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Culture Jam: How to Reverse America's Suicidal Consumer Binge--And Why We Must (Paperback)

by Kalle Lasn (Author) "Imagine that you are a member of a typical postmodern family, living in a typical house, in a typical neighborhood, in a typical North American..." (more)
Key Phrases: meme warfare, meme wars, global automakers, New York, Philip Morris, Calvin Klein (more...)

4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (58 customer reviews)

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Editorial Reviews

Review
"A brilliant and essential manual for our species."--David C. Korten, author of "The Post-Corporate World: Life After Capitalism"This is the culture jammer's call to reverse the suicidal consumer binges while there is still time."--George Gerbner, founder of the Cultural Environment Movement"Kalle Lasn is callenging the mental stranglehold of advertising culture."--Polly Ghazi, "Resurgence magazine

Product Description

America is no longer a country but a multimillion-dollar brand, says Kalle Lasn and his fellow "culture jammers". The founder of Adbusters magazine, Lasn aims to stop the branding of America by changing the way information flows; the way institutions wield power; the way television stations are run; and the way the food, fashion, automobile, sports, music, and culture industries set agendas. With a courageous and compelling voice, Lasn deconstructs the advertising culture and our fixation on icons and brand names. And he shows how to organize resistance against the power trust that manages the brands by "uncooling" consumer items, by "dermarketing" fashions and celebrities, and by breaking the "media trance" of our TV-addicted age.

A powerful manifesto by a leading media activist, Culture Jam lays the foundations for the most significant social movement of the early twenty-first century -- a movement that can change the world and the way we think and live.

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Product Details

Paperback: 272 pages
Publisher: Harper Paperbacks (November 7, 2000)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0688178057
ISBN-13: 978-0688178055
Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.3 x 0.7 inches
Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)

Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (58 customer reviews)

Amazon.com Sales Rank: #72,483 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Inside This Book (learn more)

First Sentence:
Imagine that you are a member of a typical postmodern family, living in a typical house, in a typical neighborhood, in a typical North American city. Read the first page

Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
meme warfare, meme wars, global automakers, culture jammers, culture jamming, ecological economists, unofficial history, mental environment, public airwaves

Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
New York, Philip Morris, Calvin Klein, North American, Buy Nothing Day, Media Foundation, First World, United States, First Amendment, World War, Los Angeles, Media Carta, Pacific Northwest, Big Mac, British Columbia, Forests Forever, San Francisco, Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Greil Marcus, Planet Earth

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Citations (learn more)

This book cites 44 books:

The Revolution of Everyday Life by Raoul Vaneigem on page 104, Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
Life on the Screen: Identity in the Age of the Internet by Sherry Turkle on page 44, page 45, and Back Matter
Lipstick Traces: A Secret History of the Twentieth Century by Greil Marcus on page 100, Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
Small is Beautiful: Economics as if People Mattered by E.F. Schumacher on page 172, and Back Matter
The Most Radical Gesture: The Situationist International and After by Sadie Plant in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)

See all 44 books this book cites

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	77% buy the item featured on this page: Culture Jam: How to Reverse America's Suicidal Consumer Binge--And Why We Must 4.0 out of 5 stars (58) $12.56
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Customer Reviews

58 Reviews

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129 of 131 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars I Hope This Is Part One, July 23, 2002

By	Kevin L. Nenstiel "omnivore" (Kearney, Nebraska) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)

If you're looking at this book, chances are you've already come to the conclusion that there's something deeply, seriously wrong with modern American culture. Community is disrupted, economic principles favor the wealthy few over the working many, and government is unresponsive to our demands. The environment is in freefall, education is a joke, and you can't talk to your loved ones because they're too damn busy watching the idiot box. Now you want to do something about it.

This book consistently fails to tell you how.

For the greatest part of the book, public-interest advocate Kalle Lasn holds forth on the problems with our society, from the small (mindless TV addiction) to the medium-sized (allowing fashion companies to dictate our ideals of beauty) to the monumental (destructive, unsustainable economic practices). All this is useful, enlightening stuff to know, but let's be frank, we wanted to read this book because we already had an idea of these facts. Now we want some ideas of what to do about it.

