Capitalism is a core part of living in modern society. It is near impossible to exist without engaging in or participating in it. This hegemonic nature and its long-standing existence have convinced people that capitalism is the final evolution of economic systems. In addition, capitalism has ingrained itself into our political systems, and intertwined itself within the self-identity of our countries, further solidifying the idea that this is not only the best and most natural way for society to function, but it is the only way. But this idea is flawed. Capitalism is a widespread social construct. It is not inherently integral to the self-identity of any particular country, and it is neither perfect nor irreplaceable; thus, if it is not successfully achieving its goals or if those goals have become outdated, it can and should be replaced, or at the least altered (Second Thought, 2020; Wizinsky, 2022). My goal for this project is not only to question the structure of our economic society but also to bring to light the fragility of the idea that capitalism is inevitable or that it is an effective or positive way for our society to function. Widespread events like recessions, the housing crisis, the cost of living crisis, and the COVID-19 pandemic bring forward the idea that change needs to take place. This change is one that will take time and effort to make sure what replaces capitalism has a more democratic distribution of resources and the means of production. The first step in achieving this change is raising awareness that such a change is required or achievable. As the wealth gap between the top 1% and the average person widens, I want the public, particularly designers, to recognise that the mechanisms upon which modern society is founded are unsuitable and outdated and that we have the capacity and power to change them. Hence for my FMP I hope to target all general audiences, not just ones that are politically engaged. This is because if all people living in the modern world are subject to the systems of capitalism from birth, all people should also be made aware of its flaws. I also want to particularly focus on designers with the speculation element of my project in order to show them the impact of their role in preserving and/or creating the institutions that uphold capitalism. I hope to use my skills in branding, motion graphics, and video editing in order to create my final outcomes. Although these skills are not new to me, I am stepping out of my comfort zone by applying them to a project like this one. Designers and Capitalism Attempting to define the job of a “designer” can be difficult, as the practice of a designer is constantly expanding and evolving. We are surrounded by the creations of designers from many different fields, both old and new. But the constant across all these fields is that they all have a huge impact on our lives. Whether they are aware of this or not, they create the institutions that our society is built upon (Wizinsky, 2022). The work we do can have a widespread effect on millions of people all over the world. Unfortunately, under capitalism, the widespread effect is often reserved to serve the profit motive. We aim to etch our voices into the minds of consumers using our skills, just to end up saying, “Buy our stuff.” After researching the relationship between designers and capitalism and conducting a survey and interviews of my own with designers and design students, I found that designers, just like a large portion of the public, are often unaware of the economic or political impact of our work beyond the logics of capitalism (Wizinsky, 2022). We evaluate this impact by asking questions like “Did our profits increase?” or “Did this help the company grow?” but we fail to recognise that these questions are predicated on the idea that expansion in these areas is inherently positive. This dissonance between the authority we hold as decision-makers and our lack of awareness or control over the capitalist institutions we are actively endorsing can be frustrating. In the best cases, we are aware of our impact but are not able to challenge the status quo without risking our ability to put food on the table. In the worst cases, we are unintentionally or deliberately ignorant of our impact, either due to a lack of information/education or due to our unique privileges. Branding & Commodity Fetishism Branding is “the act of making a product, organisation, person, or place easy to recognize as different from others by connecting it with a particular name, design, symbol, set of qualities, etc” (Cambridge Dictionary, 2022). But in today’s world, the concept of branding has grown past the idea of loosely defined values and a recognizable logo. “Brands sell stories and make promises—of a better self-image, an improved appearance, more prestige, fulfillment, a healthier relationship to the world of brands, and so on” (Sturken and Cartwright, 2018, p. 272).  The focus of large corporations like Nike or Apple has progressively shifted more towards the marketing of their products, and less on their production. We are sold on the idea of a product and what that product represents, rather than the product itself. This can often create instances where these companies participate in “pseudoindividuality”. “Pseudoindividuality refers to the ways that cultural forms can define and interpellate viewer-consumer-users as individuals, when in fact they are selling homogeneous experiences” (Sturken and Cartwright, 2018). Apple sells the idea that its devices will allow their customers to express their individuality but the success of the company requires that they serve this same homogeneous idea of individuality to millions of customers. In Marxist theory, this “process of mystification that exists in capitalism between what things are and how they appear or what they mean to their users” (Sturken and Cartwright, 2018, p. 430) is known as Commodity Fetishism. “In commodity fetishism, exchange value supersedes use value so that things are valued not for what they do but for what they cost, how they look, and what connotations can be attached to them” (Sturken and Cartwright, 2018, p. 430). The main goal of good advertising is to empty a commodity of its inherent value and of how it was produced, and instead fill it with the new values assigned by a marketing team. The end user’s mind should be put as far away from how their products are made, or what even their products actually are, and should instead be on what those products, and in turn their brands, represent. This not only increases sales, but also allows the companies to more easily continue any unethical practices they might partake in, as the public’s attention is further skewed towards what the corporations want you to focus on instead.  Alienating the Worker and End User Potentially the most common flaw that anti-capitalist activists often repeat is how the capitalist system is built to separate individual workers from the means of producing goods/services. This idea comes from the Marxist theory of alienation. “In Marxism, alienation is a condition of capitalism in which humans experience a sense of separation from the products of their labour, hence from other aspects of life, including human relations” (Sturken and Cartwright, 2018, p. 426) This concept is one that explains the sense of existential dread, powerlessness and loneliness that we may feel as individuals, despite our society’s development and increased interdependence. The theory implies that alienation is inherent to the idea of capitalism, and a condition that it must fulfil. (Sturken and Cartwright, 2018; Øversveen, 2021) In addition to this, corporations capitalise on the worker’s separation from the means of production by exploiting their workers through unfair wages, unsafe working conditions, etc. These companies are often also the same large corporations that engage in commodity fetishization. In addition to this, companies have recently also started exploiting the dialogic loop of modern social media to personify themselves, further separating their brands from what they actually do. The leading example of this is Wendy’s use of Twitter, where they personify themselves as “the sassy friend that you can have lunch with”, rather than just a fast food chain. (Murthy, 2018; Baker, 2018) Capitalism and Activism The concept of selling ideas to consumers rather than just products is one that can go to very dark places, when those ideas are controversial or political ones. It is not uncommon today to see corporations taking a stance in political matters, but in our capitalist society these brands do not really have to believe in the ideas they are selling, as long as they are still fulfilling their end goal: to make profits. The perfect example of this is Nike’s push for women empowerment by featuring them in their advertising, back in 1978. But during this campaign, the female workers in the factories that made their shoes were put in horrible working conditions. (Sturken and Cartwright, 2018) The company was called out by Adbusters through the use of culture jamming, a concept I will explore further later in this essay. [FIG 4] Today, certain corporations have garnered support and built an audience, almost exclusively by focusing on selling ideas to such an extent, that their products are no longer the focus anymore. These corporations will often use people’s desire for identity in order to sell to them. (Klein, 2000) The perfect example of this is Alex Jones, and his coverage of “the war on christmas”. Alex Jones is an American right-wing conspiracy theorist who runs a show called “InfoWars”. In December of 2019 he, along with other right-wing media like Fox News started to sell the idea that the “woke left” were trying to get rid of christmas. Jones was exploiting the religious beliefs of his audience as he was aware that most of them were Christians. The points brought up and evidence provided in his coverage was weak and easily refutable (Harris Michael Brewis, 2020), but his fear-mongering was effective. He concludes the show by saying “the very same forces that have it out for christianity, have it out for InfoWars, and for you and your family”, following this up with a plea to go to InfoWars’ online store and  buy their products to help fund his show. The store sells incredibly expensive products like supplements and toothpaste, all branded with the InfoWars logo. This shows how corporations no longer have to simply take sides in political issues in order to sell more products, but have the capacity and power to manipulate public perception in order to create their own political issues that they can then use to make profits. InfoWars toothpaste isn’t a generic toothpaste with their logo put