Manufacturing dissent? The cultural politics and communicative strategy of the Adbusters Media Foundation

This thesis examines the communicative strategy and cultural politics of the anti-consumerist activist group Adbusters Media Foundation (AMF). The organization uses techniques such as Situationist detournement and culture jamming to attempt to alter dominant signs and their meaning. In this process, the AMF constructs narratives that are multiple and contradictory. For instance, tension within the project rises out of conflicts between form and content, which is exemplified by the use of the glossy magazine and advertisement-like images to communicate an anti-consumerist message. The complexity of the transformative politics the AMF engages in is examined vis-a-vis formal debates about consumption and ideas of the Frankfurt School. This discussion points to a failure to formulate a critical media pedagogy not only within the AMF's project but also within contemporary Cultural Studies and the Sociology of Culture. At the same time, this analysis illustrates what obstacles subversive initiatives have to overcome in their struggle for progressive social change.