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Invasion of the culture jammers >> In 1995, the CBC signed a contract with the Vancouver-based Media Foundation (publishers of Adbusters magazine) to broadcast two 30-second spots of the latter's Autosaurus message, an "advertisement" which advocated the end of all automobiles. The CBC aired the message once, then refused to air it again. Last Wednesday, the two parties appeared before the British Columbia Court of Appeal--but the case was thrown out after half a day of hearings. Is the Media Foundation a blowhard or the vanguard? Below, Media Foundation President Kalle Lasn explains his "culture jamming" philosophy, while Lawyer Michael Dougherty explains the legal foundations of their court case.
Michael Dougherty >> We argued that the CBC's refusal to air the Autosaurus ad was not merely a breach of contract, but a breach of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. By denying the Media Foundation the opportunity to air the ad, they were denying the Foundation's freedom of expression as guaranteed in Section 2b of the Charter. There were two parts to our argument. First, we argued that the Charter had to apply to the CBC, because the CBC is a government body. Second, we argued that because the airwaves are owned by all Canadians, it in fact applies to all broadcasters. It's right there in the Broadcasting Act: broadcast airwaves are publicly owned, and the government, through the CRTC, leases them out to broadcasters. And the courts have said in the past that freedom of expression is protected on public property. Our case would not apply to print media, because nothing in the chain--from conception to production to distribution to consumption--is publicly owned. KL >> Television is the command centre of consumer culture, and we have to attack the problem at the very source. Culture jammers want to access that command centre and start sending out our own messages--start a new brainwave in the culture. Without that access, consumption messages will continue being sent out at the rate of every 12 to 15 minutes per hour. There's actually very little difference between the Autosaurus ad and any other ad on television. Over the last 20 years, product ads have evolved into corporate image ads, where what matters is the symbolism of the product, not the product itself. In advertising, the distinction between products and ideas is hazy. We want to broadcast our own ideas, but we can't. Right now, citizens have the right to access local community cable stations, and that's fine, I suppose, but I want the same rights as Chrysler or Toyota. If Toyota can go on the airwaves and say, "Buy a car," I want to be able to go on the airwaves and say, "Buy a bike instead." And I'm willing to pay for the air time. We own the airwaves, but we are being denied access to them. MD >> After arguing the case for most of the morning, we came back after lunch and the judges said, "We think your case might be moot." They gave me 15 minutes to prepare a response. I came back and said no, it wasn't moot, because the CBC had refused to air the ad, the Media Foundation still wanted to air it, the CBC was still in existence, the Broadcasting Act was still in effect--I didn't see where they were coming from. They went back and thought about it, came back out and said, "We find against you, your appeal is moot and we'll reveal our reasons later." And that was it. KL >> It was frustrating, because I went in completely prepared to lose the appeal and then take it all the way to the Supreme Court. Now things are much more complicated. They didn't rule against us; they dismissed the case for mootness. Now we're not sure whether we can actually appeal this case at all. We've tried to work with the broadcasters individually, to get them to air our messages. Ultimately, however, unless a court backs us up, we're stymied. Still, this is my dream: a free marketplace of ideas where everyone and their dog can walk in to their local station, plunk their money down on the table, buy their 30 seconds, and shake people out of their complacency. Let's have a free-for-all, because democracy is moribund. - Interviews by Philip Preville
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Kalle Lasn >> Our basic philosophy is that consumer culture is unsustainable, and we want to send that message to people directly. The whole activist tradition of the left doesn't work anymore--the kind that wants governments to pass more legislation and regulate everything. What culture jammers recognize is that corporations are now more powerful than governments, and that the activism has to be more direct. That's why we wanted to air the Autosaurus ad.