onto it, but is rather a way for the person who buys it to show that they are a patriotic Christian American that is fighting to preserve the freedoms their country provides them. Combating the Flaws of Capitalism It’s clear from previous sections that the goal of corporations is to distract us from their unethical practices in order to make their products more enticing. Hence, effectively combating the flaws of capitalism means that we must inform the public not only of the things the corporations don’t want them to know or think about, but also that these problems exist because of our capitalist system. But this is challenging as the brands that these corporations have built are so strong that when most people think of them their mind naturally goes to the ideas that they sell. For example when fans of Nintendo think of the company, they think of old nostalgic video games like Pokemon or Mario, not the company’s unfair and anti-consumer behaviour. However, designers and artists have found a way to not only subvert the pervasiveness of effective branding but also to utilise its recognizability to fight back against it through culture jamming. “Culture jamming is the practice of criticising and subverting advertising and consumerism in the mass media, by methods such as producing advertisements parodying those of global brands.” (Oxford Languages, 2023) It is an incredibly powerful practice as it utilises a form of parody that directly hijacks the success of an existing brand identity in order to convey a new message by associating that new message with that brand identity. Often this new message is one that criticises the original brand it is parodying. To find inspiration and direction for my own work I looked into multiple examples of anti-capitalist designs/artwork done by other artists, some of which utilised culture jamming very effectively, and some that found other effective ways to convey their message. Although I looked into many projects/campaigns like AdBusters, “Capitalism works for me!” by Steve Lambert, multiple projects from the Yes Men, posters from the Occupy Wall Street movement, and many others, I will focus on three examples that were the most significant inspiration for me. Barbra Kruger - I shop therefore I am It is impossible to discuss designers who have used their talents in activist capacities, without coming across Barbra Kruger. Her distinct style of Futura bold with sharp rectangles and her use of red and white colours is unique and iconic. In a way, these artistic decisions and her use of direct pronouns like “I” and “you” has become a brand identity of her own. Criticising our capitalist system is one of Kruger’s most well-known themes to address in her work, alongside the topic of feminism. One of her most popular pieces is one from 1987 known as “I shop therefore I am” [FIG 6]. The phrase is an alteration of a phrase from the French philosopher Rene Descartes, “I think therefore I am”. The original phrase aims to answer the question of “how do I know I exist?” by stating that if I have the ability to ask the question in the first place, then it must mean that I exist. Kruger twists this to attack society’s members who believe it’s necessary to supplant their own sense of worth with worldly possessions. She states that modern society believes that rather than more complex personal characteristics like accomplishments and individual ideas, people look to define themselves by their material belongings and social image instead. (Public Delivery, 2019) Channel 5 News/Repeat Stuff - Bo Burnham One of my biggest personal inspirations is Bo Burnham. His work often uses comedy and music to criticise elements of our modern society, in ways that don’t just spread his messages, but also entertain his audience. Although he is not a designer, but rather a comedian and musician, his work critiques industries that partake in unethical practices through the use of culture jamming, in similar ways to how I hope to do in my project. Both songs, “Channel 5 News” and “Repeat Stuff” are criticism of their respective industries; news media and pop music. Burnham mimics the tropes of both industries through the musical elements of his songs, while using the lyrics to bring to light the industry’s problems. “Repeat Stuff” also has a music video that parodies other pop artists’ music videos. Lines like “we tackle the flaws, in these obesity laws, in this segment that’s sponsored by Taco Bell” from Channel 5 News (2013) and “...Cashing in on puberty and low self-esteem, And girls’ desperate need to feel loved…” from Repeat Stuff (2013) clearly illustrate the direct nature of his criticism. What I find particularly note-worthy from both songs is how they hyperbolize the flaws of their respective industries. Burnham uses satanic motifs to clearly imply that the ones on top running these industries have dropped to satanic levels of exploitation and manipulation all in order to make more profits. This hyperbole makes the songs far more impactful, which is an effect I hope to replicate in the speculation element of my project. Brandalism “Brandalism” is a collective of activists, artists and designers that aim to “revolt against the corporate control of our culture and space.” (Brandalism, 2012) They utilise culture jamming to not only parody existing brand’s advertisements but also puts their work up in the same public spaces that large companies might. In doing so they not only help reclaim our public spaces from capitalist hegemony, but also bring to light the unethical practices of these companies. The perfect example of their work is their campaign against the 2015 “Conference of Parties”. The conference aimed to establish a global agreement to limit the emissions of further greenhouse gases, but was associated with many different companies attempting to greenwash their brands while continuing to contribute to rising temperatures with their own emissions. Brandalism put up 600 different “subvertisements” across Paris, the day before the talks were set to begin that directly used these brand’s identity to call them out on their contributions to climate change. Final Major Project Specialisation When breaking down the examples of what other designers have done using my earlier research, it was clear that they were making strides when it came to combating the problems of capitalism like alienation and commodity fetishization. Their work focused on bringing the information about the unethical ways that a company functions back to the forefront and heavily associating these unethical practices with their respective companies’ brands. But what I felt these past examples failed to tackle directly were two issues that I found to be almost unanimously present when conducting my own survey and interviews: pricing and accessibility of information. My results show that most people’s concern is a lack of time, energy or know-how to find unbiased information, and even when this information is available, it doesn’t influence their purchasing decisions, as their concern for ethics is eclipsed by their concern for price [FIG 13]. Even though over half of respondents stated that they take ethics into account when buying products [FIG 12], an overwhelming amount put “price” as their first priority, and “ethics” as their last, when asked to rank the following variables: price, convenience, speed, familiarity, and ethics [FIG 14]. I wanted to create a solution that tackled these issues and made ethics an important core part of being a successful brand. This is how I came to the idea for my solution “ergo sum” (the latin phrase for “therefore I am”, and the second half of “I shop therefore I am”) , an app that when used to scan a product either online or in person, will present you with a list of unethical practices that the product’s company partakes in. This information will be presented with that brand’s identity; using their colours, typeface, sounds, imagery, etc, therefore utilising culture jamming to associate these practices with the brand in the user’s mind. For more popular products and brands like iPhones or Cadbury Chocolates, there are animations and/or augmented reality elements that not only help the information stick in the user’s mind, but also make it shareable. The branding for the app itself is one that is distinct enough to be memorable, but can also fade into the background. Hence why it lacks colour and is inspired by the look of website wireframes, and other “brandless brands” like Muji. This is because I wanted the user’s focus to be on the brand of the products they scan. An important part of the app is how it also provides alternatives to the user that are from more ethical brands, that are either cheaper or similarly priced. With a large enough user base, this core function weaponizes the systems of capitalism against itself and combats greenwashing by making “being ethical” an important part of being a successful brand. Rather than undercutting their competition with lower prices, they could undercut them by having similar pricing, but conducting lesser or no unethical practices. An app like this may grow popular because users want to find more affordable alternatives to the things they want to buy as well as because they want to be more socially conscious about what they purchase. A widespread adoption can make it far easier to cut through the effects of commodity fetishization and manipulative business tactics. The app’s repeated use would make individuals more aware of the number of immoral practices that huge corporations are not only able to get away with, but encouraged to participate in under our capitalist system, due to their end goal always being to make more profits. Speculation Although my focus for my FMP has leaned a lot more towards the specialisation element, the speculation element is also important. My outcome for this project is a short video that utilises culture jamming to criticise a specific company and, in turn criticises capitalism. The company I chose for this is Nintendo as their strong branding is one that often hides unethical practices like their efforts towards union busting (Gach, 2022). Although my target audience for this element of my project is also the general public, I hope to have a particular focus on designers. It is also inevitable that the video is likely to resonate more with the gaming community, especially fans of Nintendo games. The video is split into 3 parts, the first seeming to be an advertisement for the “Nintendo Switch 2”. This section uses the colours, music, typeface, imagery, etc. that is unique to Nintendo’s brand, to make it seem like just another advertisement. But the next section of the video is almost identical to the first with its sequencing, but the words