i rarely use this space to rant - but the more i think on one particular thing, the more i am annoyed . . . so i'll just go ahead and share . . .
the annoyance in question is here: the new adbusters "design anarchy" book. click on the link, enjoy the flash sample pages - very slick - very easy to navigate and understand. the content is generally right on. in reading the description on the shop intro page, much of the content is lifted from earlier editions of adbusters - and from occasional sightings of the magazine, i can say that i have seen some before in other places . . . but what really gets me is that this book - proclaiming to have described inside it's 400+ pages, the new and radical ideas of said "design anarchy" - but this mofo costs $65.00. shipping costs $16.00. that's the low-low price of $81.00. please spend $81.00 dollars to learn about how you should feel guilty, quit your job, move to a third world country, get a grip and THEN come back and get a job. please spend $81.00 to see their abstract and visually ambiguous layouts, designed to "respect" you the viewer, instead of telling you how to act and feel - like regular ads do - not their work, no way. the "scrapbook" version, where you can get a different take on Design Anarchy, one that acheives a richer
expression of the anarchic ideal. Includes an array of handcrafted
ephemera, doodles, clippings, transparencies, leaves, sandpaper,
stickers . . . for $100.00 + $15.00 shipping.
sure, there is a student discount, but big deal. and no, i do not want them to print the thing in china for better cost savings to deliver the book to me at a lower price. no, i do not want them to print it somewhere responsible but on the cheapest and most environmentally unfriendly stock known to man to deliver the book to me at a lower price. but - and i ask this with all seriousness - did they even consider less costly production methods so they could deliver their "anarchy" to the masses?
my guess is NO. it states that the 400+ pages are in FULL COLOR. ohhhhh. it also does not specifically mention WHERE the book was indeed printed . . . did they print the thing overseas on the sly?
the message of the book is
"do it your god damn self" . . . "stop shelling over your $$ to corporate
shills and take back your life" . . . however, before you do that, kalle
lasn would like you to drop $81.00 and buy his fat, overpriced, 4/4 book which is essentially a compilation of his magazine.
adbusters - as i've always felt - is ALL ABOUT "target market" slick advertising. who are the fools
in the western world that don't already know about adbusters? who are the fools that would chock
over $100.00 to get doodles and clippings? (this version not available for student discount). target market: those with stable, well paying jobs and lots of liquid cash money to spend on "art books", that are just now magically starting to feel twangs of guilt for said well paying job, who have been paying zero attention to what has been going on in the streets of cities around the world for years now - this mystical "design anarchy" they speak so obtusely about . . .
i really do not appreciate adbusters, and where i did read their sample pages, i would not drop $81.00 for this tomb. nothing but a slicked-up version of what kids have been doing on the streets for years. nothing but another "black spot" campaign that proposes to it's audience that it's being sold a bill of goods with the nike shoe - but the "black spot shoe" is actually cooler because it's been "uncooled" and here is where you can buy it . . . blah blah blah . . . as they say about bush - all hat, no cattle.