The subtitle on the front cover promises to tell you "How to Reverse America's Suicidal Consumer Binge." Good luck finding that. Lasn is fond of patting himself on the back for his past efforts in that direction, but he doesn't really tell the reader what an individual, with an individual's budget of money and time, can really do. He says something at one point about things that can be done, but he speaks of really big options. Take media conglomerates to the World Court? If I had that kind of budget and know-how, I wouldn't be reading this book, now would I?

In giving us the detailed information on the flaws of society, we are having the gaps in our knowledge filled in, and that's handy. However, by telling us what's wrong and not what to do about it, it's as though we're being given bullets without a gun. This book is excellent if you're looking for a position piece, an explanation of what Lasn thinks and why, and of course that's always helpful. However, if you actually want to weigh in and suggest what somebody could do about it, you're woefully on your own. Here's hoping this is simply Volume One and more information will be coming later. However, it's been three years without a follow-up. It looks like us would-be revolutionaries are on our own from that side.

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62 of 66 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Fighting MTV While Becoming MTV, December 23, 2002

By	James Schulze - See all my reviews

I nearly jumped out of my chair while reading the first few pages of this book. No one had expressed the current state of the American mental environment or the break-down of personal and family relationships as well as Lasn had. There is nothing quite like the feeling of thinking you were isolated in your opinions, and then realize that someone else believes passionately in the same things. Lasn's descriptions of a media-saturated world in which family life has become a dull joke, where self-esteem is in a constant state of assault by advertisers, and our culture is being stolen are very, very powerful. Unfortunately, Lasn ultimately fails in his search for meaningful ways to deal with these issues.
For starters, I found myself cringing slightly when he used the phrase "Culture Jammers" to describe those who participate in anti-media action. For someone who wants to "uncool" America, that phrase is a little, well, *cool*. Even if I did paint over billboards, I'd never want to be labelled a "Jammer." Isn't labelling part of the problem?
Lasn also despises television and it's numbing parade of images and commercials, yet he combats this by...making more commercials? He speaks of "meme wars," but television memes are inherently hollow and disposable, and I fear the more Lasn tries to participate in the logo and opinion-in-less-than-30-seconds culture we've gotten ourselves into, the more anti-media activism will be reduced to, ironically, another media fad.
Ultimately what Lasn doesn't touch on enough are the personal solutions to these problems. Turning off the television and the CD walkman are a lot harder than I thought, but in the end it feels great to minimize those things in one's daily life. Most importantly, I'd like to see Lasn encourage silence instead of shouting, writing over soundbytes, and individualism over labels. In a nutshell, he should turn off the television instead of being part of it.
I do not mean to come down too hard on Lasn. I greatly admire the work being done through Adbusters, and the messages it is sending out. Nor do I believe that media exposure for these issues should be frowned upon. I just believe that rather than combating soundbytes with more soundbytes, as Lasn seems to suggest, that he resists the labelling and noise that we all have come to despise.

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26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Raving review, February 10, 2003