and footage touting the new features of the “Switch 2” have been replaced with direct call outs to the company’s unethical practices. This unexpected turn forces audiences to associate the company with not just its product but also its unfair practices, through the use of culture jamming. The third section of the video expands the focus to more than just Nintendo, and uses news clips and uncomfortable footage of companies doing unethical things to make the viewer feel an uneasy sense of dread. This short montage abruptly ends, with text on screen that directs these feelings of dread towards capitalism, and acts as a call to action to designers and all audiences to take a closer look at the flaws of the system we live in, and potentially use their skills to combat those flaws. Conclusion Both the speculation and specialisation elements of my project work together to bring attention to how broken our current capitalist society is. Seeing the negative impact that the desperate chase for profits has made on our society is troubling and incredibly frustrating. This frustration is what I channelled into my work in an attempt to raise awareness for the problems that plague our society due to the systems of capitalism. The slow gradual change towards a better more democratic society is sparked by an awareness that the change is necessary in the first place. Looking back at my work I feel it helps increase this awareness. In the future I hope to move my focus from using my work to address problems, to suggesting solutions; alterations or alternatives to capitalism that give the power back to the people. Capitalism is a core part of living in modern society. It is near impossible to exist without engaging in or participating in it. This hegemonic nature and its long-standing existence have convinced people that capitalism is the final evolution of economic systems. In addition, capitalism has ingrained itself into our political systems, and intertwined itself within the self-identity of our countries, further solidifying the idea that this is not only the best and most natural way for society to function, but it is the only way. But this idea is flawed. Capitalism is a widespread social construct. It is not inherently integral to the self-identity of any particular country, and it is neither perfect nor irreplaceable; thus, if it is not successfully achieving its goals or if those goals have become outdated, it can and should be replaced, or at the least altered (Second Thought, 2020; Wizinsky, 2022). My goal for this project is not only to question the structure of our economic society but also to bring to light the fragility of the idea that capitalism is inevitable or that it is an effective or positive way for our society to function. Widespread events like recessions, the housing crisis, the cost of living crisis, and the COVID-19 pandemic bring forward the idea that change needs to take place. This change is one that will take time and effort to make sure what replaces capitalism has a more democratic distribution of resources and the means of production. The first step in achieving this change is raising awareness that such a change is required or achievable. As the wealth gap between the top 1% and the average person widens, I want the public, particularly designers, to recognise that the mechanisms upon which modern society is founded are unsuitable and outdated and that we have the capacity and power to change them. Hence for my FMP I hope to target all general audiences, not just ones that are politically engaged. This is because if all people living in the modern world are subject to the systems of capitalism from birth, all people should also be made aware of its flaws. I also want to particularly focus on designers with the speculation element of my project in order to show them the impact of their role in preserving and/or creating the institutions that uphold capitalism. I hope to use my skills in branding, motion graphics, and video editing in order to create my final outcomes. Although these skills are not new to me, I am stepping out of my comfort zone by applying them to a project like this one. Designers and Capitalism Attempting to define the job of a “designer” can be difficult, as the practice of a designer is constantly expanding and evolving. We are surrounded by the creations of designers from many different fields, both old and new. But the constant across all these fields is that they all have a huge impact on our lives. Whether they are aware of this or not, they create the institutions that our society is built upon (Wizinsky, 2022). The work we do can have a widespread effect on millions of people all over the world. Unfortunately, under capitalism, the widespread effect is often reserved to serve the profit motive. We aim to etch our voices into the minds of consumers using our skills, just to end up saying, “Buy our stuff.” After researching the relationship between designers and capitalism and conducting a survey and interviews of my own with designers and design students, I found that designers, just like a large portion of the public, are often unaware of the economic or political impact of our work beyond the logics of capitalism (Wizinsky, 2022). We evaluate this impact by asking questions like “Did our profits increase?” or “Did this help the company grow?” but we fail to recognise that these questions are predicated on the idea that expansion in these areas is inherently positive. This dissonance between the authority we hold as decision-makers and our lack of awareness or control over the capitalist institutions we are actively endorsing can be frustrating. In the best cases, we are aware of our impact but are not able to challenge the status quo without risking our ability to put food on the table. In the worst cases, we are unintentionally or deliberately ignorant of our impact, either due to a lack of information/education or due to our unique privileges. Branding & Commodity Fetishism Branding is “the act of making a product, organisation, person, or place easy to recognize as different from others by connecting it with a particular name, design, symbol, set of qualities, etc” (Cambridge Dictionary, 2022). But in today’s world, the concept of branding has grown past the idea of loosely defined values and a recognizable logo. “Brands sell stories and make promises—of a better self-image, an improved appearance, more prestige, fulfillment, a healthier relationship to the world of brands, and so on” (Sturken and Cartwright, 2018, p. 272).  The focus of large corporations like Nike or Apple has progressively shifted more towards the marketing of their products, and less on their production. We are sold on the idea of a product and what that product represents, rather than the product itself. This can often create instances where these companies participate in “pseudoindividuality”. “Pseudoindividuality refers to the ways that cultural forms can define and interpellate viewer-consumer-users as individuals, when in fact they are selling homogeneous experiences” (Sturken and Cartwright, 2018). Apple sells the idea that its devices will allow their customers to express their individuality but the success of the company requires that they serve this same homogeneous idea of individuality to millions of customers. In Marxist theory, this “process of mystification that exists in capitalism between what things are and how they appear or what they mean to their users” (Sturken and Cartwright, 2018, p. 430) is known as Commodity Fetishism. “In commodity fetishism, exchange value supersedes use value so that things are valued not for what they do but for what they cost, how they look, and what connotations can be attached to them” (Sturken and Cartwright, 2018, p. 430). The main goal of good advertising is to empty a commodity of its inherent value and of how it was produced, and instead fill it with the new values assigned by a marketing team. The end user’s mind should be put as far away from how their products are made, or what even their products actually are, and should instead be on what those products, and in turn their brands, represent. This not only increases sales, but also allows the companies to more easily continue any unethical practices they might partake in, as the public’s attention is further skewed towards what the corporations want you to focus on instead.  Alienating the Worker and End User Potentially the most common flaw that anti-capitalist activists often repeat is how the capitalist system is built to separate individual workers from the means of producing goods/services. This idea comes from the Marxist theory of alienation. “In Marxism, alienation is a condition of capitalism in which humans experience a sense of separation from the products of their labour, hence from other aspects of life, including human relations” (Sturken and Cartwright, 2018, p. 426) This concept is one that explains the sense of existential dread, powerlessness and loneliness that we may feel as individuals, despite our society’s development and increased interdependence. The theory implies that alienation is inherent to the idea of capitalism, and a condition that it must fulfil. (Sturken and Cartwright, 2018; Øversveen, 2021) In addition to this, corporations capitalise on the worker’s separation from the means of production by exploiting their workers through unfair wages, unsafe working conditions, etc. These companies are often also the same large corporations that engage in commodity fetishization. In addition to this, companies have recently also started exploiting the dialogic loop of modern social media to personify themselves, further separating their brands from what they actually do. The leading example of this is Wendy’s use of Twitter, where they personify themselves as “the sassy friend that you can have lunch with”, rather than just a fast food chain. (Murthy, 2018; Baker, 2018) Capitalism and Activism The concept of selling ideas to consumers rather than just products is one that can go to very dark places, when those ideas are controversial or political ones. It is not uncommon today to see corporations taking a stance in political matters, but in our capitalist society these brands do not really have to believe in the ideas they are selling, as long as they are still fulfilling their end goal: to make profits. The perfect example of this is Nike’s push for women empowerment by featuring them in their advertising, back in 1978. But during this campaign, the female workers in the factories that made their shoes were put in horrible working conditions. (Sturken and Cartwright, 2018) The company was called out by Adbusters through the use of culture jamming, a concept I will explore further later in