anti-commercial commercials

One of the more distasteful ad campaigns in recent memory falls under this category. Present in bus stops and on billboards throughout New York City are philosophical admonishments from Citibank, informing the consumer that he is more than his bank account, more than his investments, and that life is comprised of more than balance sheets. That these Fight Club-style, individualist, anti-materialist slogans are proffered by an investment bank and credit card issuer is evidently beside the point.

It is astoundingly disheartening to discover that oppositional ideas have been co-opted by institutional structures. In the post-structuralist era, all dialectics are encompassed by normative information systems like advertising and media. There's just no way out.

Note: I have a Citibank credit card which I routinely use to purchase my beer and whiskey, and the helpless affection which I feel for capitalism might be adequately summarized by George Orwell's conclusion to 1984: I "love Big Brother."

Then, of course, there are the true anti-commercial commercials which write commercials in the spirit of culture jamming, such as Adbusters. Of course, not many major networks will permit this sort of non-advertising.