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Title: Advertising Anarchy Author: Ponkan Date: June 3rd, 2020 Language: en Topics: propaganda, Bandilang Itim, Philippines Source: Retrieved on 2020-06-05 from https://libcom.org/blog/advertising-anarchy-03062020
Throughout history Anarchism and Anarchies have long been known to
appear and explode as vibrant as it is sporadic. At its most practical,
it has been long defined by bursts of activity and small, however
self-professing or simply resemblant it is.
Most of this intermittent yet persistent attitude is brought by the
movement’s preference for solutions-based activity over theory. If there
is any, its most seminal ones do not play around its own philosophy–it
is unfettered and blunt aside from some bents towards propagandistic and
erudite language. Why wait, nay–prepare for the coming upheaval when you
can make liberation happen yourself? Direct action!
Today, the bulk of this action rests much on mutual aid activity (which
is, of course, much needed especially now, support them at all costs!).
However, the more ambitious or holistic ones, were the ones who are
actively establishing anarchies–that is, spaces in which liberty can be
experienced and upheld. When we speak of such an anarchy, “spaces” do
not simply talk of territories or systems, but rather, of social
relations, of situations. It doesn’t have a set criteria other than the
intent of eschewing practices and institutions that uphold privilege and
oppression. At its largest, perhaps it’s a network of solidarity.
These anarchies persist in places outside the purview of the state’s
legibility. “Cracks in the pavement” so to speak. When we talk of
building these anarchies, we talk about people. Its growth could lever
these cracks wider, if ever–“by doing so we are unlikely to destroy the
concrete utterly but we can open up more spaces in which to grow
together.” (Desert, Anonymous) For people who are interested or are
actively working towards it, communication becomes a key factor into it.
For anarchists within my personal circle, most of them treat it as a
very personal affair, between them and others. “All politics is
personal.”
Reaching out to people, particularly people or groups whom you want to
help to self-organize (or at least, goad them to doing it), requires
that sort of communication. Becoming effective in it tends to require
well, communication skills. It’s not a requirement to be a “good
anarchist” (because a, there’s none in the first place, and b, why), but
it would certainly get you far. It gets people going. It inspires
people.
With that in mind, why not we make communications itself a clear branch
of praxis?
Perhaps it’s a misnomer–and perhaps, a poor choice of words–to be
referring to the tactics of communications and propaganda as
“advertising,” especially, for most anarchists, for its associations
with Capitalism. Hell, even market anarchists would seethe at the very
industry that perpetuates the purgatory of consumerism. These days term
“propaganda” might as well serve the same purpose, though for the
purposes of our thing, let’s stick with “advertising.” Bear with me.
Advertising as a practice sets itself apart for targeting their
audiences and their mediums. Turn on the TV. Open a periodical. Turn off
your adblock. Look outside and see the vast diversity of saccharine ads
and billboards and posters and commercials you see outside. You’ll
notice that some would appeal to your personal tastes or inconveniences,
and some wont relate at all. (“Are you TIRED of washing the dishes? Try
Kitchen Gun!”)
You’ll perhaps see the differences between the poster, newspaper ad,
commercial or the billboard saying and selling the same thing. For
example: Billboards have sparser text and more striking imagery. And
when it gets smaller and smaller to the human scale, like the newspaper
ad, there comes more room to dish out as much information as possible
granted that you’d still understand the point they’re getting across.
And sometimes, one of those messages may as well answer a problem you’ve
been having, or a new thing you’d buy frequently. Advertising appeals to
the personal, however impersonal it is. Modern advertising relies on
experiences rather than the product itself. Due to its targeted nature,
advertising relies on “mythologies” and associations surrounding objects
and products that which relates to the present reality of its audience.
A can of pasta sauce surrounded put a pile of basil and garlic, uncooked
spaghetti, some cheese, loaves of country bread and a bunch of other
italian ingredients on a wooden table with warm lighting, and suddenly,
a can of sauce becomes “Mamma mia! An authentic Italian-a sauce-a!”