this essay. [FIG 4] Today, certain corporations have garnered support and built an audience, almost exclusively by focusing on selling ideas to such an extent, that their products are no longer the focus anymore. These corporations will often use people’s desire for identity in order to sell to them. (Klein, 2000) The perfect example of this is Alex Jones, and his coverage of “the war on christmas”. Alex Jones is an American right-wing conspiracy theorist who runs a show called “InfoWars”. In December of 2019 he, along with other right-wing media like Fox News started to sell the idea that the “woke left” were trying to get rid of christmas. Jones was exploiting the religious beliefs of his audience as he was aware that most of them were Christians. The points brought up and evidence provided in his coverage was weak and easily refutable (Harris Michael Brewis, 2020), but his fear-mongering was effective. He concludes the show by saying “the very same forces that have it out for christianity, have it out for InfoWars, and for you and your family”, following this up with a plea to go to InfoWars’ online store and  buy their products to help fund his show. The store sells incredibly expensive products like supplements and toothpaste, all branded with the InfoWars logo. This shows how corporations no longer have to simply take sides in political issues in order to sell more products, but have the capacity and power to manipulate public perception in order to create their own political issues that they can then use to make profits. InfoWars toothpaste isn’t a generic toothpaste with their logo put onto it, but is rather a way for the person who buys it to show that they are a patriotic Christian American that is fighting to preserve the freedoms their country provides them. Combating the Flaws of Capitalism It’s clear from previous sections that the goal of corporations is to distract us from their unethical practices in order to make their products more enticing. Hence, effectively combating the flaws of capitalism means that we must inform the public not only of the things the corporations don’t want them to know or think about, but also that these problems exist because of our capitalist system. But this is challenging as the brands that these corporations have built are so strong that when most people think of them their mind naturally goes to the ideas that they sell. For example when fans of Nintendo think of the company, they think of old nostalgic video games like Pokemon or Mario, not the company’s unfair and anti-consumer behaviour. However, designers and artists have found a way to not only subvert the pervasiveness of effective branding but also to utilise its recognizability to fight back against it through culture jamming. “Culture jamming is the practice of criticising and subverting advertising and consumerism in the mass media, by methods such as producing advertisements parodying those of global brands.” (Oxford Languages, 2023) It is an incredibly powerful practice as it utilises a form of parody that directly hijacks the success of an existing brand identity in order to convey a new message by associating that new message with that brand identity. Often this new message is one that criticises the original brand it is parodying. To find inspiration and direction for my own work I looked into multiple examples of anti-capitalist designs/artwork done by other artists, some of which utilised culture jamming very effectively, and some that found other effective ways to convey their message. Although I looked into many projects/campaigns like AdBusters, “Capitalism works for me!” by Steve Lambert, multiple projects from the Yes Men, posters from the Occupy Wall Street movement, and many others, I will focus on three examples that were the most significant inspiration for me. Barbra Kruger - I shop therefore I am It is impossible to discuss designers who have used their talents in activist capacities, without coming across Barbra Kruger. Her distinct style of Futura bold with sharp rectangles and her use of red and white colours is unique and iconic. In a way, these artistic decisions and her use of direct pronouns like “I” and “you” has become a brand identity of her own. Criticising our capitalist system is one of Kruger’s most well-known themes to address in her work, alongside the topic of feminism. One of her most popular pieces is one from 1987 known as “I shop therefore I am” [FIG 6]. The phrase is an alteration of a phrase from the French philosopher Rene Descartes, “I think therefore I am”. The original phrase aims to answer the question of “how do I know I exist?” by stating that if I have the ability to ask the question in the first place, then it must mean that I exist. Kruger twists this to attack society’s members who believe it’s necessary to supplant their own sense of worth with worldly possessions. She states that modern society believes that rather than more complex personal characteristics like accomplishments and individual ideas, people look to define themselves by their material belongings and social image instead. (Public Delivery, 2019) Channel 5 News/Repeat Stuff - Bo Burnham One of my biggest personal inspirations is Bo Burnham. His work often uses comedy and music to criticise elements of our modern society, in ways that don’t just spread his messages, but also entertain his audience. Although he is not a designer, but rather a comedian and musician, his work critiques industries that partake in unethical practices through the use of culture jamming, in similar ways to how I hope to do in my project. Both songs, “Channel 5 News” and “Repeat Stuff” are criticism of their respective industries; news media and pop music. Burnham mimics the tropes of both industries through the musical elements of his songs, while using the lyrics to bring to light the industry’s problems. “Repeat Stuff” also has a music video that parodies other pop artists’ music videos. Lines like “we tackle the flaws, in these obesity laws, in this segment that’s sponsored by Taco Bell” from Channel 5 News (2013) and “...Cashing in on puberty and low self-esteem, And girls’ desperate need to feel loved…” from Repeat Stuff (2013) clearly illustrate the direct nature of his criticism. What I find particularly note-worthy from both songs is how they hyperbolize the flaws of their respective industries. Burnham uses satanic motifs to clearly imply that the ones on top running these industries have dropped to satanic levels of exploitation and manipulation all in order to make more profits. This hyperbole makes the songs far more impactful, which is an effect I hope to replicate in the speculation element of my project. Brandalism “Brandalism” is a collective of activists, artists and designers that aim to “revolt against the corporate control of our culture and space.” (Brandalism, 2012) They utilise culture jamming to not only parody existing brand’s advertisements but also puts their work up in the same public spaces that large companies might. In doing so they not only help reclaim our public spaces from capitalist hegemony, but also bring to light the unethical practices of these companies. The perfect example of their work is their campaign against the 2015 “Conference of Parties”. The conference aimed to establish a global agreement to limit the emissions of further greenhouse gases, but was associated with many different companies attempting to greenwash their brands while continuing to contribute to rising temperatures with their own emissions. Brandalism put up 600 different “subvertisements” across Paris, the day before the talks were set to begin that directly used these brand’s identity to call them out on their contributions to climate change. Final Major Project Specialisation When breaking down the examples of what other designers have done using my earlier research, it was clear that they were making strides when it came to combating the problems of capitalism like alienation and commodity fetishization. Their work focused on bringing the information about the unethical ways that a company functions back to the forefront and heavily associating these unethical practices with their respective companies’ brands. But what I felt these past examples failed to tackle directly were two issues that I found to be almost unanimously present when conducting my own survey and interviews: pricing and accessibility of information. My results show that most people’s concern is a lack of time, energy or know-how to find unbiased information, and even when this information is available, it doesn’t influence their purchasing decisions, as their concern for ethics is eclipsed by their concern for price [FIG 13]. Even though over half of respondents stated that they take ethics into account when buying products [FIG 12], an overwhelming amount put “price” as their first priority, and “ethics” as their last, when asked to rank the following variables: price, convenience, speed, familiarity, and ethics [FIG 14]. I wanted to create a solution that tackled these issues and made ethics an important core part of being a successful brand. This is how I came to the idea for my solution “ergo sum” (the latin phrase for “therefore I am”, and the second half of “I shop therefore I am”) , an app that when used to scan a product either online or in person, will present you with a list of unethical practices that the product’s company partakes in. This information will be presented with that brand’s identity; using their colours, typeface, sounds, imagery, etc, therefore utilising culture jamming to associate these practices with the brand in the user’s mind. For more popular products and brands like iPhones or Cadbury Chocolates, there are animations and/or augmented reality elements that not only help the information stick in the user’s mind, but also make it shareable. The branding for the app itself is one that is distinct enough to be memorable, but can also fade into the background. Hence why it lacks colour and is inspired by the look of website wireframes, and other “brandless brands” like Muji. This is because I wanted the user’s focus to be on the brand of the products they scan. An important part of the app is how it also provides alternatives to the user that are from more ethical brands, that are either cheaper or similarly priced. With a large enough user base, this core function weaponizes the systems of capitalism against itself and combats greenwashing by making “being ethical” an important part of being a successful brand. Rather than undercutting their competition with lower prices, they could undercut them by having similar pricing, but conducting lesser or no unethical practices. An app like this may grow popular because users want