triggerhappymedia

Israeli duo Vee Cee Creative are back again to spotlight an issue that hits them right where they live- the exorbitant cost of property in Tel Aviv.

Vee Cee were successful in getting noticed last year with their “Whores for Low Rent” project. They placed cardboard prostitutes around their neighborhood based on the idea that prostitution lowers property value and rental prices in an area. The problem with the campaign was that the artists did not also consider the serious causes and consequences of prostitution and sex trafficking.

So they decided to take a different approach. Dani from VeeCee writes:

“…the rising prices of rent, housing, land here in Israel brought us to make another thing (as you can see - it didn’t work - and we are still frustrated by the situation). We started selling land in boxes - to give a chance to everybody to be owners of land - and feel how it can be. Most people can’t afford to buy a piece of land with the insane prices here.”

The small containers of Israeli soil, guaranteed with a certificate of authenticity, are being sold in an actual shop and online. The fully functioning business is complete with storefront, product display, logo, website, blog, and T-shirts. All these elements work together with their slogan, and the message - that “everyone deserves to be a landowner”-is clear.

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Trigger: pieceofland.biz

Yet another reason to hate/boycott American Apparel- kudos to the defacer who wrote “Gee, I wonder why women get raped?” on this NYC billboard.
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Trigger/Site: Feministing

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Trigger: Uninsu(red) by Wendy Dembo
Site: Cool Hunting
Quote: “Last year when the Gap came out with their (red) campaign, the first word that popped into my head, was insu(red)/uninsu(red). They did a few kind of ironic shirts like bo(red) and ti(red), but I wondered why they didn’t make an uninsu(red) shirt.

With insurance looking like it’s going to be the touch point for the 2008 Presidential election, I thought that making these shirts could hopefully get some uninsured kids to think about their need for health insurance, perhaps even the need for universal health care.”

Nice culture jam in Union Square, NYC.

This fiberglass elephant seems to be an advertisement for an upcoming circus. But a closer look reveals that the elephant is chained to the ground and crying. The sign on her back reads “See Shackles, Bullhooks, Lonliness- All Under the Big Top”.

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Trigger/Site: PETA’s Ella the elephant, in Union Square until August 20th.
Quote: “In order to force elephants and other wild animals to perform stressful and often painful acts, trainers use sharp metal bullhooks, whips, muzzles, chains, and electric prods. PETA has amassed thousands of documents showing that circuses–including Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus and Cole Bros. Circus–are chronic violators of the minimum standards of the federal Animal Welfare Act.”

I heart a well-thought out culture jamming.

Much like an advertisement subtley plants an urge to consume in your mind, a culture jam is a reminder of a world of problems above and beyond your own.

For example, this Unicef campaign is calling for donations for earthquake victims in Kashmir. The twist: the sign is displayed in grocery store freezers where you’d normally expect a food advertisement.

I’d love to see this idea come to New York City next winter. The city already runs an ad calling for coat donations for the homeless. But the creative- a huddled and shivering Statue of Liberty- is dated.

Imagine an ad like Unicef’s placed casually in the freezer of your local supermarket. The effects could be diverse- whether it encourages you to donate, or to simply appreciate the bad day at the office that lets you pay for that microwaveable meal.

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Trigger: Creative Criminal

VeeCee Creative are the two Israeli artists who staged a protest against the high cost of renting a place to live in their neighborhood. The project features life-sized cut-outs of prostitutes placed on sidewalks and hanging out on street corners.

The artists’ rationale behind the project is as follows:

“The prices of rent in tel aviv has become extremely expensive- and we are pushed to pimp ourselves to find a decent apartment at a decent price. We brought the world best real estate polluters to tel aviv: the whore (prostitutes, hookers…). It is simple: more whores in your neighborhood = lower rent prices.”

At first glance the execution is clever, but the design is thoughtless. Alternative forms of protest, culture jamming, or the general use of art or media to draw attention to injustices can be admirable if done correctly. Protesting high rental prices at the expense of denigrating prostitution- an incredibly serious problem with real social consequences- is not admirable. Nor is it actually effective to advance one issue at the expense of another.

Is it funny to see cardboard cut-outs of prostitutes? What about the real women that have inspired these caricatures?

I challenge these artists for their next experimental piece to do something that denounces the global sex trade. They could use their creativity to raise awareness of the exploited young women and men from poorer countries who become prostitutes after leaving home under the false pretense of being offered legitimate work in a more prosperous country.

This would involve thinking outside of the frat-boy prank box. If they can do it, I hope to read about it in Adbusters.

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Trigger: Adbusters