Culture jamming is commonly known as “ad parody” and is a strategy of rhetorical protest in hopes of provoking change in the media. Those who take part in the rhetorical pranking, the pranksters, are those who see an issue with a corporation or organization and want to make a change with visual protest. For this analytic blog post, the context, intent, effect, and effectiveness of this McDonald’s image will be discussed.

McDonald’s is the world’s largest fast food chain with over 36,000 stores worldwide. The restaurant is notoriously known for it’s lack in healthy foods and the effects that it can have on one’s body. Despite the corporations efforts to include “healthy” options, such as salads and snack wraps, these products are still proven to be unhealthy. There have even been film documentaries, such as “Supersize Me” that have been focused on how unhealthy McDonald’s food is to eat. Despite this common knowledge, billions of people are served yearly at McDonald’s. This example of culture jamming is a tactic to disrupt those who eat at McDonald’s and remind them that while they are intaking the food they know is not healthy, they are gaining weight by eating it. It’s a reminder that consumers don’t necessarily think about when they’re munching down on their Big Mac and large fries.

The design of the ad is cleverly done, playing off of the well-known logo, the McDonald’s golden arches in the shape of a “M” and instead is flipped upside down to be a “W” representing the word “weight”. It also plays off the slogan, “I’m lovin’ it” with “I’m gainin’ it” which of course refers to the weight that you’re gaining by eating the food and is shown in the top part of the ad. The placement of the word “weight” is also well done, showing that it is weighing down the golden “W”. All aspects of this ad design were well done and make consumers or viewers of this ad stop and think and at this point, they can’t ignore the fact that the food does make you gain weight. Will this stop them from eating it? More than likely no but by association, they are more likely to think back to this ad and be reminded of the weight they gain when they intake McDonald’s food.

Clearly put, the intent of this culture jamming is to remind consumers that McDonald’s is not healthy and will make you gain weight and thus could lead to other health issues relating to weight gain, such as heart disease or diabetes. This ad’s purpose is not so much to shame those who eat the food but rather remind them of the effects.

The effect of this ad is that people will eat less McDonald’s and by extension, be kinder to their bodies by what they put in it after seeing this ad. Unfortunately, people are stubborn and like what they like and one parody ad will not make the world of difference but it is a subtle image that a person can think back to when they eat McDonald’s so it’s effectiveness could vary a great deal. I believe that it is a successful example of culture jamming. It’s purpose is to encourage a progressive change in human’s attitude towards fast food and is cleverly done using the aspects of the original logo and slogan.

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I associate Chick-fil-A with family, friends and I firmly believe it’s heaven on earth. Chick-fil-A, as an organization, prides itself on values that other “fast food” restaurants do not. They give back to their community and hold themselves to higher standards than somewhere like McDonald’s or Subway. I wish I had taken these pictures later on today (Thursday) because the Chick-fil-A in Milledgeville is well known for their BOGO night for college students every Thursday. I could guarantee that between 5-8 p.m. tonight, every single table will be filled with students and families.

The particular architectural element I’m pointing out in these images is the large wooden table in the middle of the restaurant’s dining room. This is meant for larger families or parties but it is different than the tables that occupy space elsewhere in the restaurant. This is a beautifully made wooden table, gifted to the franchise in hopes that friends and families will gather around it and enjoy their meals. This is not a typical thing in all Chick-fil-A’s, I at least have never seen a table like that in any other Chick-fil-A before (and I’ve been to quite a few, but haven’t we all). The table is right in the middle of the restaurant and is surrounded by smaller tables. There is a sense of community that this table portrays. I worked at this particular Chick-fil-A for a few months last year and there were countless times that I saw family get togethers of all ages and friend groups of all types at that table. It’s usually the loudest table, not just because it can fit the most people but because everyone was laughing and talking from one end to another. It’s as close to a family table that you’ll find in your own home in a restaurant that wants to make you feel like you are home and are with your family.

This parody of the Starbucks logo is an example of culture jamming. Culture jamming is an example of rhetorical protest. The protest in this image is to say that Starbucks coffee is way more expensive than it should be and it’s stealing your money. Furthermore, we as a society are allowing it to steal from us because we continue paying for overpriced coffee.

Culture jamming, as Harold states, “seeks to undermine the marketing rhetoric of multinational corporations, specifically through such practices as media hoaxing, corporate sabotage, billboard ‘liberation.’ and trademark infringement.” The most practiced/prevalent form of culture jamming is ad parody. The example of the Starbucks logo is an ad parody with word play “Six bucks coffee.” This is a light and humorous tactic to point out Starbucks as a multinational corporation that is commonly known for selling coffee that is overpriced.

