Mean
On advertising
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ru5gTxAy0L0
The Rumpus editor Stephen Elliott (excerpted introduction to their first monthly Rumpus) at the Make Out Room in San Francisco last night.
Commentary after the break.
Socially progressive journals seem to have an ambivalent relationship to advertising — which is understandable, even applauded, given the excesses of capitalism. Nobody will argue that the plastic Coke cups which adorn the American Idol judges’ table point to a severely skewed cultural ideology; but I’ve always asked myself this: aren’t our lives — I mean, the daily fabric (shampoo, pants, bread, laptop, cell phones), not the ideology, inextricably tied to this main social order of the western world? Most of ‘us,’ the at-least-if-not-higher college educated class have prospered in some way from capitalism’s (up until recently) socioeconomic stability. It takes privilege to argue on days end here about literature. I’m sure a lot of you are all ‘broke,’ but if you think that makes you unprivileged then you are privileged for thinking that. (Jesus, I’m an asshole.)
This post has less to do with HTMLGIANT’s prospects of advertising, and more about The Rumpus editor Stephen Elliott’s assertion that they won’t take advertisements because doing so, as it is alluded, would preclude the ‘bringing of culture’ to their readers. The Rumpus are our friends, and I don’t mean to put Elliott (much respect) on the spot. I just came back from their first monthly Rumpus thinking about what he said. I’ve noticed the Believer redesigns (or designs from scratch) ads which are more aesthetically aligned with the magazine — the implication being that an ad’s intrinsic corruption permeates its typography. Adbusters once ran a spoof Harper’s Index pointing to the ostensible hypocrisy of their Chevron ads. All this contributes to the idea that advertising (and the genius idea of free market = more competition = better products = social progressiveness) is somehow evil.
Adbusters’ “Blackspot” anti-corporate Converse style shoes go for $75.00 a pair. I’ve always thought this was extremely strange — the same way grass fed beef, free range chicken, and organic food is also so expensive. This new “guerilla consumerism” (where the commodity is an intellectual lifestyle) is essentially bourgeois, wherein said discretion is elitism. The difference between Che and a Che t-shirt is infinite. I always think about some black single mother feeding her Diabetes-fated children Burger King every night because she’s too tired to cook and that’s all she can afford and all that’s around — and she probably didn’t learn in liberal arts college about the complexities of contemporary agriculture — and I wonder who’s fighting for her.
Literature is often beautiful; life is often ugly. And the world keeps spinning.
Tags: advertising, capitalism, The Rumpus
I remember reading an interview with Zadie Smith in which she says she (and I’m sure a number of others) avoids any sort of product placement or even brief mentions of products when writing. It’s seemingly honorable but it’s just not realistic to omit advertising/products when attempting to write about the 21st century considering its general pervasiveness.
Also, if you haven’t already seen this: http://productdisplacement.tumblr.com/
I remember reading an interview with Zadie Smith in which she says she (and I’m sure a number of others) avoids any sort of product placement or even brief mentions of products when writing. It’s seemingly honorable but it’s just not realistic to omit advertising/products when attempting to write about the 21st century considering its general pervasiveness.
Also, if you haven’t already seen this: http://productdisplacement.tumblr.com/
All this being said, such should not be used as excuses for not considering ethics in everyday life – and this includes talking about ethics (that is to say the talking isn’t an excuse either).
Mentioning products and paid product placement are two very different fish.
I often find ads very very beatiful – kinda like do-it-yourself, unselfconcious, unironic pictures generation works.
http://www.metmuseum.org/special/se_event.asp?OccurrenceId={2051DF8B-82AA-4AA7-85BC-22F72DE7F10E}
I hate capitalism.
I hate capitalism.
The idea of funding through events is so great and I love them for it but yeah, there’s a difference between advertising (small presses paying a fee to tell people about their book/some other ethical enterprise that readers might be interested in) and corporate sponsorship.
The Rumpus, brought to you by Google?
Also: are Absolut evil, as capitalist enterprise? They brought us this…http://bit.ly/dNVZu. Don’t like their vodka though.
The idea of funding through events is so great and I love them for it but yeah, there’s a difference between advertising (small presses paying a fee to tell people about their book/some other ethical enterprise that readers might be interested in) and corporate sponsorship.
The Rumpus, brought to you by Google?
Also: are Absolut evil, as capitalist enterprise? They brought us this…http://bit.ly/dNVZu. Don’t like their vodka though.
degrowers unite
degrowers unite
jesus this was a good post
jesus this was a good post
“I always think about some black single mother feeding her Diabetes-fated children Burger King every night because she’s too tired to cook and that’s all she can afford and all that’s around — and she probably didn’t learn in liberal arts college about the complexities of contemporary agriculture — and I wonder who’s fighting for her.”
Jimmy- took the words right out of my mouth.
