Adbusters busted?

Adbusters has come under fire for it's exploration into marketing, in 'Blackspot', their 'anti-logo' they have found a product that can easily and quite covertly be advertised as an anti-product, what Bill Hicks called "that anti-marketing dollar. That's a good market." It's quite fair to say they may be a problem with this. And the Big idea forum has been awash with criticism, that has gone without response from the adbusters editors.

The delusion of change

Has adbusters become what it was created to destroy?

Whether you agree or not with the sentiment that is very evident in the topics being discussed, there is a very important point that I assume everyone can agree on. There is a place for 'adbusters busters', it is your duty as someone that reads adbusters to criticise it, if that criticism is valid.

Some people have expressed their frustration with adbusters and their lack of communication on this issue. Someone mentioned they have sent several letters to the editors without any reply. This is unacceptable, the points being levelled were worthy of consideration and the editors have a duty to their readers, for if they truely believe in 'blackspot', you as an adbusters reader are essentially a shareholder in adbusters. If the likely reply is, a lack of time for communicaton with 'every' writer or that the criticism is unfounded as is unworthy of a reply. Then adbusters has fallen further than I expected.

One poster pointed out that adbusters is printed by Québécor, a relative media juggernaut. This seems a very real prolem. "Because much modern suffering is rooted in the unlimited greed of corporate profit-maximising - in the subordination of people and planet to profit - it seems to us to be a genuine tragedy that society has for so long been forced to rely on the corporate media for 'accurate' information. It seems clear to us that quite obvious conflicts of interest mean it is all but impossible for the media to provide this information." (see "correcting for distorted media" post)

If adbusters will not respond to their readers, then why not boycott the magazine?

Write to the editors and if they ignore your complaint/question/criticism, then find another media/medium to voice your concerns, there are plenty of websites/magazines/papers that will allow your views to be aired. If all else fails, stop buying it, hit them where it hurts.

If in adbusters, it is possible to bring accountability to a publication whose vested interests are questionable, then that is constructive, simply disrgarding adbusters wastes a real opportunity to understand how activism may have turned to opportunism.

Adbusters Media Forum