As Reverend Al, of the Cacophony Society pranking group, states, “[pranks] don’t punish, they provoke. This logo is not meant to shame those who go forth and continually pay $6 for their mediocre cup of coffee with all the fancy fixings but rather to point out that Starbucks is overpricing their coffee and we, as consumers, allow it. It’s making aware of the price of the coffee, not implying that we shouldn’t pay for the coffee.

I chose this picture to do a narrative analysis on. Without any prior knowledge about this image, it is clear that these men are working as shoe shiners. The name of the image is “Hard Work in Hong Kong” so viewers know where the image was taken. An ideograph that can be taken away from the photo is, as the image title says, hard work, or dedication or humility. At first glance, I thought the shoe shiners were young boys but after looking deeper in the picture, these are grown men and it can be assumed that this is their primary job, shining shoes for men in Hong Kong. There is a class difference here seen in the way the people in the image are dressed. The men getting their shoes shined are in suits and carry fancy shopping bags and work bags. They are literally (and possibly figuratively) looking down on the shoe shiners. The actual narrative is more emotional from the standpoint of the shoe shiners. They work tirelessly, hunched over, presumably all day shining these men’s shoes, day after day. Since these aren’t young boys, viewers can assume that these men have families that they are working for and that shows the dedication they have for their family. Though it isn’t exactly clear when this image was taken, it seems fairly modern due to the way the men in suits are dressed and the shopping bags they’re carrying are not from long ago. As the image is in black and white, it adds a level of emotion and drama to the image that evokes a sympathy for the shoe shiners. It’s a raw, spontaneous moment caught in their everyday life.

(Just noticed this was in my drafts and never actually posted.)

This mockingjay pin is a well-known symbol in the Hunger Games series, the books and movies. While it was a small token bestowed to the main character, Katniss, it came to mean a lot more to her and the people of Panem. Katniss became a heroine throughout her time in the Hunger Games competition and more so after the competition. Her stance against the Capital gained attention from everyone across Panem and Katniss was from then on seen as the face of hope. This pin became an extension of Katniss and her image of hope. The hope that she was representative of is hope in change against the Capitol and to end the power that it held over Panem and its people.

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This is my (rather petty) narrative of what it is like to live in my apartment. The story told through these pictures is that despite my roommates and I having a chore chart, which is something that four 20-somethings shouldn’t need, our apartment can be found in this state at any given time of the day, any day of the week. The apartment’s level of dirtiness is something that I personally can not stand so I am typically the one to take the initiative and clean up after their mess. However, after nearly two years of living this way and seeing no change or appreciation, I have stepped back and let them take care of their own messes. The filth is representative of their laziness and quite frankly, lack of respect. This has affected the dynamic within this apartment too, turning a “home” into four silent walls hosting God knows what.

A naturalistic enthymeme is defined as the assumption that images and photographs are real until proven otherwise. The first image I thought of when I read this term was the first moon landing. This event and the images that came with it have gone back and forth in controversial discussions as to whether or not these images are real and ergo if the event is real or not. Based on the image alone, it could be assumed that it was staged as it wouldn’t be too difficult to replicate that type of seen but there was cultural awareness that the moon landing was happening and there is no concrete evidence going against this image to prove that it is in fact fake. Despite all the controversy theories, this image is a naturalistic enthymeme based on that it has yet to be disproven for being actual footage from the moon landing.

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Foss’ schema allows for interpretation or evaluation of visual imagery from a rhetorical perspective. A focus within the schema is determining the functions communicated by the image. Foss’ three steps are broken down by identifying the functions that are presented in the image, assessing how well the function is executed and dissecting how legit the function is and determining whether the function is ethical or not. 

The function in this image is fairly evident based on the context. Even if the words at the bottom of the pedals weren’t there, audience viewers could assume that this image has something to do with alcoholically impaired driving since when a person is under the influence, it is common to have double vision or just distorted vision. Those who drive know that there are only ever two pedals (or three if you drive standard even though a clutch isn’t exactly a pedal) so when we see this image, we immediately know something isn’t right. However, for clarification purposes, the creator of this image put the caption “”Just one for the road” and also “Please drink responsibly”. “Just one for the road” is a common idea that a person has when they think they are able to drive after they’ve been drinking. The image disproves this idea as its function is saying do not drive when you have been drinking and the function is even more clearly stated at the bottom warning people to drink responsibly.

