Subvertising

Subvertising refers to the practice of making spoofs or parodies of corporate and political advertisements in order to make some sort of statement. Subvertising can take the form of a new image, or an alteration to an existing image. A subvertisement can also be referred to as meme hack and can be a part of social hacking or culture jamming.

A well produced ‘subvert’ should mimic the look and feel of the targeted ad – this causes the classic ‘double-take’ as viewers when they realize they have been fooled by the advertisement. Subverts create a cognitive dissonance on the part of the viewer. It cuts through the hype and glitz of our mediated reality.

The word subvertising is, of course, a combination of the words “subvert” and “advertising”. Therefore, the primary goal of subvertisements (subverts) is to successfully sabotage political candidates, political campaigns, public relations campaigns, corporations and other targets. One of the main ideas behind the concept is to incite change by presenting easily recognizable and understandable images that can be shocking and even disturbing in their honesty.

However, some people believe that subverts that are mockingly reminiscent of corporate or political symbols are simply giving those symbols undue publicity. People in this school of thought often argue that subverts serve no real purpose, and that, by bringing those icons forward in the public consciousness, subvertising in fact ends up supporting that which it was trying to destroy.