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does adbusters still make you feel guilty?
- Thread starter judge wopner
- Start date
judge wopner
TRIBE Member
yeah i wonder about this, at first glance it might seem like it, but then at second glance it would seem like those who still read it are in fact only pretending to care under the guise of reading a magazine and getting all down about their consumerist lifestyle,
but then on third glance i thought of how so many people got bored of Vice, not because they suddenly became a walking "dont" but because its standards didnt really apply to as many people as they got older, and the writing kind of went to the shitter. hating on vice was kind of a way to move above people still posting "do's and dont's" on message boards... is adbusters and its anti-consumer, global-citizen sort of approach no longer relevant because we're consumed with our lives, or that it espouses a philosophy that is in many ways irrelevant to people like us on Tribe in their 30's that may have at best, passing sympathies for these kinds of mags.... yet i dont agree that its the case, am i just being an apologist for people who've grown kind of distant to these issues?
on fourth glance i even thought about how i dont really feel that guilty for not feeling guilty and that a few issues of adbusters sit among a stack of "La Cucinia Italiana" mags in my bathroom, (which is a whole other story by the way) and that im dwelling on my guilt much less than i used to over it...
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--[Zirca]--
TRIBE Promoter
I used to subscribe to adbusters about 7+ years ago or so, but never resubscribed or picked one up since. The magazine just points out problems and whines and complains about all things corporate. I quickly realized that they provide no real(istic) solutions. They want corporations to disappear and the world to turn upside down overnight. In other words, the magazine is premised on pipe dreams.
The article that turned me right off from AB, was regarding corporations that were making a green movement (long before green was the "in thing") to better their operations, corp. profile and commitment to the environment. AB thought this was bullshit and the corporation should die. So slam a company for being an evil corporation, but still slam them when they try to make a change? No one changes cold turkey overnight. It takes time (particularly in business), as people are resilient to change. Anyhow, I'm rambling.
The article that turned me right off from AB, was regarding corporations that were making a green movement (long before green was the "in thing") to better their operations, corp. profile and commitment to the environment. AB thought this was bullshit and the corporation should die. So slam a company for being an evil corporation, but still slam them when they try to make a change? No one changes cold turkey overnight. It takes time (particularly in business), as people are resilient to change. Anyhow, I'm rambling.
--[Zirca]--
TRIBE Promoter
Net/Net, unless they've made prolific change in their content and its presentation, its somewhat of a dated magazine imo. People are much more aware of the issues we face in our society/world. It's important to bring light to new/emerging issues (as they will always be there), but there are a lot better magazines out there that present the problem, but also provide a realistic solution.
The funny thing is, that you probably feel less guilty because you are more exposed to these messages on a more frequent basis .... hmmm.... sounds familiar
The funny thing is, that you probably feel less guilty because you are more exposed to these messages on a more frequent basis .... hmmm.... sounds familiar
praktik
TRIBE Member
--[Zirca]--;4217291 said:
Well, I bet the article was week but the term "greenwashing" is used when say, a high profile chemical/oil/coal company puts a "green face" on what are still destructive processes.
This can take the form of green themed ads (think about the "clean" coal ads), token donations to green organizations (but watch out, some of these orgs are really just green-named industry associations) etc.
There's a legitimate complaint to be made about the degree to which a company's green face mismatches with its practises.
A good antidote to this is the GRI: http://www.globalreporting.org/Home
Which is basically designed along the lines of financial reporting, but for environmental/sustainability issues. The idea is to get companies on board with taking their environmental reporting as seriously as financial reporting.
Its a baby-step in the right direction.
Anyway, given the quality of Adbuster's writing I'm sure the article was a little knee-jerk - there's better criticisms out there of "greenwashing" and I do think its a legitimate issue to talk about.
--[Zirca]--
TRIBE Promoter
Very familiar with the greenwashing term and the significant problems it creates. It's definitely something that should be talked about. This article, however, wasn't taking that angle. Anyhow, that article was the final one for me.
I never really stopped liking adbusters, I just kinda stopped reading it. Probably because my ideological bent softened post-university, and probably because I just didn't feel like looking at defaced advertisements for $$$ when Perez Hilton does that stuff for freebies.
The shoe thing was silly, but not that outrageous; they were just trying, I think, to make a point about how a fashionable show could be created from recycled materials. I remember really disliking their 'reboot' edition, what with its 'here's how the world ends' scenarios and other stoned-out fictionalizations of how badly corporate types would deal with the new world and how amazing adbusters readers would adapt and thrive.
The shoe thing was silly, but not that outrageous; they were just trying, I think, to make a point about how a fashionable show could be created from recycled materials. I remember really disliking their 'reboot' edition, what with its 'here's how the world ends' scenarios and other stoned-out fictionalizations of how badly corporate types would deal with the new world and how amazing adbusters readers would adapt and thrive.
Flashy_McFlash
Well-Known TRIBEr
lol
Hush!
I did the same thing yesterday when I picked this issue up. All I could think was "Oak, Beech..............done".