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PPGASM

Started by NWC, July 25, 2008, 01:38:50 AM

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NWC

PPGASM

Product Placement - Golden Apple Seed Mission


This is something I've been doing for a couple months. It's fun, entertaining, and very easy.

Basically: if you see any type of surveillance camera or video camera or any of that, or even you just think you're being watched, find the nearest thing around you with a brand logo on it, the bigger the logo the better, hold it up in on hand, give a thumbs up with the other, and give a big cheesy smile for the camera.


It's a beautiful mindfuck, IMO. Granted the cameras are rarely screened by actual humans, but I do this often enough that I'm sure it has been seen multiple times. I can imagine someone bored at work, staring at a screen and seeing what looks like someone try market a product. Then I can imagine them thinking, "wait, are companies going trying so hard to get their logo stuck in my head that they're advertising on security cameras?! no, that couldn't be. but what if?...". Same goes for the security guard lost in his thoughts, or even an onlooking shopper or whatever.

The idea came to me from open road tolling. You know those things that you drive under with your iPass or what have you and then if you don't have one the big thing you go under takes a picture of your license plate? Well I was driving to Illinois, and I left mine in my parents other car, but I hadn't realized until I'd passed under 2 of them already. I figured if they're going to take a picture of me, I might as well do something funny, maybe they'll laugh and not ticket me(it turns out they know which plates are associated with iPasses so they wouldn't have anyway). I was drinking a ginger ale, as I often do, and it had a big Canada Dry logo on it, so I held it up, gave a thumbs up, smiled and drove on through.

Now whenever I'm in a store or anywhere I see cameras, I just grab the nearest corporate logo and go for it. I'm always looking for cameras anyway cos I'm hopelessly paranoid, so this makes it into a quite entertaining game, and I got a few friends hooked too.



So yeah, I've been meaning to write this up for awhile but have been too lazy. Any thoughts?

oh, and pee-pee-gasm sounds funny.
PROSECUTORS WILL BE TRANSGRESSICUTED

Cain

I like it.  It makes a mockery of both branding and of the surveillance society.

The only problem is in trying to promote it.  Perhaps if an additional layer of farce was added, where you took a picture of your partaking in product placement, where you and the camera watching you are both put in the photo, then added to Flickr?

Telarus

Nice GASM idea. I like Cain's  addition as well. What about requesting the CCTV footage, afterwards? (I recently heard about a UK bank that performed in front of CCTV cams and then filed a FOI request to get the footage...Instant music video.)

You could make it a point to hit the same camera day after day with different products, and then request the footage. Might work better with gvmnt cams, as they has a bureaucratic proccess for requesting the footage.
Telarus, KSC,
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How would anyone get the idea that this isn't just another way of selling people shit?

How does this mock branding and surveillance society?
P E R   A S P E R A   A D   A S T R A

Cain

1.  It might depend on how it was presented.  If you had half a dozen pictures of the same people, promoting different items, in a single Flickr album, only the dullest would not catch on that this is probably not just marketing.

2.  Branding is meant to be, roughly speaking, making art indistinguisable from everyday life, with a slice of marketing on top.  However, it is meant to be noticed.  The surveillance society, on the other hand, is meant to be all-embracing, but is passive and ulilitarian.  Both are also seen as two faces of a systemic power structure, at least with more recognizable multinational brands.  Forcing the two messages into conjunction ("we don't trust you and want to watch you whereever we go" and "we love you and isn't life great, buy our stuff!") amuses at least me.

On the other hand, we could look at it another way.  Certain brands, especially those who are litigious in defence of their trademarks and copyrights are constantly trolling for attention, but smashing down those who try to compete (attempts by the british radio establishment to shut down Kiss Radio come to mind).  Turning the attention of surveillance society on those brands could be seen as a protest against a supposedly all powerful state that does nothing but promote those interests.  They want us to suffer under a limited market, a oligiopogy, so when their tools are turned on us, they should have to put up with the symbols of the same stale crap we do.

It needs more of a focus, maybe.  But I'm sure it can be refined, if a few people pitch certain angles we can take.

ñͤͣ̄ͦ̌̑͗͊͛͂͗ ̸̨̨̣̺̼̣̜͙͈͕̮̊̈́̈͂͛̽͊ͭ̓͆ͅé ̰̓̓́ͯ́́͞

#5
NWC presented this on the angle that security guards will reflect on it rather than just think someone is being goofy or hamming up their favorite brand. I think there needs to be a cue or maybe a parody slogan written in a large letters on a big white matte board or something. It could work.

I like how you recontextualized this, Cain, to make it a comment on corporate duplicity. By shifting the audience from the security wonk to the general public I can visualize a Banksy piece. A dude holding a sign with a stylized © with a fake smile in front of a surveillance camera with the same stylized © on it...

As far as nebulous ideas go this definitely is more fertile than I thought.

Makes me think we should do a IDEAGASM on one of these free collaborative mind-mapping programs. It would be a GASM for brainstorming embryonic ideas for GASMs. IDEAGASM could have "professional" accouterments like it's own logo, website, and letterhead, maybe even apply for nonprofit status, get some tax exemption, and (lol) get someone with the gall to ask private organizations for donations.

edit: free software must be free not just a free trial, damn you mindmeister, you were so promising
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Triple Zero

isnt the free trial fully functional?

also you can export the mindmaps.
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e-prime disclaimer: let it seem fairly unclear I understand the apparent subjectivity of the above statements. maybe.

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Quote from: triple zero on July 30, 2008, 04:34:23 PM
isnt the free trial fully functional?

also you can export the mindmaps.

Yeah but you only get like 6 maps and it's only good for a month.

:(
P E R   A S P E R A   A D   A S T R A

Triple Zero

only good for a month??? are you sure? cause i think the girl that's planning her final thesis on that thing wouldn't use it otherwise.

Ex-Soviet Bloc Sexual Attack Swede of Tomorrow™
e-prime disclaimer: let it seem fairly unclear I understand the apparent subjectivity of the above statements. maybe.

INFORMATION SO POWERFUL, YOU ACTUALLY NEED LESS.