The first one is called the "Barbie Liberation Organization" or the BLO. They were founded in 1989 but did not gain much publicity until four years later in '93. Their goal was simple, they wanted to change up the gender stereotypes present in children's toys. How did they go about doing this? Well when they realized the similarities in the voice hardware for "Teen Talk Barbie" and "Talking Duke G.I Joe" they researched a way to switch the voice controls inside the dolls. Therefore they went to return the modified dolls, and instead of Barbie shouting "Math is Hard" or "I love shopping", children who bought the altered toy now had Barbie saying rather violent things like "Venegence is mine". Likewise with the G.I. Joe 'action figures', instead of saying things like "Dead men tell no lies", he now was saying "Let's plan our dream wedding" or "Lets go to the beach!". Of course it should also be noted that on the back of these toys a sticker was strategically placed that read "Call your Local TV News". All of this information can be found on sniggle.net, and above find the video for the BLO (it is quite entertaining). The only thing that is slightly unfortunate is that this culture jamming group was active nearly 20 years ago.
A second culture jamming group that I found is a group called the "Bubble Project". They have their own website at www.thebubbleproject.com and can also be found on Facebook with a page that viewers can 'like'. Basically what this culture jamming group does is transform corporate advertisements into fun, silly conversation places. First launched by a gentleman named Ji Lee, he printed out nearly 15,000 dialogue bubbles, and posted them all over the globe. I highly suggest going on and looking at some of the photos posted on the Bubble Project website. Not all of the snapshots are as good at making a comment on consumerist society as others, however there are a few that do an extraordinary job.
According to the website, the group purpose reads as follows:
"Our communal spaces are being overrun with ads. Train stations, streets, squares, buses, and subways now scream one message after another at us. Once considered "public", these spaces are increasingly being seized by corporations to propagate their messages. We the public, are both target and victim of this media attack.
The Bubble Project instantly transform these annoying corporate monologues into open public dialogues. They encourage anyone to fill them in with any expression, free from censorship. More Bubbles mean more freed spaces, more sharing of personal thoughts, more reactions to current events, and most importantly, more imagination and fun."
The Bubble Project instantly transform these annoying corporate monologues into open public dialogues. They encourage anyone to fill them in with any expression, free from censorship. More Bubbles mean more freed spaces, more sharing of personal thoughts, more reactions to current events, and most importantly, more imagination and fun."
The great thing about this culture jamming group is that it is still fully active, and takes place not only in North America but all over the world!
Hopefully this should get some brains thinking and conversation rolling!
Cheers
The Veiled Interpreter
Hopefully this should get some brains thinking and conversation rolling!
Cheers
The Veiled Interpreter
Great! I love it! How does Lee / Bubble Project layer corporate critique with other cultural critiques?
ReplyDeleteThe Doctor
The Barbie video reminded me about that one Simpsons episode when Lisa buys the first talking Malibu Stacy doll, and all the doll says is traditional feminine things. Later in that episode Lisa wants to make a doll that breaks non-traditional gender roles.
ReplyDeletehttp://youtu.be/Ftde81QNXDY
But yeah, commercials directed to children are very specific when it comes to gender roles and the "proper" performance children must fulfill. I like how the Barbie Liberation Organization video is like a commercial in this way that critiques toy manufacturers and its commercials.
Electric Erio
I love that you posted something about Barbie’s, because it has definitely had a huge influence on the way that gender roles are perceived in society. I remember growing up with them and believing that that was the way that any girl was supposed to be like. I think it is hilarious how at the end of that video they are trying to make it a negative thing that the BLO have changed the voices in the dolls, and have tampered with children's icons. Well in my opinion, maybe if children’s "icons" weren’t so gender specific, there wouldn’t be any issue. I also think that what the bubble project is doing is really neat. It definitely gives a voice to the people and gets peoples thoughts out there, and in societies view. It sort of shows that everyone actually does have a freedom of speech, and they are giving people the opportunities to fill in the blanks.
ReplyDeleteAwesome post, really enjoyed it!
tm-blogger
Its funny how some people are appalled when others tamper/question Barbie and her image!! They have made her into an untouchable icon and don't realize that she has made such a distinct image for herself that has not intentionally but affected millions of little girls and how they think and view what a woman should be.
ReplyDeleteInteresting post!
Bakerella
To respond back to The Doctor's question about the Bubble Project, I believe I can elaborate a little bit more on how Ji Lee exposes corporate ideas with his infamous bubbles..
ReplyDeleteFrom my understanding, when the conversation bubbles are posted they aren't always complete with written dialogue. Many of them are put up and left blank, leaving the opportunity to fill them in up to any normal everyday person. The whole concept of the Bubble Project is really quite interesting, as many of the words written within these bubbles are the thoughts that common people have about the corporations within the particular advertisement, or the thoughts they have in general.
For instance, on the bubbleproject.com there is a photo of a woman posing in a fashion ad that has "Show Bush the door in 2004" coming out her mouth, and another photo of a pet advertisement that has a dog talking about animal cruelty.
Thus for the most part people choose to fill these bubbles in with words speaking against huge capitalist corporations, and speaking up for activism.
All in all Lee essentially provides individuals the chance to speak back at advertisements; to put a realistic and human spin on messages in the media; to be liberated from the constant bombardment of corporate ads in public spaces.
What a relief!
Cheers
The Veiled Interpreter