artbusting

Most people have heard of adbusting, or culture jamming. The idea that the best way to fight fire is with fire, and that culturally we must re-appropriate the images that swarm around us for our own uses. Advertising and billboards become, in the eyes of the Adbuster, material for composing a new dialog with those around them, a way to convey ideas that would normally attract no attention at all (hint: people will actually look at something more if there is a stupid logo they have been sold on it, even if they’d rather not).

Good idea right? So good, apparently, that the advertisers themselves have decided to get in on the act, using the visual splendor of public art to draw eyes towards their repetitious and numbing billboards (Click Picture at right for larger view)

This was one of the finest and most prominent pieces of semi-spontaneous urban art in Montreal. It made excellent use of the space, both physically and psychially provided it, and generally spruced up a neighboorhood that was lacking in such colorful creativity. Now it’s just a big eye-grabbing backdrop for a demi-food hocking corporation.

Seriously though, is anyone else craving a bacon salad?