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Cultural critic Mark Dery defined “culture jamming” as “Billboard bandits, pirate TV and radio broadcasters, media hoaxers, and other vernacular media wrenchers who intrude on the intruders, investing ads, newscasts, and other media artifacts with subversive meanings."(Associated Content) This consumer social movement was recently illustrated by The Simpson in an episode aired on October 12, 2010.

The Simpsons episodes are famous for its “couch gags” during the first few minutes of the episode. Its 21 seasons of “couch gags” were relatively short, simple and funny; however they took a turn during this episode. The couch gag created with the help of a graffiti artist from Britain named Banksy, opened up The Simpsons to culture jamming.

The association of child labour, worker abuse, environmental abuse and animal abuse took a stab at the dark side of the corporate world, taking the offensive side of consumer culture. The couch gag ended with the 20th Century Fox logo surrounded in barbed wire.

I personally watched this episode when it first aired and the first reaction to this couch gag was total shock. Most couch gags were funny, but not too funny, funny enough to put a smile on your face, but not to make you laugh out loud. This episode however made you think, made you hate, and took you to a side of the world you would rather not see.

Has The Simpsons taken a turn for the worst, by incorporating the strategies used by Banksy and other culture jamming techniques? I think this episode, however costly and disturbing still had a great result. This method of culture jamming would not only open the eyes of the young demographics that watch this show to the bad practices of the corporate world, but also stir controversy to raise its ratings. The Simpsons are always known for demonizing Fox in past episodes. But due to the changes in society today, including the “green revolution”, The Simpsons are simply just catching up with the times and are using more modern and informative ways to create humour.


 * Works Cited **

"Simpsons’ Opening a Suddenly Dark Turn | Daily Trojan." Daily Trojan | University of Southern California. Web. 04 Nov. 2010. < [] >.

"What Is Culture Jamming?" Associated Content - Associatedcontent.com. Web. 04 Nov. 2010. .