 --> 00:29:44.999
Christ was not a Christian,
he was a Jewish comedian.

00:29:45.000 --> 00:29:49.999
He was a mystic, he was a social
changer, and he’s a hero of mine.

00:29:50.000 --> 00:29:54.999
I think he’d like this.
I think he’d like this.

00:29:55.000 --> 00:29:59.999
Because Mickey is the Caesar.
Mickey… Mickey runs the Empire.

00:30:00.000 --> 00:30:04.999
I mean, this is the moment, where the
empire of the science strikes back.

00:30:05.000 --> 00:30:09.999
Reverend Billy has prepared the way.

00:30:10.000 --> 00:30:14.999
He has public support. He has uh…

00:30:15.000 --> 00:30:19.999
theatrical concept beyond what he’s doing
that is considered by many people to be

00:30:20.000 --> 00:30:24.999
in a different sphere. So when
he goes into the Disney Store,

00:30:25.000 --> 00:30:29.999
he’s not in the same position as
someone, you know, madly running a mock.

00:30:30.000 --> 00:30:34.999
I mean, he… he has organized things and made it
so that he really doesn’t face so much danger.

00:30:35.000 --> 00:30:39.999
The Reverend Billy belongs to

00:30:40.000 --> 00:30:44.999
a long tradition of theater activism.

00:30:45.000 --> 00:30:49.999
Children, we’re from

00:30:50.000 --> 00:30:54.999
the Church of Stop Shopping. And
I am Reverend Billy. We’re here,

00:30:55.000 --> 00:30:59.999
today, we’re here today, children,

00:31:00.000 --> 00:31:04.999
praise be, you’re here to witness uh…
we are here today to discover junk,

00:31:05.000 --> 00:31:09.999
the purchaser of these little
Nordica Christmas (inaudible).

00:31:10.000 --> 00:31:14.999
Children, we are asking you
to boycott Disney Products.

00:31:15.000 --> 00:31:19.999
Please remember, that the people in world
China, the people in Saipan and Sri Lanka

00:31:20.000 --> 00:31:24.999
are getting 16, 19 cents an hour
for working 70 hours a week.

00:31:25.000 --> 00:31:29.999
We’re not allowed to cutinize,
please, don’t buy things here.

00:31:30.000 --> 00:31:34.999
Stories considered private space but
in order to umm… make it illegal,

00:31:35.000 --> 00:31:39.999
to arrest someone in the store, the person would have to
be given notice that they weren’t wanted in the store

00:31:40.000 --> 00:31:44.999
and that they should remove themselves from the
premises. Because that was what would make it clear

00:31:45.000 --> 00:31:49.999
that if a person didn’t leave, it would be a
trespass. They’re expanded ads, children.

00:31:50.000 --> 00:31:54.999
We’re here… we’re here with the media.
The police are coming and…

00:31:55.000 --> 00:31:59.999
The police are coming and here we have the manager of
this wonderful store, Laura… Amen, let’s give Laura

00:32:00.000 --> 00:32:04.999
a big round of applause. She’s
bopping, she’s bopping here,

00:32:05.000 --> 00:32:09.999
in Disney store. Laura, this is the

00:32:10.000 --> 00:32:14.999
uh… this is the BBC here.
How do you defend your sale

00:32:15.000 --> 00:32:19.999
of sweatshop products here in 40 second screen? No, I’m gonna say anything
on that, all I’m gonna do is ask you to leave the store one more time.

00:32:20.000 --> 00:32:24.999
You’re not gonna comment on…
the manufacture of these items

00:32:25.000 --> 00:32:29.999
for White people on the
other side of the world who

00:32:30.000 --> 00:32:34.999
we can’t even find them. We can’t even find the factories.
They used to be in Haiti but then we were down there too much

00:32:35.000 --> 00:32:39.999
seeing what you were doing to them.
Now they’re in,

00:32:40.000 --> 00:32:44.999
now they’re in China off the horizon. It’s a shame.
It’s a… it’s a shame, it’s a shame and it’s a shame.

00:32:45.000 --> 00:32:49.999
Hallelujah. I mean, I honestly don’t know how it’s
possible for people to come into a place like this,

00:32:50.000 --> 00:32:54.999
a company that is basically engaged in
criminal activity around the world.