I think the function is cleverly performed. The image automatically draws in a person’s attention because we can see that this is not normal. Our brains tell us that something is off and so we continue looking at it for clarification to make sense of what we are seeing. Since this is a Volkswagen ad, the more time you spend looking at the image, the better ad this is. The aesthetic in this image is clean or sleek, just as many car companies like to portray. It’s a very simple image as there with just enough going on in the image to make sense of it. If the image didn’t include the little bit of the steering wheel or seat that can be seen, the whole image could be thrown off by confusion or could be too minimal. 

The legitimacy of the function in this picture is successful or fair. It clearly gets a point across. The function is also ethical since it is encouraging drivers not to drink and drive. Without the slight bit of text, its legitimacy could be doubtful, but the image as a whole speaks to an idea that Volkswagen is making a stand towards drunk driving, which is completely ethical.  

Cutting is a form of gruesome self-stigmatization linked with depression and suicidal thoughts. More often that not, people do not show off their scars for anyone to see but if someone takes part in self-harm, they are taking the risk of the scars being seen by putting them on their body. A person does not just start cutting themselves because they are sad or they had a really bad day. This form of self-stigmatization comes when a person is in so much mental pain that the only escape is to physically harm themselves, perhaps because they believe they deserve to feel the pain or because they believe that it will release the pain. Though a person does not get a needle repeatedly impaled in their skin when they cut themselves, like what happens when one gets a tattoo, they are leaving a permanent mark on their body. The difference in between getting a tattoo and leaving scars on a body is that a tattoo is not automatically associated with depression. However, when a person has scars left behind from cutting themselves, it is automatically known that this person struggles with mental illness. People who struggle with self-harm are often called “weak” and have been known to be “attention-seekers”. These terms come from people who have no idea what it’s like to deal with that level of mental illness. The type of attention that these people are calling for is a call for help, not the “oh, look at me” type of attention. That is why a person might opt to give in to self-harm.

The difference between a technology and a medium is that a technology is a “physical apparatus” (The Age of Showbusiness p84) as opposed to the medium being how the technology, or apparatus, is used. Postman’s article compares a technology to a machine and then the medium for the technology is the “social and intellectual environment” (p84) that the machine creates. There is an intended use, or agenda, for a technology. A technology is meant for certain uses and can not be used for other things, at least not in the way that is it truly meant for. For example, the article discusses how a television can service as many things, such as a lamp, or a bookcase, but these are not what the television is intended for. A television, being the technology, has a purpose to entertain. Television could also be used to inform but the central goal is to entertain. The television, alone, is not entertaining at all, rather it’s just a big box. However, the capabilities of the television and content that comes from the it are what make the television entertaining. So in this example, the physical television is the technology and the entertainment that we receive from it is the medium. 

The problem with television according to Postman is that, especially in America, television has become the platform of all entertainment. Furthermore, the issue is that “all subject matter is presented as entertaining.” No matter what is being streamed, it is presented in an entertaining light. It is not something that one would necessarily pick up just by watching a favorite newscast but given that, especially in the modern news world, there is so much news that is dark and, truthfully, sad to hear, it is noticeable that the way the news is presented does not match up with the news itself. There is a “glamour” aspect to being on the news, from the way that the anchors are dressed, to the graphics on the screen behind them, to the music playing in the background as the segment comes in and out. It is surely intentional that news stations do their news this way. News stations want viewers for ratings and they would be much more successful if a news shows is entertaining to watch, rather than just focusing on the dark, gritty, and blunt truth of the world we’re in. If the mood of the way they presented the news matched the mood of the news itself, there would be far less viewers because it would be depressing and unentertaining. When a person clicks the power button on their remote, they’re looking to be entertained, no matter what they’re actually watching. 

The modern news world has been in an era of “Fake News” since President Trump was elected. Fake news has become almost a branded expectation in the our society. Even though Trump basically came up with this term for anyone who slanders him, it has become a part of common speech. This goes along with the issue posted by Postman in that “fake news” has an entertainment aspect to it. It’s become so popularized and the supposed “fake” news often times is not even fake, but rather unfavorable. 

People give television way more power than it possibly deserves. People are so willing to believe that life can be as entertaining as a drama or reality show or can service as a way to showcase the madness in our world, that they would do anything to replicate that sense of entertainment in their actual life. Postman would say that has only increased in the modern age of Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and Twitter. The world expects entertainment at all times, right at their fingertips. There is no sense for reality with the advanced and seemingly inescapable technology that surrounds our culture. 

Postman, Neil, “The Age of Show Business”, p 83-98