Propaganda/advertising employed by the present system is a top-down
process. It ends to build around itself a curated reality which in turn
influences particular tastes and particular opinions. On one hand,
public communications have the ability to transfer and amplify culture
to a wider audience (which, at our present internet age, is pretty much
moot with more grassroots distribution of info, ie. memes, being more
prevalent). On the other, the information it presents may as well poison
the well on our social possibilities–messages distributed top-down
promoting or wrapped around the state’s prevailing ideology may as well
color the world(view) of the uninformed citizen, however mileage may
vary.
So looking back, how do we create an alternative to this situation, and
also, is there a place for wholeheartedly using the master’s tools of
manipulation against them?
We have lived in a world colored by messages of bias and propaganda.
Tinted and rose-colored, propaganda goes beyond posters and
slogans–propaganda constitutes all modes of communication to build a
narrative. They evoke or allude to experiences, both positive and
negative, in order for you, the audience to align to it. Propaganda
posters outside of radical politics and election campaigns are a dead
art; the State doesn’t need to do it, the media’s already doing the
dirty work! Modern propaganda is now a subtle array of public relations
strategies aiming to use communication to work around the complexities
of society.
In particular, the Father of Public Relations, Edward Bernays, states in
his book Propaganda how necessary communications strategies are in not
only with influencing public opinion, but on top of that, maintaining
the prevailing socio-political order in the long run:
“The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and
opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society.
Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an
invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country. We
are governed, our minds are molded, our tastes formed, our ideas
suggested, largely by men we have never heard of.”
Narratives can be spouted from various means, and when it’s an its most
insidious, it is subtle. Take for example Marxist economist Richard
Wolff talking on Fox News. If you’re already politically radical and
well-read about leftist discourse, Mr. Wolff’s takes would come off
pretty tame, the safest possible, “liberal,” even. But what’s
interesting in here is the interviewer. The tone is particularly
patronizing, and starts and ends with loaded language against socialism
in general. The questions play into what people think socialism is, not
necessarily with The language is also particularly to note: “proletarian
revolution,” “collectivist road,” and the cherry on top, “right after
this, we’re going to talk about Venezuela, the collapse of socialism.”
Wolff’s ideas aren’t the intended subject here–the interviewer has
complete control over the discussion. Such choice language is meant for
the audience. Whatever Wolff said stopped mattering the moment Venezuela
was namedropped. Socialism = bad.
You’d see this sort of coverage (or the intentional lack thereof) on
things discussing radical political movements. Media blackouts on
massive general strikes in France. Willful “both-sides” proclamations by
liberals and moderate conservatives over political violence. Painting
Antifa as a centralized party boogeyman. What kinds of words are said,
what kinds of imagery are portrayed, and what details are left out in
events paint narratives and worldviews to the common man in order to
further a top-down agenda. Commercial advertising and PR participates in
this circus by perpetuating, muting or amplifying particular social
behaviors as a consequence of strategies based on the current trend–in
particular, using internet culture, progressive values and social
movements as a brand-loyalty tool.
The primary role thus, of any sort of anarchist propaganda strategy, is
combating narratives. “Counter-propaganda.” Posters calling out nazis,
calling for action, or calling for action against nazis are half the
battle. It is also imperative for us, as anarchists in general, to
counter and combat the monopoly on narratives. The basis is twofold:
networks of solidarity. Communicating anarchist or anarchistic causes
should offer to its audiences a new kind of “way out” from the present
situation, while at the same time convincing people of their own
capability to enact such change through radical means. Since this is a
personal and also a somewhat “passive” approach, such counter-propaganda
is a branch of actual organizing/solidarity work. Most likely you, the
budding propagandist, would be the one doing the “building networks”
part yourself anyway. Such “culture of initiative,” especially one that
is grounded on affinity, forms a stronger foundation within one’s
networks due to a vested interest to a particular common goal, whatever
it is. (I mean, it’s called an affinity group, cmon). This opens
possibilities for a normalization of a “libertarian/solidarity culture”
within the immediate area of necessity, which is an important factor in
prefigurative politics, making positive changes happen by ourselves.
and the conservatism that sympathizes with it is obsessed with
aesthetics and appearances. The Right can and would utilize their own
tactics of manipulation, harassment and intimidation in order to
normalize or mitigate the stigma of their values in the common
discourse. In this regard, such strategies should not only seek building
a culture of resistance within your networks (and perhaps also to those
outside, where alliances between other invested groups could be forged),
but also seek to tear down the image of “strength” that revolve around
reactionaries. This “active” approach intends to build trust outside the
group who views anarchies with suspicion, and a necessary cultivation of
a (libertarian) culture of resistance in such immediate area of
necessity matters in the culture war. In this regard, effective optics
is effectively anti-fascist.