to find more affordable alternatives to the things they want to buy as well as because they want to be more socially conscious about what they purchase. A widespread adoption can make it far easier to cut through the effects of commodity fetishization and manipulative business tactics. The app’s repeated use would make individuals more aware of the number of immoral practices that huge corporations are not only able to get away with, but encouraged to participate in under our capitalist system, due to their end goal always being to make more profits. Speculation Although my focus for my FMP has leaned a lot more towards the specialisation element, the speculation element is also important. My outcome for this project is a short video that utilises culture jamming to criticise a specific company and, in turn criticises capitalism. The company I chose for this is Nintendo as their strong branding is one that often hides unethical practices like their efforts towards union busting (Gach, 2022). Although my target audience for this element of my project is also the general public, I hope to have a particular focus on designers. It is also inevitable that the video is likely to resonate more with the gaming community, especially fans of Nintendo games. The video is split into 3 parts, the first seeming to be an advertisement for the “Nintendo Switch 2”. This section uses the colours, music, typeface, imagery, etc. that is unique to Nintendo’s brand, to make it seem like just another advertisement. But the next section of the video is almost identical to the first with its sequencing, but the words and footage touting the new features of the “Switch 2” have been replaced with direct call outs to the company’s unethical practices. This unexpected turn forces audiences to associate the company with not just its product but also its unfair practices, through the use of culture jamming. The third section of the video expands the focus to more than just Nintendo, and uses news clips and uncomfortable footage of companies doing unethical things to make the viewer feel an uneasy sense of dread. This short montage abruptly ends, with text on screen that directs these feelings of dread towards capitalism, and acts as a call to action to designers and all audiences to take a closer look at the flaws of the system we live in, and potentially use their skills to combat those flaws. Conclusion Both the speculation and specialisation elements of my project work together to bring attention to how broken our current capitalist society is. Seeing the negative impact that the desperate chase for profits has made on our society is troubling and incredibly frustrating. This frustration is what I channelled into my work in an attempt to raise awareness for the problems that plague our society due to the systems of capitalism. The slow gradual change towards a better more democratic society is sparked by an awareness that the change is necessary in the first place. Looking back at my work I feel it helps increase this awareness. In the future I hope to move my focus from using my work to address problems, to suggesting solutions; alterations or alternatives to capitalism that give the power back to the people. Capitalism is a core part of living in modern society. It is near impossible to exist without engaging in or participating in it. This hegemonic nature and its long-standing existence have convinced people that capitalism is the final evolution of economic systems. In addition, capitalism has ingrained itself into our political systems, and intertwined itself within the self-identity of our countries, further solidifying the idea that this is not only the best and most natural way for society to function, but it is the only way. But this idea is flawed. Capitalism is a widespread social construct. It is not inherently integral to the self-identity of any particular country, and it is neither perfect nor irreplaceable; thus, if it is not successfully achieving its goals or if those goals have become outdated, it can and should be replaced, or at the least altered (Second Thought, 2020; Wizinsky, 2022). My goal for this project is not only to question the structure of our economic society but also to bring to light the fragility of the idea that capitalism is inevitable or that it is an effective or positive way for our society to function. Widespread events like recessions, the housing crisis, the cost of living crisis, and the COVID-19 pandemic bring forward the idea that change needs to take place. This change is one that will take time and effort to make sure what replaces capitalism has a more democratic distribution of resources and the means of production. The first step in achieving this change is raising awareness that such a change is required or achievable. As the wealth gap between the top 1% and the average person widens, I want the public, particularly designers, to recognise that the mechanisms upon which modern society is founded are unsuitable and outdated and that we have the capacity and power to change them. Hence for my FMP I hope to target all general audiences, not just ones that are politically engaged. This is because if all people living in the modern world are subject to the systems of capitalism from birth, all people should also be made aware of its flaws. I also want to particularly focus on designers with the speculation element of my project in order to show them the impact of their role in preserving and/or creating the institutions that uphold capitalism. I hope to use my skills in branding, motion graphics, and video editing in order to create my final outcomes. Although these skills are not new to me, I am stepping out of my comfort zone by applying them to a project like this one. Designers and Capitalism Attempting to define the job of a “designer” can be difficult, as the practice of a designer is constantly expanding and evolving. We are surrounded by the creations of designers from many different fields, both old and new. But the constant across all these fields is that they all have a huge impact on our lives. Whether they are aware of this or not, they create the institutions that our society is built upon (Wizinsky, 2022). The work we do can have a widespread effect on millions of people all over the world. Unfortunately, under capitalism, the widespread effect is often reserved to serve the profit motive. We aim to etch our voices into the minds of consumers using our skills, just to end up saying, “Buy our stuff.” After researching the relationship between designers and capitalism and conducting a survey and interviews of my own with designers and design students, I found that designers, just like a large portion of the public, are often unaware of the economic or political impact of our work beyond the logics of capitalism (Wizinsky, 2022). We evaluate this impact by asking questions like “Did our profits increase?” or “Did this help the company grow?” but we fail to recognise that these questions are predicated on the idea that expansion in these areas is inherently positive. This dissonance between the authority we hold as decision-makers and our lack of awareness or control over the capitalist institutions we are actively endorsing can be frustrating. In the best cases, we are aware of our impact but are not able to challenge the status quo without risking our ability to put food on the table. In the worst cases, we are unintentionally or deliberately ignorant of our impact, either due to a lack of information/education or due to our unique privileges. Branding & Commodity Fetishism Branding is “the act of making a product, organisation, person, or place easy to recognize as different from others by connecting it with a particular name, design, symbol, set of qualities, etc” (Cambridge Dictionary, 2022). But in today’s world, the concept of branding has grown past the idea of loosely defined values and a recognizable logo. “Brands sell stories and make promises—of a better self-image, an improved appearance, more prestige, fulfillment, a healthier relationship to the world of brands, and so on” (Sturken and Cartwright, 2018, p. 272).  The focus of large corporations like Nike or Apple has progressively shifted more towards the marketing of their products, and less on their production. We are sold on the idea of a product and what that product represents, rather than the product itself. This can often create instances where these companies participate in “pseudoindividuality”. “Pseudoindividuality refers to the ways that cultural forms can define and interpellate viewer-consumer-users as individuals, when in fact they are selling homogeneous experiences” (Sturken and Cartwright, 2018). Apple sells the idea that its devices will allow their customers to express their individuality but the success of the company requires that they serve this same homogeneous idea of individuality to millions of customers. In Marxist theory, this “process of mystification that exists in capitalism between what things are and how they appear or what they mean to their users” (Sturken and Cartwright, 2018, p. 430) is known as Commodity Fetishism. “In commodity fetishism, exchange value supersedes use value so that things are valued not for what they do but for what they cost, how they look, and what connotations can be attached to them” (Sturken and Cartwright, 2018, p. 430). The main goal of good advertising is to empty a commodity of its inherent value and of how it was produced, and instead fill it with the new values assigned by a marketing team. The end user’s mind should be put as far away from how their products are made, or what even their products actually are, and should instead be on what those products, and in turn their brands, represent. This not only increases sales, but also allows the companies to more easily continue any unethical practices they might partake in, as the public’s attention is further skewed towards what the corporations want you to focus on instead.  