00:32:55.000 --> 00:32:59.999
A $50 billion company that is beholden
to no one that is its own government.

00:33:00.000 --> 00:33:04.999
And it has ruined Times Square
and turned it into Los Vegas,

00:33:05.000 --> 00:33:09.999
they must be held accountable, children. Sir, I’m
gonna have to ask you leave the store. Laura…

00:33:10.000 --> 00:33:14.999
Laura… is bopping. Laura just bopping but,
you know, I just feel so good meeting

00:33:15.000 --> 00:33:19.999
in a Disney store. This… this… Reverend…
Reverend, kill me please, kill me please.

00:33:20.000 --> 00:33:24.999
Do have a Disney problem? I’ve no problem.
I know. They’re so cute.

00:33:25.000 --> 00:33:29.999
Mickey, get out your soul. Go
forth and shop no more child,

00:33:30.000 --> 00:33:34.999
you’ve been saved. Another saved soul, he won’t have
to buy anything Disney for the rest of his life.

00:33:35.000 --> 00:33:39.999
Now that’s culture jamming. Thank you so much
of coming to the tricks of stop shopping today.

00:33:40.000 --> 00:33:44.999
And I love it if I see somebody and
their… and their… their… their jaws down

00:33:45.000 --> 00:33:49.999
and their eyes are, \"I Don’t…

00:33:50.000 --> 00:33:54.999
what is this guy doing, what…
what… Mickey’s the devil

00:33:55.000 --> 00:33:59.999
and but he’s not a Christian or
what… what, he’s a actor or…

00:34:00.000 --> 00:34:04.999
this… this is a stunt.\" And you see them,
looking around or looking at the cameras,

00:34:05.000 --> 00:34:09.999
they’re trying to add it up. As soon as they can
add it up then it’s less important to them.

00:34:10.000 --> 00:34:14.999
If that… that suspension takes place
for two or three or four minutes,

00:34:15.000 --> 00:34:19.999
they’re gonna take that home and they’re gonna… they’re gonna still be thinking
about it a week later. And I just like to say Laura, you’ve been very polite.

00:34:20.000 --> 00:34:24.999
Hallelujah. Good night people.

00:34:25.000 --> 00:34:29.999
You might even hesitate to
buy a Disney product, maybe.

00:34:30.000 --> 00:34:34.999
I’m just offended by what
just happened in this store.

00:34:35.000 --> 00:34:39.999
Where I spend my money, where I go to
shop is my business, not anyone else’s.

00:34:40.000 --> 00:34:44.999
Especially an idiot like who… whoever he was.
Oh, you were offended with what he had to say?

00:34:45.000 --> 00:34:49.999
Right. I’m offended that
Disney has a sweatshop.

00:34:50.000 --> 00:34:54.999
I could see Kathy Gifford
and the Disney… Disney.

00:34:55.000 --> 00:34:59.999
Uh… I’m gonna check it out, I’d tell you
‘cause I spent a lot of money in Disney.

00:35:00.000 --> 00:35:04.999
I’m sure, Andy Warhol

00:35:05.000 --> 00:35:09.999
was never challenged on his use of the
Campbell Soup can. If Disney, for example,

00:35:10.000 --> 00:35:14.999
found what umm… Reverend
Billy was doing insulting

00:35:15.000 --> 00:35:19.999
and had a legal basis for
challenging it and did not think

00:35:20.000 --> 00:35:24.999
that they would alienate more people
than they would win for friends

00:35:25.000 --> 00:35:29.999
then they would take action against him. But it is all of
those things involved in whether or not action will be taken.

00:35:30.000 --> 00:35:34.999
This is culture jamming as making

00:35:35.000 --> 00:35:39.999
a mockery of consensus reality, during
Zappa, Abbie Hoffman, The Firesign Theater

00:35:40.000 --> 00:35:44.999
that is to say, it is this
marvelously, wildly suppressive,

00:35:45.000 --> 00:35:49.999
carnival last spirit that is
all about every day data,

00:35:50.000 --> 00:35:54.999
what the situation is, who were a species
of culture Jammer in the late 1960s,

00:35:55.000 --> 00:35:59.999
umm… very specifically as theorized
in the writings of Guy Debord,

