AdBusters
Posted on Saturday, July 19th, 2003 at 15:00.
A new love/hate relationship formed today when I stumbled upon an organization known as AdBusters. I love this organization’s campaigns regarding alternative transportation, corporate accountability, greedy consumerism, the redefinition of a good economy, strict regulation of media companies, and television turnoff week (i.e. all the big business issues that Republicans will never address). Only when irrational political bias enters, do I take issue.
Many Americans ignorantly demand their "right" to their gas guzzling Suburban Utility Vehicles in the rationality of safety. Teenagers expect to have their own cars when they turn 16. Few consider carpooling or rescheduling their day plans to save gasoline. And the news media proclaims the end of the world when gasoline prices "soar" to over $2 per gallon. The premise for AdBuster’s "Got Oil?" campaign is only scarred by suggesting that President George W. Bush and his administration put America’s uncompromising oil demand over its foreign policy and national security. Prioritizing this left-wing banter muffles the message that Americans should make the personal "sacrifice" of conserving precious non-renewable resources that also harm our environment, and subsequently, all life forms.
I also disagree with the “Commercial Free Schools” campaign. Channel One News is a 12-minute, daily newscast broadcast to 8-million students in 12,000 middle and high schools. Using the televisions that Channel One provides for free in every classroom, participating schools also have access to Channel One Network, which airs more in-depth and targeted educational programming. Students are required to watch the fair and balanced news broadcast that often includes opinion commentary from other schools. If it were not for Channel One News, most of my classmates would never have been exposed to any details about the happenings in the world outside them. The broadcast was often used as a springboard for teachers to start class debates that evoked emotions from students who then at least pretended to care about an issue. The two commercial breaks in each broadcast that AdBusters disagrees with are usually quick social moments between students before they are hushed and refocused on the news broadcast by the teachers. My argument is that the commercials do not negate the quality content of Channel One News. If a for-profit corporation can provide valuable content that would otherwise not be available to overworked and underpaid teachers, I can put aside my personal opinions of marketing to young and impressionable minds. (Objectivity note: In 2001, I was chosen for Primedia’s Channel One News Student Produced Week and was given access to the innards of this incredible news organization.)
My final point of contention with AdBusters regards branding. I do not believe that companies are wrong to have a strong brand identity. Apple Computer‘s identity rivals Coca-Cola in consumer awareness, but that does not mean the company is evil or that it deserves a place on AdBusters’ "Brands-and-Bands Corporate U.S. Flag". (Objectivity note: In 2002, I participated in an advertising campaign for Apple Computer, Inc.)