Alienating the Worker and End User Potentially the most common flaw that anti-capitalist activists often repeat is how the capitalist system is built to separate individual workers from the means of producing goods/services. This idea comes from the Marxist theory of alienation. “In Marxism, alienation is a condition of capitalism in which humans experience a sense of separation from the products of their labour, hence from other aspects of life, including human relations” (Sturken and Cartwright, 2018, p. 426) This concept is one that explains the sense of existential dread, powerlessness and loneliness that we may feel as individuals, despite our society’s development and increased interdependence. The theory implies that alienation is inherent to the idea of capitalism, and a condition that it must fulfil. (Sturken and Cartwright, 2018; Øversveen, 2021) In addition to this, corporations capitalise on the worker’s separation from the means of production by exploiting their workers through unfair wages, unsafe working conditions, etc. These companies are often also the same large corporations that engage in commodity fetishization. In addition to this, companies have recently also started exploiting the dialogic loop of modern social media to personify themselves, further separating their brands from what they actually do. The leading example of this is Wendy’s use of Twitter, where they personify themselves as “the sassy friend that you can have lunch with”, rather than just a fast food chain. (Murthy, 2018; Baker, 2018) Capitalism and Activism The concept of selling ideas to consumers rather than just products is one that can go to very dark places, when those ideas are controversial or political ones. It is not uncommon today to see corporations taking a stance in political matters, but in our capitalist society these brands do not really have to believe in the ideas they are selling, as long as they are still fulfilling their end goal: to make profits. The perfect example of this is Nike’s push for women empowerment by featuring them in their advertising, back in 1978. But during this campaign, the female workers in the factories that made their shoes were put in horrible working conditions. (Sturken and Cartwright, 2018) The company was called out by Adbusters through the use of culture jamming, a concept I will explore further later in this essay. [FIG 4] Today, certain corporations have garnered support and built an audience, almost exclusively by focusing on selling ideas to such an extent, that their products are no longer the focus anymore. These corporations will often use people’s desire for identity in order to sell to them. (Klein, 2000) The perfect example of this is Alex Jones, and his coverage of “the war on christmas”. Alex Jones is an American right-wing conspiracy theorist who runs a show called “InfoWars”. In December of 2019 he, along with other right-wing media like Fox News started to sell the idea that the “woke left” were trying to get rid of christmas. Jones was exploiting the religious beliefs of his audience as he was aware that most of them were Christians. The points brought up and evidence provided in his coverage was weak and easily refutable (Harris Michael Brewis, 2020), but his fear-mongering was effective. He concludes the show by saying “the very same forces that have it out for christianity, have it out for InfoWars, and for you and your family”, following this up with a plea to go to InfoWars’ online store and  buy their products to help fund his show. The store sells incredibly expensive products like supplements and toothpaste, all branded with the InfoWars logo. This shows how corporations no longer have to simply take sides in political issues in order to sell more products, but have the capacity and power to manipulate public perception in order to create their own political issues that they can then use to make profits. InfoWars toothpaste isn’t a generic toothpaste with their logo put onto it, but is rather a way for the person who buys it to show that they are a patriotic Christian American that is fighting to preserve the freedoms their country provides them. Combating the Flaws of Capitalism It’s clear from previous sections that the goal of corporations is to distract us from their unethical practices in order to make their products more enticing. Hence, effectively combating the flaws of capitalism means that we must inform the public not only of the things the corporations don’t want them to know or think about, but also that these problems exist because of our capitalist system. But this is challenging as the brands that these corporations have built are so strong that when most people think of them their mind naturally goes to the ideas that they sell. For example when fans of Nintendo think of the company, they think of old nostalgic video games like Pokemon or Mario, not the company’s unfair and anti-consumer behaviour. However, designers and artists have found a way to not only subvert the pervasiveness of effective branding but also to utilise its recognizability to fight back against it through culture jamming. “Culture jamming is the practice of criticising and subverting advertising and consumerism in the mass media, by methods such as producing advertisements parodying those of global brands.” (Oxford Languages, 2023) It is an incredibly powerful practice as it utilises a form of parody that directly hijacks the success of an existing brand identity in order to convey a new message by associating that new message with that brand identity. Often this new message is one that criticises the original brand it is parodying. To find inspiration and direction for my own work I looked into multiple examples of anti-capitalist designs/artwork done by other artists, some of which utilised culture jamming very effectively, and some that found other effective ways to convey their message. Although I looked into many projects/campaigns like AdBusters, “Capitalism works for me!” by Steve Lambert, multiple projects from the Yes Men, posters from the Occupy Wall Street movement, and many others, I will focus on three examples that were the most significant inspiration for me. Barbra Kruger - I shop therefore I am It is impossible to discuss designers who have used their talents in activist capacities, without coming across Barbra Kruger. Her distinct style of Futura bold with sharp rectangles and her use of red and white colours is unique and iconic. In a way, these artistic decisions and her use of direct pronouns like “I” and “you” has become a brand identity of her own. Criticising our capitalist system is one of Kruger’s most well-known themes to address in her work, alongside the topic of feminism. One of her most popular pieces is one from 1987 known as “I shop therefore I am” [FIG 6]. The phrase is an alteration of a phrase from the French philosopher Rene Descartes, “I think therefore I am”. The original phrase aims to answer the question of “how do I know I exist?” by stating that if I have the ability to ask the question in the first place, then it must mean that I exist. Kruger twists this to attack society’s members who believe it’s necessary to supplant their own sense of worth with worldly possessions. She states that modern society believes that rather than more complex personal characteristics like accomplishments and individual ideas, people look to define themselves by their material belongings and social image instead. (Public Delivery, 2019) Channel 5 News/Repeat Stuff - Bo Burnham One of my biggest personal inspirations is Bo Burnham. His work often uses comedy and music to criticise elements of our modern society, in ways that don’t just spread his messages, but also entertain his audience. Although he is not a designer, but rather a comedian and musician, his work critiques industries that partake in unethical practices through the use of culture jamming, in similar ways to how I hope to do in my project. Both songs, “Channel 5 News” and “Repeat Stuff” are criticism of their respective industries; news media and pop music. Burnham mimics the tropes of both industries through the musical elements of his songs, while using the lyrics to bring to light the industry’s problems. “Repeat Stuff” also has a music video that parodies other pop artists’ music videos. Lines like “we tackle the flaws, in these obesity laws, in this segment that’s sponsored by Taco Bell” from Channel 5 News (2013) and “...Cashing in on puberty and low self-esteem, And girls’ desperate need to feel loved…” from Repeat Stuff (2013) clearly illustrate the direct nature of his criticism. What I find particularly note-worthy from both songs is how they hyperbolize the flaws of their respective industries. Burnham uses satanic motifs to clearly imply that the ones on top running these industries have dropped to satanic levels of exploitation and manipulation all in order to make more profits. This hyperbole makes the songs far more impactful, which is an effect I hope to replicate in the speculation element of my project. Brandalism “Brandalism” is a collective of activists, artists and designers that aim to “revolt against the corporate control of our culture and space.” (Brandalism, 2012) They utilise culture jamming to not only parody existing brand’s advertisements but also puts their work up in the same public spaces that large companies might. In doing so they not only help reclaim our public spaces from capitalist hegemony, but also bring to light the unethical practices of these companies. The perfect example of their work is their campaign against the 2015 “Conference of Parties”. The conference aimed to establish a global agreement to limit the emissions of further greenhouse gases, but was associated with many different companies attempting to greenwash their brands while continuing to contribute to rising temperatures with their own emissions. Brandalism put up 600 different “subvertisements” across Paris, the day before the talks were set to begin that directly used these brand’s identity to call them out on their contributions to climate change. Final Major Project Specialisation When breaking down the examples of what other designers have done using my earlier research, it was clear that they were making strides when it came to combating the problems of capitalism like alienation and commodity fetishization. Their work focused on bringing the information about the unethical ways that a company functions back to the forefront and heavily associating these unethical practices with their respective companies’ brands. But what I felt these past examples failed to tackle directly were two issues that I found to be almost unanimously present when conducting my own survey and interviews: pricing and accessibility of information. My results show that most people’s concern is a lack of time, energy or know-how to find unbiased information, and even when this information is available, it doesn’t influence their purchasing decisions, as their concern for ethics is eclipsed by their concern for price [FIG 13]. Even though over half of respondents stated that they take ethics into account when buying products [FIG 12], an overwhelming amount put “price” as their first priority, and “ethics” as their last, when asked to rank the following variables: price, convenience, speed, familiarity, and ethics [FIG 14]. I wanted to create a solution that tackled these issues and made ethics an important core part of being a successful brand. This is how I came