Jack Napier: Of course "they" are winning. As Pogo used to say "I have seen the enemy and he is us!" As a politically revolutionary concept (in the sense of making the world a more fair or livable place for the masses) altering Ad messages is not important in the least. If "billboard banditry" actually challenged the corporations control over their markets ($) they would track down each and every one of us and kill us like dogs. A really good improved board might get a few people laughing at Exxon or R.J. Reynolds or the Government but we will continue to pay our taxes, drink Coke and watch Survivor. As far as our "Manifesto" being perceived as an "anti-commercialism tract" well, heck we thought it was a parody. I guess we only got what we deserved for our feeble attempt at using irony as a communication tool.
The real cultural battle is with these goofy French post-modern "philosophers" who seem to have finally convinced America that being hit in the head with a brick is a purely a matter of opinion. They should pay more attention to their predecessors, the Existentialists. Just try telling some poor guy in Aushwitz that context is everything and the medium is the message! When the hell did we decide to let these guys dictate the nature of reality to us? What the heck are they talking about anyway? I understand that the Situationists could throw a mean street party and that is certainly a skill to be appreciated and valued. However, when it comes to establishing a view of the world and how we fit into it, we Americans should stick with "the Society of the Testicle" instead. And if the French get snotty about it, just remind them that their language will be dead in a few centuries!
Question #2 You mentioned that a lot of high school and college kids access your site and want to join BLF. Has there been more interest among young people in this kind of "jamming" recently? (put whatever time frame you want around it).
Jack Napier: We only do it for the kids, man! I do receive many requests to join the BLF from high school and college kids. I generally tell them to get a life. We are in our "middle years", we kind of smell bad, we don't know what the cool music is and we're as old as your fucking parent(s). I suggest that if a kid likes the billboard medium that he or she swipe any good ideas they can from us old farts, put together their own posse, go out and fuck shit up, and take credit for it themselves.
Question #3 You also said that you generally direct them to the "how to" section and hope they'll take what you've posted there in a new and creative direction. Have you noticed whether that's the case, that there's innovation...or whether there's basically a few folks who liberate billboards according to your model?
Jack Napier: In all truth, we are a bit proud of our How to Manual. It represents over twenty years of stupid mistakes, undeserved good luck and attempts to establish a genuinely professional attitude. We don't claim to know it all when it comes to this type of work but we have tried over the years, to raise the general standards in the field. Graphic overlays that do not damage the underlying billboard are one of our techniques. Media outreach for maximum exposure is a concept that we have always employed and encourage others to use. Effective ground security and escape planning are concepts we have taken seriously and council others to employ in their work. We hope that if we've had any influence in the field of outdoor advertising improvement that it has been to encourage the raising of technical standards and the finished quality of the work. Truly creative people in any field will always move beyond the ideas they swiped from others. Nothing is new under the sun. There is no new idea. It's all about style.
Question #4 Can you tell me a little more about your resistance to becoming the leader of a movement, ala what is happening with Adbusters?
Jack Napier: I am the leader of a minimum of one bowel Movement a day. The type of people who look around and think that they see a societal swell of some nature that might presage some eventual "movement" and jump in front of that swell with a banner are generally people not to be trusted. Even so, I guess that I and my associates at the BLF are fools for not cashing in on CULTURE JAMMING . while it's a hot property. I'm not saying that we won't eventually; a fellow has to make a living! We could manufacture BLF "T" shirts and caps. We could sell glossy manuals replete with photos and diagrams. We could lecture at universities and meet lots of college girls from the Hamptons and Newport Beach who sooo sincerely want to change the world!
We're all in this together, right? A story:
The BLF was invited to take part in the festivities in Seattle for the WTO thing a while back. Some contingent of organizers asked us if we would be interested in doing workshops and or maybe some finished work in Seattle. While talking to a young gal coordinator I asked what some of the other types of activities and sessions might be. She rattled off a list of more or less typical protest planning functions. At one point in this litany she said: ".... and there will be a car walking seminar and then of course we'll...." I stopped her, truly befuddled, and asked her to back up. "Car walking? What the heck is that?" and she said "Oh, you know, teaching people to like, properly walk on cars that are like on sidewalks, in intersections, you know." I was genuinely having a hard time grasping this concept and asked: ".you don't mean OTHER PEOPLE"S cars, do you?" "well, of course." she said. I suggested that she go home (Los Altos Hills) and walk on her parents Mercedes.
Question #5 This is kind of a repeat of the first question, but can you give me your assessment of HOW and IF people can successfully resist commercialism these days?
Jack Napier: Show me an American who will give up toilet paper for the rest of his/her life in order to save the life of an unseen/unknown infant in Mozambique or to stop the clear cutting of a virgin forest and I.ll show you either a saint or an idealistic middle/upper middle class white kid who will renege on the deal before they turn thirty. Corporations and the attendant commodification of everything are a fact of life that everyone has to deal with (unless they.re hypersensitive to a fault and rich enough to isolate themselves from the daily commercial grind). Until the emerging corporate oligarchy that has replaced monarchies, nationalist based imperialism and state sponsored socialism is in turn replaced by a new (hopefully not worse) form of collective bondage of the human mind and spirit, it.s the only game in town. For an individual or small group to pose any real threat to this dominant form of Control is to ask to be destroyed. You can make fun of them as long as you don.t threaten their money. Keeping your individual spirit and sense of humor despite this overwhelming (self) oppression is about the best thing you can hope for. Sharing this humor with others is a prank and, short of actually helping people less fortunate than you or uplifting the human spirit through the creation of genuine art, pranking is humanities highest calling. We at the BLF say: Prank Em.