Culture Jamming

Culture jamming is a form of consumer activism, undertaken by individuals or groups, that attempts to contest the ostensible predominance of commercially oriented, consumerist culture by exposing its contradictions and shortcomings. Culture jamming is conceptually inspired by the technique of electronically interfering with (i.e., “jamming”) radio or television broadcast signals for military or political purposes, and it comprises a variety of strategies and tactics. These include altering corporate or other institutional messages, products, and/or identities; parodying or satirizing corporate or other institutional communications, artifacts, and images; and otherwise appropriating or mimicking corporate or other institutional references or frames, usually in critique.

Credit for coining the term is generally given to the San Francisco–based performance/activist group Negativland, who first used it in a 1984 live radio broadcast ...