“I always think about some black single mother feeding her Diabetes-fated children Burger King every night because she’s too tired to cook and that’s all she can afford and all that’s around — and she probably didn’t learn in liberal arts college about the complexities of contemporary agriculture — and I wonder who’s fighting for her.”
Jimmy- took the words right out of my mouth.
system works for most of us. are you free, more or less? doesn’t mean we can’t criticize, change, etc. doesn’t mean we can’t go under it, do things for community, love, etc etc. i used to play pool at make out room. saw fuck there in like 99. glad it’s still there.
system works for most of us. are you free, more or less? doesn’t mean we can’t criticize, change, etc. doesn’t mean we can’t go under it, do things for community, love, etc etc. i used to play pool at make out room. saw fuck there in like 99. glad it’s still there.
I think it is completely realistic to omit product names in fiction. Doesn’t mean no one should or they have no place, but it isn’t hard to avoid them if you want to.
I think it is completely realistic to omit product names in fiction. Doesn’t mean no one should or they have no place, but it isn’t hard to avoid them if you want to.
I feel like I’m stuck in a world governed by the Churchill thing: ‘It has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried.’, this applying to economic models, too.
Capitalism is pretty messy and flawed because it involves most people spending most of their life doing stuff they don’t want to do. But, we can say whatever we want about it (most of the time). And we can still own property if we work long and hard enough to buy it from the bank. Being a slave to the dollar sucks, but, hey, we don’t have the technology to fix all our problems yet. When we do, I expect whatever future generation to fully realize that money is dead, that it is time to spend time growing the whole circle instead of a little slice.
I do hope that humans go further than capitalism in the next few hundred years, if only for the sake of animals and plants.
I feel like I’m stuck in a world governed by the Churchill thing: ‘It has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried.’, this applying to economic models, too.
Capitalism is pretty messy and flawed because it involves most people spending most of their life doing stuff they don’t want to do. But, we can say whatever we want about it (most of the time). And we can still own property if we work long and hard enough to buy it from the bank. Being a slave to the dollar sucks, but, hey, we don’t have the technology to fix all our problems yet. When we do, I expect whatever future generation to fully realize that money is dead, that it is time to spend time growing the whole circle instead of a little slice.
I do hope that humans go further than capitalism in the next few hundred years, if only for the sake of animals and plants.
Also, please note that I’m 19 and don’t have a fully realized impression of capitalism yet; I haven’t had much time to be objective. But I try.
Also, please note that I’m 19 and don’t have a fully realized impression of capitalism yet; I haven’t had much time to be objective. But I try.
If you’re 19, you don’t have a fully-realized impression of *anything* yet, least of all yourself. Go suck a lollipop. A delicious Tootsie Roll lollipop.
If you’re 19, you don’t have a fully-realized impression of *anything* yet, least of all yourself. Go suck a lollipop. A delicious Tootsie Roll lollipop.
I bet ageism is as fun as racism.
I bet ageism is as fun as racism.
you know why is it that you chickenshit motherfuckers flap your man pleasing mouths but always under the guise of some fake name?
i mean obviously you thought it would be funny to say what you said but yet you don’t want to stand behind it.
what the fuck does “fully-realized impression” even mean? show me any person with a “fully-realized impression” of their self and i’ll bet a few bucks that this person is an arrogant twat with little actual understanding of how anything works on a large scale.
you know why is it that you chickenshit motherfuckers flap your man pleasing mouths but always under the guise of some fake name?
i mean obviously you thought it would be funny to say what you said but yet you don’t want to stand behind it.
what the fuck does “fully-realized impression” even mean? show me any person with a “fully-realized impression” of their self and i’ll bet a few bucks that this person is an arrogant twat with little actual understanding of how anything works on a large scale.
I’m 41 and I like this fine. I’ve spent time in Eastern Europe in the 80s- that’s how old I am- and anyway- I love the Churchhill quote.
What a “fully-realized impression” looks like.
What a “fully-realized impression” looks like.
Jereme, come over to my house and I will show you what a fully-realized ass whipping is, boy. Then I will stick my lolly in yo mouth and nut in your eye.
Jereme, come over to my house and I will show you what a fully-realized ass whipping is, boy. Then I will stick my lolly in yo mouth and nut in your eye.
really you need to bring your A game if you are going to play the internet tough guy. the role is so cliche and tired.
really you need to bring your A game if you are going to play the internet tough guy. the role is so cliche and tired.
that is my A game dude! You mean my A+ game? The nut in the eye line was probably a bit much, taking away from the rest. Give me another chance, k?
that is my A game dude! You mean my A+ game? The nut in the eye line was probably a bit much, taking away from the rest. Give me another chance, k?
So confused. Why did this happen?
So confused. Why did this happen?
It’s like the reasons people climb Everest….
It’s like the reasons people climb Everest….