Challenging the monopoly of narrative and reorienting the discourse
through a ground-up, counter-propaganda initiative could perhaps, as
stated earlier, allow for expanding opportunities, the “levering of the
cracks” if you will. However, such an endeavor can be only effective if
there is on-the-ground action towards liberatory goals (mutual aid,
resistance, what-have-you). People will respond more to a message which
delivers upon their material reality–you can’t advertise without a
product.
Commercial advertising would sometimes tend for
informational/educational elements in their campaigns towards a product
or an advocacy (perhaps tied to or related to that product). Meanwhile,
public relations would utilize similar strategies, sometimes
promoting/encouraging positive behaviors on their audiences in order to
foster reputations of their clients (see also: Corporate Social
Responsibility).
Public service announcements, CSR-based information campaigns, getting
people to eat bacon for breakfast, understanding these aspects of public
communications is just as valuable as its very persuasive ones.
Much of the bad rap against radical groups is grounded on misinformation
and framing on top of the governing narrative. It is worse for those
who’s actually gained quite the notorious reputation (“terrorist!!!”).
And despite some groups insisting otherwise (“we just wanna help
people!”), simply insisting for a change of opinion wouldn’t change the
fact that people wouldn’t trust you because of your political
allegiances (“fuckin’ libtard/commie/what have you”). Education and
information involves directly communicating with those who are in the
vicinity to be misinformed.
Horizontal and grassroots information-sharing has been a
long-established hallmark of radical or anti-authoritarian praxis. Most
of this information is practical and immediate in nature: tactics,
advocacies, safety, and news (note that I didn’t specifically say
“anarchist” in this regard). This is a similar case in already-existing
advertising, though for the most part, it is insular and very much
intended for internal use (ie. only within networks).
If you are one to “lever the cracks,” an external-based approach to
dissemination would definitely be essential. Putting out one’s stances
and goals could help give people understanding of one’s initiative,
though simply putting it out on a zine, or said in terms that can only
be understood within the context of your radical circles/networks,
basically renders it your efforts towards forming relationships with
your “public” moot. Communists (particularly Maoist-types) would be
hard-pressed about this idea (learn from the masses!). However, their
main disadvantage is that such messaging supposed to connect to their
intended audiences are construed in a very broad, restricted and gaudy
manner–a style that would be satirized by The People’s Cube to shit on
anyone to the left of them.
A strategy meant to inform and teach relevant stuff to prospective
audiences through counter-propaganda strategy is a particular matter.
Maintaining a perspective based on advertising (that is, targeted
messaging) thus would be ideal, particularly when engaging with
non-anarchist or generally non-political groups, whoever they are.
So what is this “Advertising Perspective”?
We have established early on that Advertising is particular about who
they target and from where. Recognizing that, anarchistic strategies of
advertising involves itself in such a process while intended towards
liberatory goals. This means an understanding of how messages can affect
people must be taken note of, from how they think, how they view things,
and how they view their present situation.
However, as I’ve said before, both actual praxis and communications go
hand in hand. What we do and what we say overlap more than what we’d
expect. Actually establishing spaces, doing mutual aid and all other
sorts of direct action, and calling for a libertarian alternative might
as well be the same thing. All politics is personal, so you really need
to put your money where your mouth is.
So how would we go about this?
Who are you talking to? Why do you choose talking to them? Groups and
individuals gain worldviews and motivations through their varied
personal experiences. Through these experiences people tend to judge the
world around them, messages and politics in particular. Before you do
anything, pick your battles.