to the idea for my solution “ergo sum” (the latin phrase for “therefore I am”, and the second half of “I shop therefore I am”) , an app that when used to scan a product either online or in person, will present you with a list of unethical practices that the product’s company partakes in. This information will be presented with that brand’s identity; using their colours, typeface, sounds, imagery, etc, therefore utilising culture jamming to associate these practices with the brand in the user’s mind. For more popular products and brands like iPhones or Cadbury Chocolates, there are animations and/or augmented reality elements that not only help the information stick in the user’s mind, but also make it shareable. The branding for the app itself is one that is distinct enough to be memorable, but can also fade into the background. Hence why it lacks colour and is inspired by the look of website wireframes, and other “brandless brands” like Muji. This is because I wanted the user’s focus to be on the brand of the products they scan. An important part of the app is how it also provides alternatives to the user that are from more ethical brands, that are either cheaper or similarly priced. With a large enough user base, this core function weaponizes the systems of capitalism against itself and combats greenwashing by making “being ethical” an important part of being a successful brand. Rather than undercutting their competition with lower prices, they could undercut them by having similar pricing, but conducting lesser or no unethical practices. An app like this may grow popular because users want to find more affordable alternatives to the things they want to buy as well as because they want to be more socially conscious about what they purchase. A widespread adoption can make it far easier to cut through the effects of commodity fetishization and manipulative business tactics. The app’s repeated use would make individuals more aware of the number of immoral practices that huge corporations are not only able to get away with, but encouraged to participate in under our capitalist system, due to their end goal always being to make more profits. Speculation Although my focus for my FMP has leaned a lot more towards the specialisation element, the speculation element is also important. My outcome for this project is a short video that utilises culture jamming to criticise a specific company and, in turn criticises capitalism. The company I chose for this is Nintendo as their strong branding is one that often hides unethical practices like their efforts towards union busting (Gach, 2022). Although my target audience for this element of my project is also the general public, I hope to have a particular focus on designers. It is also inevitable that the video is likely to resonate more with the gaming community, especially fans of Nintendo games. The video is split into 3 parts, the first seeming to be an advertisement for the “Nintendo Switch 2”. This section uses the colours, music, typeface, imagery, etc. that is unique to Nintendo’s brand, to make it seem like just another advertisement. But the next section of the video is almost identical to the first with its sequencing, but the words and footage touting the new features of the “Switch 2” have been replaced with direct call outs to the company’s unethical practices. This unexpected turn forces audiences to associate the company with not just its product but also its unfair practices, through the use of culture jamming. The third section of the video expands the focus to more than just Nintendo, and uses news clips and uncomfortable footage of companies doing unethical things to make the viewer feel an uneasy sense of dread. This short montage abruptly ends, with text on screen that directs these feelings of dread towards capitalism, and acts as a call to action to designers and all audiences to take a closer look at the flaws of the system we live in, and potentially use their skills to combat those flaws. Conclusion Both the speculation and specialisation elements of my project work together to bring attention to how broken our current capitalist society is. Seeing the negative impact that the desperate chase for profits has made on our society is troubling and incredibly frustrating. This frustration is what I channelled into my work in an attempt to raise awareness for the problems that plague our society due to the systems of capitalism. The slow gradual change towards a better more democratic society is sparked by an awareness that the change is necessary in the first place. Looking back at my work I feel it helps increase this awareness. In the future I hope to move my focus from using my work to address problems, to suggesting solutions; alterations or alternatives to capitalism that give the power back to the people. Capitalism is a core part of living in modern society. It is near impossible to exist without engaging in or participating in it. This hegemonic nature and its long-standing existence have convinced people that capitalism is the final evolution of economic systems. In addition, capitalism has ingrained itself into our political systems, and intertwined itself within the self-identity of our countries, further solidifying the idea that this is not only the best and most natural way for society to function, but it is the only way. But this idea is flawed. Capitalism is a widespread social construct. It is not inherently integral to the self-identity of any particular country, and it is neither perfect nor irreplaceable; thus, if it is not successfully achieving its goals or if those goals have become outdated, it can and should be replaced, or at the least altered (Second Thought, 2020; Wizinsky, 2022). My goal for this project is not only to question the structure of our economic society but also to bring to light the fragility of the idea that capitalism is inevitable or that it is an effective or positive way for our society to function. Widespread events like recessions, the housing crisis, the cost of living crisis, and the COVID-19 pandemic bring forward the idea that change needs to take place. This change is one that will take time and effort to make sure what replaces capitalism has a more democratic distribution of resources and the means of production. The first step in achieving this change is raising awareness that such a change is required or achievable. As the wealth gap between the top 1% and the average person widens, I want the public, particularly designers, to recognise that the mechanisms upon which modern society is founded are unsuitable and outdated and that we have the capacity and power to change them. Hence for my FMP I hope to target all general audiences, not just ones that are politically engaged. This is because if all people living in the modern world are subject to the systems of capitalism from birth, all people should also be made aware of its flaws. I also want to particularly focus on designers with the speculation element of my project in order to show them the impact of their role in preserving and/or creating the institutions that uphold capitalism. I hope to use my skills in branding, motion graphics, and video editing in order to create my final outcomes. Although these skills are not new to me, I am stepping out of my comfort zone by applying them to a project like this one. Designers and Capitalism Attempting to define the job of a “designer” can be difficult, as the practice of a designer is constantly expanding and evolving. We are surrounded by the creations of designers from many different fields, both old and new. But the constant across all these fields is that they all have a huge impact on our lives. Whether they are aware of this or not, they create the institutions that our society is built upon (Wizinsky, 2022). The work we do can have a widespread effect on millions of people all over the world. Unfortunately, under capitalism, the widespread effect is often reserved to serve the profit motive. We aim to etch our voices into the minds of consumers using our skills, just to end up saying, “Buy our stuff.” After researching the relationship between designers and capitalism and conducting a survey and interviews of my own with designers and design students, I found that designers, just like a large portion of the public, are often unaware of the economic or political impact of our work beyond the logics of capitalism (Wizinsky, 2022). We evaluate this impact by asking questions like “Did our profits increase?” or “Did this help the company grow?” but we fail to recognise that these questions are predicated on the idea that expansion in these areas is inherently positive. This dissonance between the authority we hold as decision-makers and our lack of awareness or control over the capitalist institutions we are actively endorsing can be frustrating. In the best cases, we are aware of our impact but are not able to challenge the status quo without risking our ability to put food on the table. In the worst cases, we are unintentionally or deliberately ignorant of our impact, either due to a lack of information/education or due to our unique privileges. Branding & Commodity Fetishism Branding is “the act of making a product, organisation, person, or place easy to recognize as different from others by connecting it with a particular name, design, symbol, set of qualities, etc” (Cambridge Dictionary, 2022). But in today’s world, the concept of branding has grown past the idea of loosely defined values and a recognizable logo. “Brands sell stories and make promises—of a better self-image, an improved appearance, more prestige, fulfillment, a healthier relationship to the world of brands, and so on” (Sturken and Cartwright, 2018, p. 272).  The focus of large corporations like Nike or Apple has progressively shifted more towards the marketing of their products, and less on their production. We are sold on the idea of a product and what that product represents, rather than the product itself. This can often create instances where these companies participate in “pseudoindividuality”. “Pseudoindividuality refers to the ways that cultural forms can define and interpellate viewer-consumer-users as individuals, when in fact they are selling homogeneous experiences” (Sturken and Cartwright, 2018). Apple sells the idea that its devices will allow their customers to express their individuality but the success of the company requires that they serve this same homogeneous idea of individuality to millions of customers. In Marxist theory, this “process of mystification that exists in capitalism between what things are and how they appear or what they mean to their users” (Sturken and Cartwright, 2018, p. 430) is known as Commodity Fetishism. “In commodity fetishism, exchange value supersedes use value so that things are valued not for what they do but for what they cost, how they look, and what connotations can be attached to them” (Sturken and Cartwright, 2018, p. 430). The main goal of good advertising is to empty a commodity of its inherent value and of how it was produced, and instead fill it with the new values assigned by a marketing team. The end user’s mind should be put as far away from how their products are made, or what even their products actually are, and should instead be on what those products, and in turn their brands, represent. This not only increases sales, but also allows the companies to more easily continue any unethical practices they might partake in, as the public’s attention is further skewed towards what the corporations want you to focus on instead.  