00:36:00.000 --> 00:36:04.999
the French situationist. They were about what
they called \"The theatre of everyday life.\"

00:36:05.000 --> 00:36:09.999
I think it might be fair to… to identify it more
properly uh… as a sign of a 20th century movement

00:36:10.000 --> 00:36:14.999
because I think a lot of it has to do with mass media in a
particular action, not just against commercial interests

00:36:15.000 --> 00:36:19.999
but all but they sort of the… the propaganda
basically of commercial interest,

00:36:20.000 --> 00:36:24.999
\"Advertising.\" I’m having a little fun
really, it’s all like a Yippee idea,

00:36:25.000 --> 00:36:29.999
really kind of a joyous revolution.

00:36:30.000 --> 00:36:34.999
And uh… finally I know what you
all have been waiting for.

00:36:35.000 --> 00:36:39.999
Ladies and gentlemen, I give you .com 2000.

00:36:40.000 --> 00:36:44.999
[sil.]

00:36:45.000 --> 00:36:49.999
Umm… Now we’re gonna be installing
uh… several pasteovers on

00:36:50.000 --> 00:36:54.999
a variety of Internet billboards
on the central freeway. And…

00:36:55.000 --> 00:36:59.999
and going to come up with uh… following
campaign that kind of forcibly uh… illuminates

00:37:00.000 --> 00:37:04.999
the problem and the situation. All right. You notice the
message here is uh… in the form of a uh… of a windows

00:37:05.000 --> 00:37:09.999
Tm error screen uh… with the message
of fatal error, Invalid stock value

00:37:10.000 --> 00:37:14.999
uh… abort, retry, fail. And I’m not sure what happens if you press any of those
buttons but uh… I think they all don’t work but uh… I don’t even wanna know.

00:37:15.000 --> 00:37:19.999
From a legal stand point,
I just like to make sure

00:37:20.000 --> 00:37:24.999
that each and every one of you uh… of course,
know that you will be at my home on Sunday,

00:37:25.000 --> 00:37:29.999
when… when, whatever happens… happens that’s where we
all will be enjoying the barbeque. I’ll see you there.

00:37:30.000 --> 00:37:34.999
Of course. All right.
Right, we’re all there.

00:37:35.000 --> 00:37:39.999
Exactly. At you’re house, our legal account were held… Exactly.
…On Sunday evening from about oh, say, 4:30 till about midnight.

00:37:40.000 --> 00:37:44.999
In fact, you’re in charge of the ambrosia salad. Well,
generally unless they’re caught in the act it’s hard,

00:37:45.000 --> 00:37:49.999
it’s not like a fingerprint. Well, I debate
the fact that it’s illegal, actually.

00:37:50.000 --> 00:37:54.999
Umm… see property damage is illegal uh… and
we don’t actually damage these billboards.

00:37:55.000 --> 00:37:59.999
So uh… in effect, we’re not
really doing anything illegal,

00:38:00.000 --> 00:38:04.999
we’re just borrowing the space. There’s
a $400 cap in terms of what’s a felony

00:38:05.000 --> 00:38:09.999
or what’s a misdemeanor. So if the kid swabs
up the board and you can replace it for $50

00:38:10.000 --> 00:38:14.999
that’s still a misdemeanor.
Uh… If they really destroy a

00:38:15.000 --> 00:38:19.999
uh… valuable $5,000 or $10,000
or $20,000 a month billboard

00:38:20.000 --> 00:38:25.000
and you’re talking about a felony.

00:38:30.000 --> 00:38:38.000
[music]

00:38:45.000 --> 00:38:49.999
Try in memory though,

00:38:50.000 --> 00:38:54.999
it’s the facing private property, private
property… Com check, com check, anybody? Over.

00:38:55.000 --> 00:38:59.999
It… it’s a shame

00:39:00.000 --> 00:39:04.999
that our society has put us in this position.
Damn it, it’s a shame and it’s shame… shame…

00:39:05.000 --> 00:39:09.999
We have an illumination patrol at night.

00:39:10.000 --> 00:39:14.999
An occasion we’re make an arrest right there. You know, there
are… there are certain technicalities of the law that apply.

00:39:15.000 --> 00:39:19.999
We’re like take trespassing, for instance, how many people,
you know have ever done any hard time for trespassing?