Just as in commercial advertising, it is hard to be very broad in your
ideas (unless you’re going for the lowest hanging fruit like, saving the
turtles or some shit). This applies to praxis and solidarity-building in
general–are you going to talk with friends? Friends of friends? People
in the same predicament such as you? Do you intend to appeal to a
particular people?
Messages must relate to what your audiences are going through. Speak
their language. Put everything in context and try to empathize with the
situations of your audience–people have a problem that your product
could solve. Simply positing a way out (“Another world is possible!”) is
alienating if they’re concerned with survival from their present
situation. Empathizing on the conditions people are in and their general
concerns not only gives you a better understanding of who these people
are, it opens doors on forming cordial relationships with them and
perhaps finding a way to empower them towards their own liberation.
A graffiti sprayed on a broken Starbucks window and a sleek-looking
poster plastered on a public wall that basically says the same thing
still gives off different impressions.
According to Marshall McLuhan, the kind of channels in which we send our
message matters more than the content it is in, especially since it
determines the ways in which we could express it. Remember how specific
ads of the same product are laid out differently in each medium
(billboard, commercial, newspaper)? Billboards are meant to be seen by
people driving on fast speeds, that’s why it’s big, striking and
minimal. People reading magazines or newspapers have more time to parse
through the ad, hence having more stuff. Commercials, which are not
print-based media, are performance-based, and interrupts whatever you
are watching. So it will do its best to grab and hold of your attention
about it.
The medium might determine the possible ways you can express your
message, but “medium” also makes up the manner in which you express it.
As Penn Jilette said in an immortalized meme; “the context in which the
words were spoken give them the power of meaning.”
Our reality is bound on the complicated mishmash of words, ideas,
experiences, symbols–aka language–that call back to one another. This is
where the idea of “mythologies” come from–the steak is a steak because
of its crust, its sizzle, and its flavor, not necessarily because of it
being “a meat generally sliced across the muscle fibers.” A steak could
probably mean either fine dining or a rugged, macho lifestyle. The way
these meanings and ideas reflect one another is also important when
you’re determining the aesthetics and the symbols you’re rallying under.
This is why arguments over whether the hammer and sickle should be used
by anarchist communists exist–on one many people view it as a shorthand
for communism (basically flouting one’s tendency–“it’s ok, we mashed it
together with the circle-a, it’s all good”), but people who are aware of
its history and even some who have close experiences with authoritarian
communist regimes or conflicts would place it in the same level with the
Nazi swastika.
This is why understanding who your target audience is and empathizing
with their experiences matter. Speaking in their language and referring
to symbols that they can understand and relate to gives for a more
effective message than simply putting up a banner smacking a bunch of
slogans on a wall without any recourse.
Being unequivocal means saying what you mean, or meaning what you said.
Don’t leave room for interpretation that would allow authoritarians to
hijack your message. If you’re gonna be anarchist, talk anarchist. All
the way through. Vaguely radical language wouldn’t get you far. You
could be diplomatic or informational about it, but the message should be
consistent in its anarchist values. Authoritarians don’t necessarily
have this handicap because they could just say whatever shit they want
and get away with it. Anarchists don’t have that luxury, because our
praxis and politics isn’t grounded on “seizing power.” As with
commercial advertising, any sort of hiccup or inconsistency, or
tone-deafness in your messages would destroy your strategy the moment it
gets heard.
If you want people to take action for themselves, then make your message
so that they would indeed take action for themselves (see: Case Study –
Crimethinc). Starting with an “wow oppression/capitalism/the state is a
thing everywhere and its bad,” or playing up the “menace of capitalism”
would just be a downer. This is what happened to “climate change
alarmism” and the general language of online spaces constantly barraging
about the (understandably real) threat of fascism. Being surrounded by
ominous, negative messages have demotivated and demoralized a lot of
activists and woke individuals in the long run. It could lead to general
inaction on dealing with the existing problem or worse, they could just
cling on to some vanguard/electoralist moment like barnacles on a ship.
You could say The Man can go fuck himself ad infinitum, but it doesn’t
hurt to be not confrontational every once in a while. Expressing
messages grounded on theory shouldn’t have contradict itself–you will
leave people asking more questions and you’ll attract more mockery for
what’s basically a “hot take” in the information space. Consistency is a
safety mechanism.
