Responding to Culture Jam

Unannounced Cult

In Culture Jam, by Kale Lasn, the founder of Adbusters magazine, attempts to show the reader what our mass media has been doing almost without our awareness. When the average American thinks of consumerism, we believe it is the promotion of the consumer's interests. What Lasn believes is that we're being told what our interests are and to buy into those false interests. We've become disconnected with ourselves and our own interests to fit those that our corporations have designed for us. He writes that we should prioritize the earth as number one, and get back to the basics of feeling that the earth is one with us. It is clear the those are well deserved critics of the American culture, yet learning how to balance the array of options we have at our disposal and becoming conscious consumers is still better than avoiding TV, computers, etc, which are undeniably beneficial to our contemporary world.

One would hardly argue we use excessively technology, and that Americans are avid consumers, always wondering what will be next in their purchasing lists. The level of addiction and alienation has taken the nation by storm. As Lasn points out, in the example of a family that left on vacation to the forest for some alone time to brave the elements and come closer as a family, only a few hours into nature caused the children extremely boredom due to lack of technology, experiencing signs of grief and withdrawal. And it doesn’t stop there, as Lasn once again describes “The cult rituals spread themselves evenly over the calendar: Christmas, Super Bowl, Easter, pay-per-view boxing match, summer Olympics, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Thanksgiving, Halloween. Each has its own imperatives – stuff you have to buy, things you have to do”.(55) Perhaps we need to relearn to survive without so many gadgets, products and role models dictated by the media. But, limiting that exposure, in first place, should be America’s parents’ responsibility, by rescuing family values and changing their own outlook onto consumption. I remember that, as a child, I wouldn't change a day outdoors for any television show, and that, although videogames seemed to be a fever amongst my closest friends, I would rarely exchange the joystick for a good book. Those are values and balance taught in my family, and like many other habits, one tend to replicate what is learned throughout his life.


Hence, if the solution to relearn how to consume does not reside in looking for answers where they were not found in first place, we need to take the lead ourselves. We ought to become critical thinkers able to analyze what’s in front of us, unbiased. If our parents or schools have not filled in that gap, it is up to each individual to search a comfortable place where they can turn off the buzzed world and replicate experiments like the Zen TV Experiment, that enable one to start questioning the role of this massive brain invasion media and technology play in our minds.

The truth is, life without technology and mass produced goods would be very difficult to manage nowadays. Even Lasn seem to contradict himself while promoting one his “Buy Nothing Day” campaign, as he calls people into action “Anyone with a PC and a modem could go to the Media Foundation’s website (…), download a Buy Nothing Day poster and a T-shirt template, and view quicktime versions of the Buy Nothing Day TV campaign”. (132) While Lasn criticizes the corporations because of their manipulative nature, it looks like we need another one (Adbusters alike) to teach us values our parents and society have failed in doing.