00:39:20.000 --> 00:39:24.999
Get here. If you may get to take a
piss, do it… do it now. (inaudible)

00:39:25.000 --> 00:39:29.999
move back in that direction and keep
an eye on the oncoming traffic.

00:39:30.000 --> 00:39:34.999
You keep the radio uh… up and ready to go. TV
advice, there’s a ravine between us and the bridge.

00:39:35.000 --> 00:39:39.999
All eyes forward. Okay, that’s fun,
it has to be fun. Yeah. I mean, like,

00:39:40.000 --> 00:39:44.999
anything that we do here for not having fun, we’re… we lose.
Making fun of corporations is all good and dandy but if

00:39:45.000 --> 00:39:49.999
we’re not enjoying ourselves or get to straight about it then
uh… why… why the hell do it? You know, why the hell do it?

00:39:50.000 --> 00:39:54.999
I mean, they want, you know, if you never
stick your butt, that kind of win.

00:39:55.000 --> 00:39:59.999
Yeah, you guys wanna patch one more panel up, we’re just gonna
put uh… an existential piece in the middle of the billboard.

00:40:00.000 --> 00:40:08.000
[sil.]

00:40:10.000 --> 00:40:14.999
Helicopter! Helicopter! Helicopter, copy
that. Thank you. Helicopter. Helicopter.

00:40:15.000 --> 00:40:19.999
Hey, everybody can sit down and don’t move.
Third grid on the pole.

00:40:20.000 --> 00:40:24.999
They got a… got a light.

00:40:25.000 --> 00:40:29.999
[sil.]

00:40:30.000 --> 00:40:34.999
Don’t move. Oh, okay, they
could… They could see what…

00:40:35.000 --> 00:40:39.999
I brought the video camera. Yeah.

00:40:40.000 --> 00:40:44.999
Yeah, okay. So… Copy that sir, we have…
Thank you. There are still other ways

00:40:45.000 --> 00:40:49.999
of getting your message out rather than, you know,
calling yourself some guerilla theater group

00:40:50.000 --> 00:40:54.999
or some guerrilla group and you wanna get this important
message out, uh… so you’re going to face a billboard.

00:40:55.000 --> 00:40:59.999
There is no free speech anywhere,
it’s all bought and paid for.

00:41:00.000 --> 00:41:04.999
So going out and putting out your own messages feels
really the only free speech there is. They can call us.

00:41:05.000 --> 00:41:09.999
Many times, we have an art
department, we have an art director.

00:41:10.000 --> 00:41:14.999
Uh… I’ve helped campaigns, we’ve helped campaigns where
people didn’t have any money. Without any of those,

00:41:15.000 --> 00:41:19.999
companies would uh… would put… would…
would really run at certain controversies

00:41:20.000 --> 00:41:24.999
their uh… to their bottom line, to their
political uh… stance, I doubt they would.

00:41:25.000 --> 00:41:29.999
I don’t think it is, matter of fact, for
in many instances where they haven’t.

00:41:30.000 --> 00:41:34.999
Where uh… political groups that came up with enough money to uh… rent a
billboard and they would rent it to them ‘cause they didn’t like what it said.

00:41:35.000 --> 00:41:39.999
I mean, people spend harder
and money to buy billboards,

00:41:40.000 --> 00:41:44.999
one right to some group have to go
up into face that. There, let’s here

00:41:45.000 --> 00:41:49.999
Code green unless somebody has
an objection. You’re okay? Okay.

00:41:50.000 --> 00:41:54.999
Down a little bit

00:41:55.000 --> 00:41:59.999
uh… clear. Beautiful. Okay uh…

00:42:00.000 --> 00:42:04.999
let’s go. Pack up the stuff.

00:42:05.000 --> 00:42:09.999
Let’s go. That went better than planned.

00:42:10.000 --> 00:42:14.999
We’re leaving junk and garbage
that stick all out sets.

00:42:15.000 --> 00:42:19.999
Final billboard in sequence.
We’re gonna turn the switch on

00:42:20.000 --> 00:42:24.999
and the lights are gonna do whatever the
hell they wanna do, it… it’s alchemy.

00:42:25.000 --> 00:42:29.999
Start the one, that’s light up. Okay,
here we go. Ow! The son of bitch is hot.