Speaking their language means doing away with jargon. Having to explain
in roundabout ways of the “alternative” just takes up the mental labor
of both you and your audience. If you can’t explain it simply, you
really don’t understand it well enough. Because, for the most part,
people don’t really care about what you have to say. Grabbing the
attention of people and giving them the gist in one take are two of the
prime concerns of not only advertising, but on communications as a
whole. It’s the propagandist’s job to distill theory into a digestible
and relatable message
Effective advertising works because of its simplicity. Showing without
telling. Commercial advertisers think about what to show and what to
tell on their messages right at the drawing board, and that has become a
factor in their successes.
We have talked earlier about how communications utilize associations,
cultural context, symbols and “mythologies” of things in order to create
a clear but striking message. This allows for subtlety to add more meat
to your message while maintaining a concise and straightforward idea.
This is why understanding the experiences and concerns of your target
audience is important. “Black Lives Matter,” “We are the 99%,” “Five
Demands, Not One Less!,” “No Justice, No Peace,” these are all
slogans/taglines that capture the context of their respective struggles,
which gives powerful meaning behind it. Clarity, simplicity, and context
go hand in hand. Keep it simple. It’s important to know when you need to
be subtle.
There are a lot of possible ways you could go about sending a message,
and it will depend on your situation, the present context, your
intentions and your resources. One of the biggest things that set the
propagandist to the advertiser is that what we do is a form of direct
action meant to amplify and augment our respective causes, and that our
methods are based on making more with less, and that since we don’t need
the approval of formality on which channels we should express, we have
an endless array of mediums at our disposal, so long as we have the will
and the way.
For starters, we must classify the kinds of messages that fall within
the range of counter-propaganda, active and passive. These things
overlap into each other especially on times of massive social change.
directly and sometimes put forth in the context of conflict. Active
propaganda may build bridges, reach out for solidarity, call to action,
intimidate opponents and/or defy authority. Its goal is to augment
on-the-ground action, be it resistance, direct action, or organizing.
necessary information, from tactics, to theory or to current events
(sometimes related to active propaganda especially on times of major
social instability). Passive propaganda tends to coincide with
alternative media due to its similar purpose. Compared to alt media,
however, passive propaganda is inclined to be used on more practical and
educational purposes. How to create things, how to plant things, what to
do in a particular situation.
The spread and rise of the Internet has proved to be a valuable resource
for grassroots organizing and making then-unknown struggles to be known
and learned from. It has allowed collectives and individuals around the
world to share information and tactics in solidarity never seen before.
This is where we have thrived as ourselves, among ourselves. However,
novice radicals and younger creatives inspired enough to enact to
partake in these sorts of things must note of the mediums already
existing in your physical spaces. Posters, graffiti, art, video, live
broadcasting, banners, all of this serve to amplify our purposes. This
is especially true in massive protests and riots–“riots gives you
attention, propaganda give your actions meaning.”
Following the earlier principles of the strategy, it’s imperative that
the messages reach the audience. If you are talking to some, go small.
If you are talking to many, go big. All mediums are available to us, but
attention is key. If necessary, hook them in. Of course, what use is a
voice if it can’t be heard?
Messages may flow and influence the prospects of the future. This is why
authoritarians also bring their own propaganda. Thus, in such
situations, it becomes a war of symbols waged on the streets. Like in
most things, their work could be an avenue of expression, a new medium.
Either hijack it or replace it. In this end, it’s important to be
careful in doing so; there will be occasions where they would use the
act of removal against you, like fascist posters and stickers with
razors hidden underneath. Your tools should include those that remove as
you have those that create.
Lastly, always consider hazards. You yourselves will be the ones
planning, creating and rolling out the messages. If you will go out of
your way to express in somewhere life-threatening, observe caution on
your surroundings.
Propaganda is simply one of many tactics that Anarchists could employ
within their own praxis. A secondary tool to your intentions, perhaps,
but a tool nonetheless.
