UNIT 5- Media activism and pressure groups Flashcards
Media activism:
a broad category of activism that uses media and communication technologies for social and political movements.
Methods of media activism can include:
- posting news on websites
- creating video and audio investigations
- disseminating information about protests
- organizing campaigns related to media and communication policies
…
Media activism serves as…
a catalyst for social and political transformation.
This form of activism harnesses the power of various media channels to:
- raise awareness
- challenge established norms (whether legal or ethical)
- mobilize communities
Purpose of media activism
Can be used for many different purposes. It is often a tool for grassroot activists and anarchists to spread information that is not available through mainstream media or to share censored news.
Certain forms of politically motivated piracy (Wikileaks) and web-based campaigns (hashtag activism) it is considered media activism.
Typically, the purpose of media activism is to spread an idea or raise awareness through media communications, which, later on, can subsequently lead to action.
Media activism encompasses a broad spectrum of activities aimed at using media platforms to advocate for social, political, or environmental causes.
Key approaches:
- Citizen journalism
- Social media campaigns
- Meme culture
- Culture jamming
- Hacktivism
- Storytelling and testimonials
- Digital art and graphic design
- Documentaries and short films
- Citizen Journalism
Activists capture and share news independently through blogs, social media, and independent websites, providing alternative perspectives and covering stories that mainstream media might overlook.
- Social Media Campaigns
Hashtags, viral posts, and coordinated messaging on platforms like X (Twitter), Meta (Facebook), and Instagram are used to spread awareness, mobilize support, and create digital activism movements.
- Meme Culture
Activists use memes to satirize issues, spread ideas humorously, and engage a broad audience (Pepe the Frog). Memes are powerful in simplifying complex issues and making them accessible to a wide audience.
- Culture Jamming
A form of subvertising, culture jamming involves repurposing mainstream media and advertising to disrupt and critique corporate or political messages, often through satire or parody.
- Hacktivism
A blend of hacking and activism, hacktivists target websites and digital platforms to make political statements, expose information, or disrupt systems they consider unethical. Notable examples include website defacements, data leaks, and Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks.
- Storytelling and Testimonials
Activists use personal stories and testimonials to humanize social issues, building empathy and understanding by allowing individuals to share their lived experiences with a wider audience.
- Digital Art and Graphic Design
Activists create visually striking posters, infographics, and digital art pieces to communicate complex issues quickly and effectively, often shared widely on social media and at protests.
- Documentaries and Short Films
Documentaries can provide deep dives into issues, revealing systemic injustices and giving voice to those impacted. Short, shareable videos are often used to raise awareness on social media.
One criticism of media activism:
Since everyone has a voice, radicals sound as loud as the average person, whether one person or not, which can undermine the movement entirely (during the Occupy Wall Street protests, fringe voices promoting extreme anti-government rhetoric sometimes overshadowed the core message of economic inequality, causing some to dismiss the entire movement as unfocused or too radical).
Goals of culture jamming:
Critique Consumerism:
- Culture jammers aim to disrupt the pervasive culture of consumerism by revealing the ways in which advertising manipulates desires and promotes materialism.
Expose Corporate Power:
- They often target large corporations, highlighting issues such as labor exploitation, environmental damage, and monopolistic practices.
Promote Media Literacy:
- By dissecting and reimagining media messages, culture jamming encourages viewers to think critically about what they consume.
Empower Social Change:
- It acts as a catalyst for broader conversations about capitalism, inequality, and environmental sustainability.
An often used form of media activism:
Social media, such as Facebook and Twitter- can reach a much larger audience than traditional media
Online culture jamming:
Takes on forms like memes, digital art, and satirical videos, which remix well-known images to produce new, often critical
meanings.
Culture jamming - Psychological Impact: Creating Cognitive Dissonance
A key feature of culture jamming is its ability to create cognitive
dissonance in viewers. When people see a familiar logo or symbol
—often associated with trust or quality—transformed into something
critical or absurd, it forces them to reevaluate their assumptions.
For instance, a mock McDonald’s ad with the tagline “I’m hatin’ it” encourages viewers to question the fast-food industry’s impact on health and the environment. This dissonance disrupts the comfortable familiarity that brands often cultivate, making the viewer more receptive to questioning the messages and products pushed by corporations.
Culture jamming seeks to challenge the normalization of consumer culture by breaking these comfortable associations. In doing so, it aims to “wake up” consumers who may otherwise passively accept advertising and corporate branding as part of everyday life.
Visual Techniques in Culture Jamming:
Culture jamming relies on various visual strategies to communicate its messages.
Some of the most common techniques include:
Parody:
- Creating fake ads that mimic the look and feel of real ones but carry critical messages. A famous example is Adbusters’ spoof of a Marlboro cigarette ad, replacing the cowboy with the tagline “Cancer country” to criticize tobacco companies.
Juxtaposition:
- Placing a corporate logo next to a disturbing image—like an oil spill next to an Exxon logo—forces viewers to associate the brand with environmental harm or unethical practices.
Subvertising:
- Altering a brand’s slogan or image to expose underlying truths, such as modifying the Starbucks logo to highlight issues of global labor exploitation or environmental harm.
By transforming familiar symbols and slogans, culture jammers challenge the viewer’s perception and understanding, disrupting the corporate narrative and fostering critical awareness.
Political and Social Commentary Beyond Consumerism:
While culture jamming often targets consumerism, its scope is far broader, addressing various social and political issues. For example, artists like Banksy use street art to critique war, inequality, and political corruption. Banksy’s work reinterprets well-known symbols, like police officers or military figures, to question authority and expose power dynamics, often in satirical ways that resonate widely.
Culture jamming also critiques media censorship and surveillance. For instance, activists may use modified social media logos to comment on privacy concerns, portraying tech giants like Facebook and Google as Big Brother figures from George Orwell’s 1984.
Ethical and Legal Controversies of culture jamming:
- Culture jamming frequently raises ethical and legal issues. Corporations often see it as trademark infringement or defamation, arguing that altered logos or slogans harm their reputation.
- However, culture jammers view it as a legitimate form of free expression and social critique. This tension highlights a debate between protecting intellectual property and enabling critical speech.
- High-profile lawsuits, like those between Adbusters and major corporations, exemplify this struggle over the right to critique in a highly branded world.
Activism
The ability to act and make or change history.
Forms of activism that are less driven by direct action:
Judicial activism: challenging the state and companies through the courts
Lobbying: trying to influence legislators or governments.
Direct action
Civil disobedience, demonstrations, protests, actions
“Non-institutional” politics:
The need to strategically essentialize and defragment often disconnected struggles.
Non-institutionalized politics often involves bringing together different and disconnected struggles into a unified effort. This means focusing on shared goals and common identities, even if the groups or issues involved are diverse or fragmented, to create a stronger and more strategic movemen
