Adbusters: Save The Planet Kill Yourself

• having chapters in a magazine is unconventional, which is another example of how Adbusters is an unconventional magazine
• "Save The Planet Kill Yourself" makes the audience feel shocked and surprised
• blunt and straightforward
• save and kill are binary opposition → the audience feel quite horrified yet conflicted
• makes the audience feel expendable → belittling the audience makes them feel insignificant and worthless - again unconventional of a magazine
• this article is breaking the law as it encourages 'inciting or encouraging suicide', which is illegal
• is it actually encouraging it? Is it just an ironic mode of address
• not everyone can understand the complex and polysemic mode of address
• sarcasm?
• Adbusters do arguably have a point...
• "Save The Planet Kill Yourself" presents the audience in an alarming mode of address
• if you kill yourself, you save the planet but will be dead
• if you stay alive, you are killing the planet
• arguably can't win either way
• the article, in summary, makes the audience feel horrible about themselves as it suggests everything they do, they are killing the planet (e.g toothbrushes have microplastics in them which ruin the planet)
• Adbusters criticises the world but doesn't offer a suggestion or advise us what to do
• Adbusters encourages an activist, but is arguable whether it actually does it

Sonia Livingstone and Peter Lunt - Regulation Theory

• every media product must follow a set of rules and regulations
• Adbusters breaking the law shows that the magazine is not very well regulated

Adbusters challenges Stuart Halls Theory

Adbusters heavily relies on the audience understanding the context and the magazines values.

Production- how something is put together

Distribution- how a media product is given out

Circulation- how many copies are put out (e.g circulation on YouTube videos is measured through views)

Consumption - how the audience uses a media product

Example Exam Question: How do contextual factors shape the production, distribution, circulation and consumption of magazines?

Adbusters Facts

• the magazine has an international circulation peaking at 120,000 in the late 2000s with a circulation of 60,000 in 2022
• Adbusters was found in 1989 by Kalle Lasn and Bill Schmalz, a duo award-winning documentary film maker living in Vancouver
• an aging audience and a lower interest in magazines is a result of Adbusters circulation has decreased
• competition from social media and online news sources
• has a very strong brand identity
• anti-establishment, anti-government, anti-establishment
• NO ADVERTS
• Adbusters is made by the Adbusters Media Foundation
• has a website to help sell the magazine
• contradicts their anti-capitalist ideology
• website appeals to a mass audience to sell the magazine
• website has a dirty background which reflects poorly printed magazine paper

'Join The Third Force' → the audience feel they are in a privileged mode of address, "we can change the world" if you sign up to our email list

Adbusters political ideology is confusing! They argue that they aren't capitalists or communists, so what are they?

How does the website reinforce the brand identity of the magazine?

Adbusters website isn't clearly laid out and is messy, quite like the magazine

Is there a clear 'house style' that is evident across the magazine and the website?

Very politically influencing and their ideology is clear to their viewers

What does the website offer which is different to the magazine?

Can donate, sign up to newsletters, watch YouTube videos☻