November 2007 – Page 2

It finally arrived in the snail mail this afternoon, on Buy Nothing Day of all occasions:

It’s a rock’n’roll story as told by the Rolling Stones’ second fiddle guitarist, Ronnie Wood. Or, as the book jacket describes it:

For the first time, a member of the world’s most famous rock ‘n’ roll band tells his — and their — story. Raw, unsanitized, nasty and fascinating. An incredible journey. …

A fascinating portrait not just of the Stones, but of the greatest rockers of the 1960’s and beyond — from Eric Clapton to Rod Stewart, Jimmy Page to Keith Moon, Jimi Hendrix to Pete Townshend — RONNIE is a rich, revelatory book. Readers have never had a view of the rock world like this before.

Ronnie: The Autobiography isn’t the kind of book I would purchase. But one Sunday a few weeks ago, while making the 30-minute drive home from my in-laws, I tuned in to a local classic rock station, more to help stay awake than to enjoy the oldies. During one of the breaks, the DJ announced a contest: the first caller to name three Rolling Stones albums featuring Ronnie Wood wins the book.

Easy peasy. I phoned the station, rattled off three albums, and claimed my winnings.

Now, here’s the sick thing. I actually had the station’s contest line programmed into my cell phone. The reason: I used to try to win this “connect the classics” contest the station would hold over lunch. But I never could get my call in in time, and I kept forgetting the number. So I programmed it, hoping to improve my chances. Still, I never won a connect the classics. The best I can do is an autobiography from the Stones’ second-fiddle guitarist. A decent, workmanlike guitarist, but no Keith Richards. Good thing I like rock ‘n’roll, and the Stones. I know. It’s only rock and roll. But I like it.

—————-
Now playing: The Rolling Stones – Some Girls
via FoxyTunes

If you were hoping to purchase some Buy Nothing Day swag from Adbusters today, you’re out of luck. Adbusters’ Culture Shop is one of the few stores, online or otherwise, that is closed for business today.

That’s because Adbusters is practicing what it preaches. At least today.

While many Americans, thanks to plentiful reminders from local and national news outlets, celebrate the advent of the holiday shopping season today, the opposite is happening in the anti-consumerism movement. Today is Buy Nothing Day. Adbusters, the culture-jamming magazine behind BND, describes the annual event as “a 24 hour moratorium on consumer spending” and urges would-be shoppers to refrain from buying anything at all today — to “participate by not participating.”

New York Times blogger Andrew Revkin writes that the BND proponents’ goal “is to get as many people as possible to buy nothing at all over a 24-hour span on Friday in the United States (and Saturday elsewhere around the world), as a small blow against what they say are the destructive efforts of advertisers and corporations to fuel the deep-rooted human tendency to want the next new thing.”

The irony of BND’s “anti-consumerist” approach is that it relies heavily on the same promotional and marketing techniques as the very culture it seeks to strike a small blow against. True, many of the techniques — posters, stickers, demonstrations and the like — originated with do-it-yourself underground movements and were appropriated by the corporations, so maybe the culture jammers are just reclaiming what they see as rightfully theirs. But if you take a good look at the Adbusters website, you’ll find a healthy dose of good old consumerism, proceeds from which ostensibly go to help stick it to The Man. There’s the Blackspot Shoes, the Corporate America T-shirts and the 2008 Adbusters calendar, all prominently displayed as for sale under the “Culture Shop” banner.

Then there’s the “latest news” headline about how MTV has refused to run a 30-second ad for BND. Why would the culture jammers complain about being refused airtime from one of the monolithic corporations that help to “fuel the deep-rooted human tendency to want the next new thing”?

I have nothing against Adbusters or the idea behind Buy Nothing Day. In fact, I’m actively participating by not buying anything today — with the exception of some needed groceries. (Hypocrisy, thy name is Andrew.) I just find it odd that so much of this activity relies on the techniques that drive and feed consumer behavior in our culture.

I also should point out that these aren’t necessarily my original ideas. My view has been informed recently by a new book from Anne Elizabeth Moore called Unmarketable: Brandalism, Copyfighting, Mocketing, and the Erosion of Integrity. It’s a decent critique of corporate culture’s use of indie/DIY/underground methods for the purpose of marketing the “next new thing.” But Moore also critiques activists’ reactions and approaches. It’s an even-handed analysis of consumerism and I recommend you read it.

Just don’t go out and buy it today.

—————-
Now playing: Bruce Springsteen – Devil’s Arcade
via FoxyTunes

Month: November 2007

I won this book on a radio trivia quiz

Buy Nothing Day and the marketing of anti-marketing