00:42:30.000 --> 00:42:34.999
That’s the last one, we’re going home.

00:42:35.000 --> 00:42:39.999
Oh, I could spend the next 40 years in uh…
going to the public meetings and litigating

00:42:40.000 --> 00:42:44.999
and doing all that sort of thing and not
accomplish a damn thing. Whereas, I can spend

00:42:45.000 --> 00:42:49.999
uh… a day doing a campaign, a small campaign
together and go out and have 10,000 people see it

00:42:50.000 --> 00:42:54.999
and take photograph of it, put it on our Web
site, and have a 100,000 people see it.

00:42:55.000 --> 00:42:59.999
I mean, pretty obvious.
For me, umm… what I…

00:43:00.000 --> 00:43:08.000
[music]

00:43:30.000 --> 00:43:34.999
I mean, how you’re gonna fight it?
You can’t. It’s like this big blob,

00:43:35.000 --> 00:43:39.999
you can’t fight it. And you said
like to stay a few steps ahead of it

00:43:40.000 --> 00:43:44.999
so it doesn’t absorb you. I mean, what you’re gonna
do? I mean, you got to laugh at it ‘cause if

00:43:45.000 --> 00:43:49.999
you don’t even rip your throat out.

00:43:50.000 --> 00:43:58.000
[music]

00:44:10.000 --> 00:44:14.999
When I draw on a billboard or draw on a bus shelter
ad, I also know that anyone else who looks

00:44:15.000 --> 00:44:19.999
are normalized that kind of response to it.

00:44:20.000 --> 00:44:24.999
Now if they’ve seen one instance
of it… it becomes an option.

00:44:25.000 --> 00:44:29.999
I was thinking that they won’t take you seriously if it’s for you to face the
property. They’d take it seriously just in the sense that it’s their property.

00:44:30.000 --> 00:44:34.999
If their product starts to look unpopular,
that’s the property they really care about.

00:44:35.000 --> 00:44:39.999
In one minute, it was an ad supporting a product,
the next minute, it’s like an anti ad that exposes

00:44:40.000 --> 00:44:44.999
the hidden messages and hidden intentions of
the company that sells that product. Right.

00:44:45.000 --> 00:44:49.999
Why is what I’m doing
illegal, tons of things

00:44:50.000 --> 00:44:54.999
that were really important different times were illegal. I’m
not saying it’s really important that I culture jam. Right.

00:44:55.000 --> 00:44:59.999
But why is it illegal? What… what…
what’s so different from what I’m doing

00:45:00.000 --> 00:45:04.999
and what the big corporations are
doing, billboard companies are doing,

00:45:05.000 --> 00:45:09.999
you know. Other than that they have money and I don’t
and I don’t think that’s a good enough excuse.

00:45:10.000 --> 00:45:14.999
[music] Where do you draw the line as to

00:45:15.000 --> 00:45:19.999
where they can’t market? Is there
a marketing free zone anywhere

00:45:20.000 --> 00:45:24.999
that’s just sort of your space?

00:45:25.000 --> 00:45:29.999
Do you feel like anyone’s other
than you gonna fight for that?

00:45:30.000 --> 00:45:34.999
When I was going to school,
there is ads in the

00:45:35.000 --> 00:45:39.999
washroom. And I didn’t mean, what more could a
culture jammer ask for than a little closed area

00:45:40.000 --> 00:45:45.000
where no one is gonna capture it.

00:45:50.000 --> 00:45:58.000
[music]

00:46:00.000 --> 00:46:04.999
I’m always ready to argue makings like at any
point I’m always ready to just… lay it down

00:46:05.000 --> 00:46:09.999
why I’m doing what I’m doing.

00:46:10.000 --> 00:46:14.999
It is time to be rude,

00:46:15.000 --> 00:46:19.999
it is time to be embarrassed. If you really
do something that just makes you shake

00:46:20.000 --> 00:46:24.999
with the feeling of being inappropriate,
you probably found a struct…

00:46:25.000 --> 00:46:29.999
a… a structure of their culture
that was supposed to be there,

00:46:30.000 --> 00:46:34.999
you violated something. You’ve
discovered their power.

00:46:35.000 --> 00:46:43.000
[sil.]

