Adbusters magazine

Detournement- Hijacking or re-routing (culture jamming).

Culture Jamming- The practice of criticising and subverting advertising and consumerism in the mass media, by ethers such as producing advertisements parodying those of global brands. 

Adbusters magazine

Genre:
  • Not clear by looking at the front cover because each cover is different and theres no info on whats inside the magazine. 
  • Could be a parody because it makes fun of other people/ things.
  • Political (one magazine has a front cover of Donald Trump).

Conventions of adbusters:
  • The large picture in the middle of the title page.
  • The masthead is different in every magazine.
  • The barcode is placed in a different place every time, sometimes even in the middle of the page to show a message (e.g: the cover with a barcode on Trump's face to make him look more like Hitler).
  • They don't feature paid adverts.
Info: 
  • Only published six times a year.
  • Price: £10.99 (for 100+ pages). Its overpriced because it had no adverts.
  • Circulation: 120,000 readership worldwide.
  • Genre: independent/ campaigning/ culture jamming.
  • Its a not for-profit magazine. 

  • The masthead is bold, fading (binary opposition).
  • "Post- west" implies after Donald Trump, it could also be about after a war.
  • Theres a focus on the main image- the model takes up most of the space.
  • Darker colours implies the magazine is targeted towards males (stereotypically).
  • No barcode.
  • Theme could be political because of "post-west" and image of  the model wearing "war- like" clothes.
  • The cover suggests that war is a part of our culture and the man's expression implies that people like starting wars and they are exciting.
  • Mise-en-scene: Dirt over the masthead- destroying the magazines identity. Producers probably used a spray paint tool on photoshop, showing self vandalism and lack of compassion towards peoples opinion of them.
  • This magazine subverts many conventions.
  • Masthead is plain, white sans-serif font.
  • Black background (makes it different to other adbusters magazines which use a white background), to make it stand out. 
  • It also subverts codes of consumer/ lifestyle magazines, because the spray can effect makes it look dirty and the man on the cover screaming doesn't look appealing to most people. 
  • Title of the magazine is "POST- WEST." Its in the same white, sans serif font as the masthead, dominantly positioned in the lower third of the cover. 
  • Front cover lacks over conventions like price, barcode, content inside etc.
  • Hermeneutic code, meaning isn't clear- why is he screaming?
  • The cover is designed to challenge the audience due to lack of genre conventions like cover lines etc. 



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