Your Sneakers, your iPhone or Your Life. Branding has never been hotter. Adults and children alike are targeted by ads and pressured by peers to buy the right clothes, the right toys and the right cars, and often pay extra for the privilege of being a walking advertisement. Many items have become worth killing for just for the logo.

 

Throughout the world, political artists are taking advantage of highly marketed advertising campaigns to bring diverse social causes to the forefront. An iPod ad becomes an image of torture in Abu Ghraib prison. Insecticide “Raid” becomes anti-immigrant spray “Fraid.” “Tony the Tiger” becomes “Frankentony.” Whether they are protesting the Viet Nam or Iraq wars, drawing our attention to sweatshop labor, or opposing the use of pesticides and genetically modified foods, these posters provide an alternative view of reality.

 

Funded in part by the Department of Cultural Affairs, City of Los Angeles and individual donors.

 

Note: Images appear in the order intended for exhibition display. Please contact us for more information on bringing an exhibition to your institution.

 

 

To view the full Subvertisements exhibition with annotations, browse the publication below. Use the toolbar to navigate between pages, view fullscreen, and search annotations for key words and phrases.