ULMER:
Visceral question- How can we shift away from a negative dimension of electracy and into a better society?
Why- because Ulmer writes about identity dimension of electracy and later talks about the manipulation of media. All of these derives from electracy in human interactions. I wonder if we can move away from this.
Madrigal Article:
Culture jamming is using the brands against themselves by altering it. The concept is to make brands fight against themselves by changing the influences that individuals see. The advancement of advertisers has become more efficient at targeting people. Advertisers are now charged by an individual clicking an ad for them to earn money. Clicks have become the best way to disrupt and protest companies by taking away their money. While the idea of ignoring corporate greed is an agreement, we all try to live with, we are forced to fight the nature of our minds. With society aimed at closely monitoring us with the sole purpose of making us consumers, a form of creativity is born to fight back called culture jamming. The solution to combat these advertisements is to muddy the water by distorting the effects these corporations try to bring.
CULTURE JAM PROJECT DRAFT
Amazon logo:
In this culture jam I chose the amazon logo and focused on altering the image to make people feel like they have become zombies. I was interested in this because of how big the company was. With so many people buying things for a higher price just because of popularity or because people do not change often. I wanted to show society that we can choose to make decisions that go away from the norm. I used Gimp to alter the amazon logo. I was learning for a while just on how to use it and made many mistakes. I finally was comfortable to at least produce a decent outlook of what I wanted to express and that is what you see.
Energizer Bunny:
The image I altered is the energizer bunny, wreaking havoc on the earth and causing black ooze to come out. People should be made aware that batteries are damaging the earth. As batteries corrode through time after they are manufactured, they contaminate the earth. I got interested in this topic because in the military I was the hazmat coordinator and one of my jobs was taking all the batteries and keeping them in a safe place for disposal. Even with new batteries after a while they corrode and are useless. I hope we can move away from these types of batteries so the earth can recharge itself from the pollution of chemicals. I made this image by using Canva after trial and errors.
Image #1
Image #2
Image #1:
I love the message you are displaying, but maybe it can be communicated better in the image. I can see you making the text more fluid to bring everything together, but I do love the idea of how “zombie” is falling down.
Image #2:
This is a really cool idea! I think you can improve the image manipulation better. I saw that you mentioned that you used Canva for this and you can use the background remover tool to get cleaner image cuts outs that way your bunny doesn’t have that white outline and can seamlessly flow in the background. I can show you as well if you would like!
I experimented with Gimp, a free software that edits images and decided to work with it for the Amazon logo. I also, experimented with a free online graphic design tool called Canva and found it easier to implement the energizer bunny with the earth. Though the bunny cutout was clear I could not manipulate it well enough to cut out the entire figure perfectly. I had a hard time trying to get the earth behind the drum until I gave up. I think using a different tool would help if it can have the drum hit the earth and black ooze to come out. My weakness lies in the bunny cutout not being perfect, the earth not placed correctly behind the right arm of the bunny, and the words “still dying and dying” being more noticeable. In the next level I hope to change all these weaknesses and make them a strength so individuals can see perfectly what I wanted to express.
For Image #1. I really like the message you sent out. Great message, even myself is addicted to amazon and other popular apps which is a very unhealthy habit. I am glad you brought that to our attention. I think you can improve the image by adding a background color. Overall, great job.
For Image #2. Wow, I think it was very creative. Also, it was a new topic for me. I definitely learn something new from your post, so thank you and I think the image is great and funny.
Image #1
I really like the overall message and the way you made this. I like the fact that you added to the amazon logo and the zombie is pretty cool. My interpretation is that consumerism can have us like zombies looking for the next thing to buy. I would say to improve it maybe add the “into” under the orange arrow so that it doesn’t get lost in the message.
Image #2
I love this, it’s really creative I feel like this is an important conversation because not a lot of people know the dangers of improper disposal of batteries. To improve it maybe add more detail on the disposal issue in the art work.
Image 1: I’d add a few more zombies to make the shopping message clear. Having just a zombie, ok. But a zombie shopper/purchaser is another thing.
Image 2. I think you pointed out a lot that can be improved. It would be interesting to see an image of battery disposal rotting the earth and the bunny moving through that.