A beginner’s guide to ad jamming

This is a web-adapted version of a zine I wrote earlier this year.

How advertising and overconsumption poisons your brain (and what you can do to resist it)

Advertising exists to generate dissatisfaction. That is its main aim. Ads are a multi-billion-dollar industry designed to stir up your desires so that you then spend more on stuff to ease that feeling.

Many, many studies show that exposing people to a lot of advertising raises their aspirations, which makes them feel that their own lives, achievements, belongings, and experiences are inadequate.

Maybe you already know that, or try not to think about it. So why am I writing this? Well, I used to be on the inside. I’m a former software marketer, now in recovery. Sharing this insider intel is part of my karmic penance.

I’m also a victim of advertising. I was served a bunch of Cerebral ads in the pandemic, which led to me getting misdiagnosed and prescribed an amphetamine. Guess what, it made my actual and undiagnosed condition much worse. All because I was served a bunch of promoted cute videos on TikTok! Cerebral got in trouble with the feds about giving out controlled substances like candy, but there are many many more advertisers getting away with more harm.

So what the hell can we do, in an oversaturated digital world designed to profit off of our attention?

Culture jamming and ad jamming

One solution is culture jamming, which is to “disrupt or subvert media culture and its mainstream cultural institutions.” (It’s why I like using LinkedIn as a medium to challenge capitalist growth norms and radicalize other people in persuasion industries!)?

Ad jamming falls under this definition and is a catch-all term for disrupting or subverting the role of advertising in your own life and in society.

Why ad jamming is important

“I’m barely paying attention when I see advertising, so it’s probably not harming me very much.”

Contemporary marketing techniques that link products with positive stimuli can elicit a preference for that product using non-conscious, non-rational means, and undermine consciously held attitudes.

In other words: Even if you’re ethically opposed to fast fashion and the exploitation of garment workers, ads can weaken your rational values and manipulate you into buying trendy clothes from a terrible brand.

“Who cares if I buy shampoo from an Instagram ad? I’m not hurting anyone when I buy stuff for fun.”

Overconsumption, especially in the US, is gobbling up the world. Sustaining the lifestyle of the average American has an ecological footprint of 9.5 hectares or about 10 baseball fields – while the worldwide average is 2.7 hectares.?

And if everybody in the world consumed resources at the rate people do in “Global North” countries, the equivalent of 3.3 earths would be needed to keep up with consumption levels. We don’t have 3 earths. We only get the one.

My tried and true methods for ad jamming

So have I convinced you to start “jamming” the effects of advertising in your life for the good of your brain and the planet? Awesome! Here are some tactics I use to turn down the noise.

• Skip ads whenever you’re given the option instead of letting them play in the background
• Cover your eyes or screen with your hand to literally obstruct your vision from seeing the ad
• During a commercial, turn away and breathe deeply – this can help calm or block out the emotional response that ads attempt to generate in you
• Cool crafts tip: Cut up mailers and flyers you receive without reading them first. Turn them into art!
• Remove audio from ads by muting, plugging your ears or turning the volume down low
• Or literally drown out ads with pure noise – hum, yell “blah blah blah” or sing over them
• Disarm ads by responding with gratitude and affirming statements. Try it out:

“I am grateful to already have a car that works”

“I don’t need that experience to be happy”

“I don’t have to buy that toy to be a good parent”

• Call out product placements when they are hidden in TV shows – actively mock the brand or close your eyes during a scene with branded imagery

Jam your ad jamming: Reduce your exposure

Take your ad jamming one step further and reduce the amount of ads you see in the first place. It’s totally wild that we are bombarded all day without our freely given consent. Here are a few ways to reduce ad frequency in your life.

• Use browser extensions like Ad Blocker Pro
• Report ads constantly – especially on Instagram. Marking ads “Not relevant to me” is a powerful way to keep the algorithm guessing about your interests and demographics. The less targeted your ads can be = the less they can manipulate you
• Unfollow as many brands, influencers and sponsored meme pages as you can
• Use the library to rent movies and watch shows without ads
• Go to optoutprescreen.com or call 1-888-5-OPT-OUT to remove yourself from mailing/call lists about credit offers or insurance (offered by the US Federal Trade Commission)
• Unsubscribe from marketing email lists - who cares if you miss a “sale” or “special offer”?
• Reduce your screen time in general* with digital wellbeing apps, switching your phone display to black and white, and social media blocker apps

*Yeah, yeah, I know I’m not your mom, and this is easier said than done, but all the scientists say we should stop looking at our phones and we usually get in trouble when we ignore them

God-tier ad jamming: Consume less in general

Consumerist culture is the byproduct of capitalist greed and endless, unsustainable economic growth. Think of ads as the gasoline that keeps the American Consumerism Hummer chugging down the highway. Ad jamming is great, but consuming less is even more fun!

• Identify ways your relationship with consumption or retail therapy is not working in your best interests. When you feel a need to purchase something non-essential, try to seek support from a friend or list out loud things you are grateful for. If you really need it, you’ll know.
• Avoid one-click shopping, which uses consumer psychology to manipulate your desire for instant gratification and reduces your ability to reflect on whether you actually need a product
• If you have to buy something, especially an appliance or electronics, try to buy used first
• Decide on the amount of money you want to spend at an event and bring it in cash. (Emotional events like concerts and festivals lower our ability to make rational decisions. This is how cults work.)
• Have easy bulk frozen meals like pizzas and sesame chicken at home to fulfill the post-work instant gratification you seek from fast food or delivery
• Get your whole family involved by doing secondhand-only gifts for your next gift-related holiday, if it’s a culturally appropriate substitute. Consumerism is not the only “real” way to care for your loved ones!

A parting note to burnt-out jammers

Don’t get caught up in guilt or exhaustion over any of this. It is really hard to afford to live right now, we are all overworked and underpaid, and you’re not a bad person for ingesting advertising and consuming products in order to survive or feel good.?

You’re rarely ever given the choice not to, and the amount of manipulative messages we are exposed to every single day is unprecedented in human history. There isn’t a “right” playbook for how to survive constant overstimulation and mental bombardment from advertising, and researchers are only just beginning to uncover the damage being done to our mental health and society at large.

Fighting back through ad jamming and being mindful of your consumption habits can help you reclaim a sense of personal agency, but resting and practicing self-forgiveness and kindness is just as important.

The point is: Your body and mind belong to you. Not a billboard on the side of a historical building, not Amazon re-order push notifications, not the YouTube ad you can't skip, not a targeted Instagram ad playing off your insecurities. You own you.

Further reading and resources

• Adbusters.org
• Adfreecities.org.uk
• "Culture Jamming: Hacking, Slashing and Sniping in the Empire of Signs"
• Advertising Shits in Your Head
• "Deserting the Digital Utopia"
• Brandalism
• The Ethical Move
• Clean Creatives
• Extinction Rebellion