By	Elissa Chasen (Madison, WI USA) - See all my reviews

If, for some reason, I was able to create a law whereby everyone was required to read the book Culture Jam by Kalle Lasn, I strongly believe that the world would be a better place. In his book, Lasn points out to his readers all of the errors that our society has made in the process of creating our culture.
He touches many of our culture's problems (consumption, poor body image, environmental issues) and examines how the media has had its affect on each of them. The media has become the people. By this, I mean the people live through "brands, products, fashions, celebrities, entertainments." These things "are our culture now. [The people's] role is mostly to listen and watch-and then based on what we have heard and seen, to buy (p. xiii)." The media has turned us into lean mean buying machines-always striving for the newest and the coolest item on the market (which isn't even cool until the media says so).
People have separated themselves from their natural environment, and now live mostly through a consumptive, technology based world. In many ways this impacts the environment negatively, but mostly because "If the Earth felt less like something out there and more like an extension of our bodies, we'd care for it like kin (p. 6)." With all of the problems in our natural environment, people still pretend not to acknowledge or care about it.
The way the media works, Lasn explains, is first by creating fear; fear of not fitting in, not being cool, fear of traveling to foreign places (terrorism), and fear of corruption. "Fear breeds insecurity-and then consumer culture offers us a variety of ways to buy our way back to security (p. 17)." The fear implanted on the people guides their actions everyday. People have become "mediated self-constructions (p. 44)" at the aid of our media. We don't have to think if the media shows us everything from how to fight with our friends to how to have sex with our lovers.
Lasn's book is about "wanting to live `not as an object but as a subject of the story' (p. 100)." He inspires the reader to create their own world and offers a variety of ways to help it along. If people were tuned in to how the media downplays one's own identity, perhaps they would turn off the TV and go outside for a walk or talk with a friend.
Lasn's book has been the most effective that I have read on this topic. He puts things into words that I had only scrambled thoughts of. He pulls the man out from behind the curtain and points his finger. "You are the cause of our suffering" he says to corporate America. He addresses old issues and concerns with a new twist. For example, instead of just fewer cars on the road, Lasn suggests to create "cities designed chiefly with pedestrians, bicycles, and public transport in mind. Not just new ecofriendly products, but new consumption patterns and new lifestyles (p. 112)."
Lasn says it all in a manner that demands the reader's attention, thus really getting his point across. The voice in the book becomes the voice of a charismatic speaker in the reader's mind. The book reads conversationally with the use of different literary devices. He uses repetition to create rhythm and really leave an impression on the reader.
Culture Jam really hit home for me. Everywhere I look, I relate the book to what I see. When I was reading it I couldn't put it down, and now that I've finished the book my mind still obsesses with it. The themes of the book are so prevalent in our culture- it's impossible to ignore.

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5.0 out of 5 stars Great service
This seller was great, they emailed and sent a tracking number right away, and the book was delivered on time. I would use them again.

Published 2 months ago by A. Bucaro

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book
I read this book after a good review on-line. The Canadian author has real issues (as do I) with the way this country consumes useless junk and the way they are sold these items... Read more

Published 18 months ago by James E. Steiner

4.0 out of 5 stars Good points but they are extreme
I recommend this book to anyone because it deals with many issues that are extrememely relevant to Western Culture. Read more

Published 19 months ago by Mr. Applesauce

4.0 out of 5 stars The newest culture movement?
He sets the stage for culture jammers to take on the newest set of problems being discovered in our culture, Corporate rule, causing people to be addicted to tv, shopping, eating,... Read more

Published on July 13, 2007 by Chris Stevens

5.0 out of 5 stars Subversion at its best
This is an exceptional book. It is written by the founder of Adbusters. This is a book that challenged me to my core about my consumption habits. Read more

Published on July 11, 2007 by Joshua D. Brown

5.0 out of 5 stars Interesting and different
This book is excellent for studying culture. The author is interesting and relates to the reader easily. Read more

Published on October 24, 2005 by Gloria Coolbaugh

2.0 out of 5 stars Yes-No-Maybe-I don't know-Can you repeat the question?
I bought this book thinking it was going to briefly spell out what I already know--that our advertising-soaked world is toxic--and then get to the heart of the matter: what I... Read more

Published on October 19, 2005 by Poniplaizy

5.0 out of 5 stars It is the points being made that matter
This book is a little all over the place, but its basic premises and ideas are what matters. I won't go into any details - read the book for those. Read more

Published on July 15, 2005 by G. Haustein

4.0 out of 5 stars Of Critical Importance
In some ways to me this was preaching to the choir, but the message is well-articulated. Not only has the consumption and marketing domination of our culture been destroying the... Read more

Published on April 29, 2005 by The Mad Doctor

5.0 out of 5 stars Very Important Book for our Times
As my title indicates, Culture Jam is a very important book for our times. Not many people are happy these, days, and most people are quick to point out that there's just... Read more

Published on January 8, 2005 by kidnugget

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