This magazine was born out of a desire to break the spell that advertising has cast over our culture. We all fall under it to some degree. In North America advertisers spend $100-billion every year. The average TV viewer takes in 23 hours of programming each week - 4 1/2 hours of that intake is commercial advertising. How can it not affect us?
Advertising works like air pollution. We don't see the danger until it's upon us - and upon our environment. We North Amercians are only 6% of the people in the world, but we consume one-third of its resources and produce half the non-organic wastes. Advertising encourages this voracious consumption that has already caused irreparable ecological damage. It persuades us not to look at what we are doing - but at what we can buy next.
ADBUSTERS wants to expose the tricks of the ad trade and show you the subtle ways in which advertising affects our lives; how it shapes our children's personalities with 350,000 TV spots before they graduate from high school; how it defines sexuality with a steady flow of semi-pornographic and sexist images; and how it skews the democratic process at election time with "pre-packaged" candidates.
Yet, the power of television has enormous potential for good. ADBUSTERS introduces a new tool for our times: the alternative TV spot. Alternative TV messages - honest, direct, and simple - can profoundly influence our culture and our lives. They can bring new ideas and issues into public consciousness and shape our social agenda. They can be used for prodding corporations, industries and governments into new awareness and action. In these pages we propose several alternative ads that you can help produce and put on the air.
You will also be invited to join the MEDIA USER'S NETWORK and put your own cause on the agenda. Our goal is to give you the tools for creating your own ads. The "How To" section will show you how and serve as your network for connecting with other media activists.
In our premiere issue you will find in-depth articles on environmental, social and media issues. You'll read about the David-and-Goliath battle with corporate advertising that helped launch ADBUSTERS. (see story, Forests Forever? page 8)
We invite you to join us in redefining the way 12 minutes every hour of our TV time is used.
Kalle Lasn and Bill Schmalz
THE MEDIA FOUNDATION
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