There is the issue of the current media and information
environment–retention times for advertisements (especially by a populace
getting very tired of the same corporate messages over and over again)
are noted by some advertising and communications experts to have been
lowering over time. Propagandists must note prevailing trends and
development of particular ideas especially in our online/post-truth era.
Keeping up and staying ahead of government and corporate institutions
would be a major hurdle for small time groups, especially as particular
concepts and ideas could transform and recontextualized, as is the case
in meme culture.
This would also tie to the issue of optics. Public relations is a tricky
subject especially for groups whose main object is conflict (see: the
trend of communist insurgency groups being universally unliked by the
public outside of the ideologically sympathetic). The
recontextualization of ideas could prove detrimental to your possible
routes (ex. Pepe the Frog > Groyper). External factors could affect the
prospects of your message.
The propagandist is immediately outnumbered by the massive resources and
scope of state and corporate media. The news spreads quickly and the
loudest gets heard first. One must be creative and organized enough to
pull off something as comprehensive as the propaganda they chatter, and
if one’s lucky, even hijack their messages for your own.
And that last point is important–coordinate with people. Advertisers
plan as a team. There are good approaches, but there could be far better
ones, and other opinions could help reach those points. You could act
alone, but whatever comes out of it might not be as optimal as intended.
Coordination and numbers is key–pooling together collective knowledge
and resources yield results.
In other words, if you want to be loud, be many.
The CrimethInc. Ex-Workers’ Collective is perhaps the closest anarchist
organization to have mastered the art of applying advertising principles
in their propaganda and informative works. Having roots in the American
anarcho-punk scene in the 90’s, CrimethInc would later be known for
popularizing the Post-Leftist tendency, seeking out a truly anarchist
alternative to traditional leftist politics which they view as
restrictive and un-anarchistic. They have articulated these values in
their writings, graphic works and how they portray the values of
militant joy and grounding our politics solely in our present reality.
In particular, their document (or perhaps it could be safely called a
manifesto), To Change Everything, is a concise and very empowering
introduction to anarchism. (it’s a good read btw). I want to focus
however on the way the book is written and structured. It’s not simply
an explanation of anarchism–no, it only mentions the word “anarchism” by
the very end. Most of it is taking you on a journey that rests on these
three themes:
It doesn’t befall upon the reader the burden of knowing what anarchism
is or why should you be one. It converses with you than talk over you;
which is something I kind of find iffy with the lot of introductions to
anarchism, like Geiderloos’ Anarchy Works! and Graeber’s Are You An
Anarchist? which comes off very combative and outright about it. In
comparison, To Change Everything eases you in to the possibility that
“yeah, maybe anarchy is the right way to go at this!.” Because people
are turned off by what they see as “going too far” or “fomenting chaos,”
CrimethInc instead opts for tapping into the concerns and values of
their audience. Articulate desire.
On the other hand, their posters would be perhaps the most consistent to
their values and the most “advertising”-based compared to the rest. The
only issue I have with them, however, is the misuse of mediums–some of
their posters would be overly wordy as if its meant for a magazine. Not
much in the way of grabbing attention, if it’s the intended goal.
While granted, articulating one’s philosophy unequivocally and
concisely, while keeping it relevant in simple is not an easy task, for
me it doesn’t take into account that such posters seem better as flyers.
Compare it however, to their more minimal work:
[]
This is much more applicable since for the most part, it doesn’t bombard
you with paragraphs and are much more focused on telling you why it’s
wrong in the simplest manner possible. And the manner in which it reads
comes from a very admirable idealism which taps into the sentiments of
its intended audience, that borders mean division and war–but the
alternative is unity and peace. And you can make it happen.
These sorts of sensibilities surrounding CrimethInc’s work is the reason
why they are noteworthy. They don’t dilly-dally around ideology, they
let the philosophy talk through their work, grounding themselves in the
problem and propose an immediate and (perhaps) workable solution.
Educating and emboldening people not by political discussion but by
showing, not telling, and relating themselves to the experiences of the
real world and the sentiments of their audiences. Communication fails
when it’s scant, but it also fails when it’s overwrought.
CrimethInc. is not a perfect model for this “advertising-propaganda”
model, but it’s a step in the right direction.