00:46:45.000 --> 00:46:49.999
I mean, if… if your goal is to get arrested

00:46:50.000 --> 00:46:54.999
to behave or to get stopped,
which is often a goal,

00:46:55.000 --> 00:46:59.999
you know. Maybe at sometimes it’s better to have someone stop
you from what you’re doing to have people pay attention.

00:47:00.000 --> 00:47:04.999
Umm… You can do things to achieve that.

00:47:05.000 --> 00:47:09.999
I’ve been… I’ve been arrested, at about a
monthly rate, that’s about as much as my lawyer

00:47:10.000 --> 00:47:14.999
allows me to be arrested.
I mean, I look at it from

00:47:15.000 --> 00:47:19.999
the perspective of what is the motivation
for the state or the government

00:47:20.000 --> 00:47:24.999
or the society to suppress
what has being done.

00:47:25.000 --> 00:47:29.999
Because you can do the same thing,

00:47:30.000 --> 00:47:34.999
one year as you did the next year
and one year you will be arrested

00:47:35.000 --> 00:47:39.999
and the next year you won’t. So if you not have the same
right each year your right doesn’t change, what changes is…

00:47:40.000 --> 00:47:44.999
is… is the intent and then
the what the society,

00:47:45.000 --> 00:47:49.999
what the state wants to do, whether the
state wants to suppress it or not?

00:47:50.000 --> 00:47:54.999
That’s the issue, not whether the human right. Of course, you
have the right, you have any right, you know, you were certain,

00:47:55.000 --> 00:47:59.999
you’ve as much rights as one will certain… the only
limits to your right is what the state says, no,

00:48:00.000 --> 00:48:04.999
you don’t have that right, we
won’t let you have it today.

00:48:05.000 --> 00:48:09.999
And why you will charge me with criminal trespass in
the evening and then I have to stay in jail overnight

00:48:10.000 --> 00:48:14.999
and in the morning it’s… there’s
nothing, there’s no charges.

00:48:15.000 --> 00:48:19.999
You know, I call these things tactical interventions and they’re
not strategic in fact, no intent to turn back capitalism.

00:48:20.000 --> 00:48:24.999
Oh, oh! You know that’s… that’s… that’s uh… tall
order, you know, I mean but like you say you could,

00:48:25.000 --> 00:48:29.999
you and that level of tactics, you know, you might be able to
say this block or that block, you know, or that newspaper,

00:48:30.000 --> 00:48:34.999
you know, you remember that theater, you know,
or that cultural center, you know what I mean.

00:48:35.000 --> 00:48:39.999
So… so there can be… there can be small… small
victories, you know, in a larger battle.

00:48:40.000 --> 00:48:44.999
A prank a day keeps the dog leash away.

00:48:45.000 --> 00:48:49.999
So the real crime there, the real crime…

00:48:50.000 --> 00:48:54.999
We have to discuss this with our legal department later, of
course. The real crime, of course, nobody talks about it

00:48:55.000 --> 00:48:59.999
is we’re fucking with consumer mind share. And that’s the
crime, it’s unforgivable in this country. That’s right.

00:49:00.000 --> 00:49:04.999
Oh, say, can you see? Cut. How pretty
was that? Does he want’s the money?

00:49:05.000 --> 00:49:09.999
Okay, here we go, folks start the wind.

00:49:10.000 --> 00:49:14.999
Culture jamming is… is
such a (inaudible) term

00:49:15.000 --> 00:49:19.999
because it’s… it’s… it’s
just so over worked.

00:49:20.000 --> 00:49:24.999
And much preference from reality hacking. Now I
would encourage the culture jamming to mean that

00:49:25.000 --> 00:49:29.999
uh… we’re… we’re forcing cultural
efforts upon people jamming it in.

00:49:30.000 --> 00:49:34.999
There’s more than there was in uh…
ultimately, you know, the malls will

00:49:35.000 --> 00:49:39.999
pave us over. Like, you know, they made
there’s… there’s little pockets of resistance.

00:49:40.000 --> 00:49:44.999
[music]

00:49:45.000 --> 00:49:49.999
It’s that last, where one foot I
call it in a supermarket where that

00:49:50.000 --> 00:49:54.999
one foot between your hand reaching
this direction or that direction

00:49:55.000 --> 00:50:00.000
and is an emotional one. Are you
one of those that follows the ads?