10 mo. ago • 95%

Banksy on Advertising [Zen Pencils]

67 comments

But just when you think you are safe from advertisements on your niche technology forum.

The advertisements followed you here.

Telling you to buy the "Barbie" movie, now available on Blu-Ray.

A movie about rediscovering meaning in a meaningless, hypercommercialized world.

A movie about reappropriating an advertisement into a New Sincerity, free from despair.

And that's what I've been trying to tell you here for months.

82
- Thanks, Margot Robbie.
  
  39
  
  That's esteemed Academy Award nominated character actress Margot Robbie to you!
  
  43
- ...nobody's telling me to buy josie and the pussycats, though: seems like the safer bet...
  
  3
Did Banksy draw or write this? What's the connection?

EDIT: Here's an explanation from the artist who drew the comic:

This quote was taken from Banksy’s 2004 book Cut It Out. Some of the passage was inspired/appropriated from an essay by artist Sean Tejaratchi. I rearranged the last couple of sentences for this comic.

69
- You mean the banksy that just had a huge expo in Glasgow? That was advertised all over the place? That published a book this year that was actually copyrighted?
  
  That Banksy?
  
  29
  
  19 years and massive commercial success does that to you. I believe 2004 Banksy would describe that as being "a fucking sellout" or something.
  
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  I suppose I do. That's kind of disappointing.
  
  1
Guess I'm gonna go fuck up some ads now.

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- While the comic combined with the text has a bit of an edgy vibe, I agree with the overall message. Advertising was just decided upon to be an acceptable way to force people to look at whatever. And no, it's not always an option to "just don't look at it if you don't like it". I fucking hate those advertising TVs that get set up all over my city, they grab your attention even more than regular billboards.
  
  68
  
  Let's try that defense for public nudity. People can just choose to not look at it if they don't like it!
  
  43
  
  They've been putting those blinding boards all over the place where I live, I think they're supposed to dim at night but they're not properly maintained and fuck whoever thought putting super bright moving images right next to roads is safe and should be allowed.
  
  That shit is distracting as fuck
  
  10
  
  Straight up reads like a Tyler Durden quote.
  
  3
  
  Permanently Deleted
  
  1
- Fucking up ads with an ad blocker?! Noooo! If you don't like ads, then you should pay for the subscription to get rid of the ads!
  
  17
  
  I'll pay for all of the subscriptions required to not see ads when the companies I work for pay me enough money to afford it.
  
  Have you seen the prices on these subscription sites?
  
  Every single website you go to wants $20 a month to not show you ads, and for some all that will do is decrease the number of ads you are shown.
  
  If you cycle through the same 10 to 15 websites then that's $200 to $300 a month just to look at the internet that you're paying $100 a month to look at.
  
  8
  
  Nah, fuck ads.
  
  1
B-but according to lots of people we’re denying the content creators their revenue if we don’t stare at their ads like pathetic little sheep. Won’t somebody think of the advertisers???

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- Not my fault they decided to work in an exploitative field.
  
  Abolish slavery? But who will employ the slave masters?!
  
  20
  
  Not my fault they decided to work in an exploitative field.
  
  I thought that was every field under capitalism
  
  12
  
  Exactly! Whip cracking isn't what anyone could call a transferrable skill! They went to school for years to learn how to use it, it's all they know! If we get rid of slavery, their degrees go to waste!
  
  Learn to code, slaver!
  
  5
- Content creators aren't the enemy here, at least not the smaller scale ones. They often have no other sources of revenue.
  
  10
  
  wha? If you like someone’s content and are concerned about their income, give them a dollar.
  
  7
- Fuck em advertisers
  
  8
This is not readable for me, even when I open it in browser.

30
- People are taking the piss out of you everyday. They butt into your life, take a cheap shot at you and then disappear. They leer at you from tall buildings and make you feel small. They make flippant comments from buses that imply you're not sexy enough and that all the fun is happening somewhere else. They are on TV making your girlfriend feel inadequate. They have access to the most sophisticated technology the world has ever seen and they bully you with it. They are The Advertisers and they are laughing at you.
  
  You, however, are forbidden to touch them. Trademarks, intellectual property rights and copyright law mean advertisers can say what they like wherever they like with total impunity.
  
  Fuck that. Any advert in a public space that gives you no choice whether you see it or not is yours. It's yours to take, re-arrange and re-use. You can do whatever you like with it. Asking for permission is like asking to keep a rock someone just threw at your head.
  
  You owe the companies nothing. Less than nothing, you especially don't owe them any courtesy. They owe you. They have re-arranged the world to put themselves in front of you. They never asked for your permission, don't even start asking for theirs.
  
  35
  
  I had no idea I had read that much text in all those pictures.
  
  17
- Settings shortcut: Comment options > Autohide FAB
  
  Try turning this off
  
  30
  
  why did this work
  
  16
  
  That worked, thanks. Don't know what FAB is.
  
  12
  
  What is FAB?
  
  7
  
  Well, that worked.
  
  4
- It zooms in when I click on it. Are you on mobile?
  
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  I'm on mobile, works fine for me ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
  
  5
Corporations do nothing but take. They owe you.

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Honestly, this makes me feel good about my habit for peeling off / throwing away those little ad stickers and cards whenever I see them somewhere and people aren't looking.

It ain't much, but it's honest work.

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The issue is, people want to be owned. That makes then feel valuable and safe.

1
- Is this how we make our mitochondria feel?
  
  2
I'm not saying banksy is up is own ass. But it sure seems like he'd be able to plan a route there.

-1
The absolute cringe from the second to last panel

-9
- Points deducted for missing an opportunity to use the word penultimate.
  
  5
  
  Fuck, didn't even realize that
  
  2
Permanently Deleted

-9
- Yes, if you like living with people. Why is it OK for cities to be plastered with ads? It's been shown they are not necessary.
  
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- It was never about the city.
  
  14
- You completely missed the point
  
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  Permanently Deleted
  
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- City bad store good. Live in pisshole = worse storenprobably
  
  -2
I can see the headlines now. “This just in! Global advertising halted because of some shitty vandalism! World saved from crushing depressive corporatocracy!”

Yeah yeah. Fight the power.

I’m tired of fighting.

-29
- If you're "tired of fighting" it still costs you little to nothing to support those fighting, or at least not speak condescendingly about the fight they are fighting. Something about your comment tells me you weren't fighting much in the first place.
  
  30
  
  That boy's got a lot of quit in him
  
  18
- "Do not. There is no try."
  
  - thorbot
  
  13
- I’m tired of fighting.
  
  That's what every one of your enemies counts on.
  
  6
- Permanently Deleted
  
  1

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