Alienating the Worker and End User Potentially the most common flaw that anti-capitalist activists often repeat is how the capitalist system is built to separate individual workers from the means of producing goods/services. This idea comes from the Marxist theory of alienation. “In Marxism, alienation is a condition of capitalism in which humans experience a sense of separation from the products of their labour, hence from other aspects of life, including human relations” (Sturken and Cartwright, 2018, p. 426) This concept is one that explains the sense of existential dread, powerlessness and loneliness that we may feel as individuals, despite our society’s development and increased interdependence. The theory implies that alienation is inherent to the idea of capitalism, and a condition that it must fulfil. (Sturken and Cartwright, 2018; Øversveen, 2021) In addition to this, corporations capitalise on the worker’s separation from the means of production by exploiting their workers through unfair wages, unsafe working conditions, etc. These companies are often also the same large corporations that engage in commodity fetishization. In addition to this, companies have recently also started exploiting the dialogic loop of modern social media to personify themselves, further separating their brands from what they actually do. The leading example of this is Wendy’s use of Twitter, where they personify themselves as “the sassy friend that you can have lunch with”, rather than just a fast food chain. (Murthy, 2018; Baker, 2018) Capitalism and Activism The concept of selling ideas to consumers rather than just products is one that can go to very dark places, when those ideas are controversial or political ones. It is not uncommon today to see corporations taking a stance in political matters, but in our capitalist society these brands do not really have to believe in the ideas they are selling, as long as they are still fulfilling their end goal: to make profits. The perfect example of this is Nike’s push for women empowerment by featuring them in their advertising, back in 1978. But during this campaign, the female workers in the factories that made their shoes were put in horrible working conditions. (Sturken and Cartwright, 2018) The company was called out by Adbusters through the use of culture jamming, a concept I will explore further later in this essay. [FIG 4] Today, certain corporations have garnered support and built an audience, almost exclusively by focusing on selling ideas to such an extent, that their products are no longer the focus anymore. These corporations will often use people’s desire for identity in order to sell to them. (Klein, 2000) The perfect example of this is Alex Jones, and his coverage of “the war on christmas”. Alex Jones is an American right-wing conspiracy theorist who runs a show called “InfoWars”. In December of 2019 he, along with other right-wing media like Fox News started to sell the idea that the “woke left” were trying to get rid of christmas. Jones was exploiting the religious beliefs of his audience as he was aware that most of them were Christians. The points brought up and evidence provided in his coverage was weak and easily refutable (Harris Michael Brewis, 2020), but his fear-mongering was effective. He concludes the show by saying “the very same forces that have it out for christianity, have it out for InfoWars, and for you and your family”, following this up with a plea to go to InfoWars’ online store and  buy their products to help fund his show. The store sells incredibly expensive products like supplements and toothpaste, all branded with the InfoWars logo. This shows how corporations no longer have to simply take sides in political issues in order to sell more products, but have the capacity and power to manipulate public perception in order to create their own political issues that they can then use to make profits. InfoWars toothpaste isn’t a generic toothpaste with their logo put onto it, but is rather a way for the person who buys it to show that they are a patriotic Christian American that is fighting to preserve the freedoms their country provides them. Combating the Flaws of Capitalism It’s clear from previous sections that the goal of corporations is to distract us from their unethical practices in order to make their products more enticing. Hence, effectively combating the flaws of capitalism means that we must inform the public not only of the things the corporations don’t want them to know or think about, but also that these problems exist because of our capitalist system. But this is challenging as the brands that these corporations have built are so strong that when most people think of them their mind naturally goes to the ideas that they sell. For example when fans of Nintendo think of the company, they think of old nostalgic video games like Pokemon or Mario, not the company’s unfair and anti-consumer behaviour. However, designers and artists have found a way to not only subvert the pervasiveness of effective branding but also to utilise its recognizability to fight back against it through culture jamming. “Culture jamming is the practice of criticising and subverting advertising and consumerism in the mass media, by methods such as producing advertisements parodying those of global brands.” (Oxford Languages, 2023) It is an incredibly powerful practice as it utilises a form of parody that directly hijacks the success of an existing brand identity in order to convey a new message by associating that new message with that brand identity. Often this new message is one that criticises the original brand it is parodying. To find inspiration and direction for my own work I looked into multiple examples of anti-capitalist designs/artwork done by other artists, some of which utilised culture jamming very effectively, and some that found other effective ways to convey their message. Although I looked into many projects/campaigns like AdBusters, “Capitalism works for me!” by Steve Lambert, multiple projects from the Yes Men, posters from the Occupy Wall Street movement, and many others, I will focus on three examples that were the most significant inspiration for me. Barbra Kruger - I shop therefore I am It is impossible to discuss designers who have used their talents in activist capacities, without coming across Barbra Kruger. Her distinct style of Futura bold with sharp rectangles and her use of red and white colours is unique and iconic. In a way, these artistic decisions and her use of direct pronouns like “I” and “you” has become a brand identity of her own. Criticising our capitalist system is one of Kruger’s most well-known themes to address in her work, alongside the topic of feminism. One of her most popular pieces is one from 1987 known as “I shop therefore I am” [FIG 6]. The phrase is an alteration of a phrase from the French philosopher Rene Descartes, “I think therefore I am”. The original phrase aims to answer the question of “how do I know I exist?” by stating that if I have the ability to ask the question in the first place, then it must mean that I exist. Kruger twists this to attack society’s members who believe it’s necessary to supplant their own sense of worth with worldly possessions. She states that modern society believes that rather than more complex personal characteristics like accomplishments and individual ideas, people look to define themselves by their material belongings and social image instead. (Public Delivery, 2019) Channel 5 News/Repeat Stuff - Bo Burnham One of my biggest personal inspirations is Bo Burnham. His work often uses comedy and music to criticise elements of our modern society, in ways that don’t just spread his messages, but also entertain his audience. Although he is not a designer, but rather a comedian and musician, his work critiques industries that partake in unethical practices through the use of culture jamming, in similar ways to how I hope to do in my project. Both songs, “Channel 5 News” and “Repeat Stuff” are criticism of their respective industries; news media and pop music. Burnham mimics the tropes of both industries through the musical elements of his songs, while using the lyrics to bring to light the industry’s problems. “Repeat Stuff” also has a music video that parodies other pop artists’ music videos. Lines like “we tackle the flaws, in these obesity laws, in this segment that’s sponsored by Taco Bell” from Channel 5 News (2013) and “...Cashing in on puberty and low self-esteem, And girls’ desperate need to feel loved…” from Repeat Stuff (2013) clearly illustrate the direct nature of his criticism. What I find particularly note-worthy from both songs is how they hyperbolize the flaws of their respective industries. Burnham uses satanic motifs to clearly imply that the ones on top running these industries have dropped to satanic levels of exploitation and manipulation all in order to make more profits. This hyperbole makes the songs far more impactful, which is an effect I hope to replicate in the speculation element of my project. Brandalism “Brandalism” is a collective of activists, artists and designers that aim to “revolt against the corporate control of our culture and space.” (Brandalism, 2012) They utilise culture jamming to not only parody existing brand’s advertisements but also puts their work up in the same public spaces that large companies might. In doing so they not only help reclaim our public spaces from capitalist hegemony, but also bring to light the unethical practices of these companies. The perfect example of their work is their campaign against the 2015 “Conference of Parties”. The conference aimed to establish a global agreement to limit the emissions of further greenhouse gases, but was associated with many different companies attempting to greenwash their brands while continuing to contribute to rising temperatures with their own emissions. Brandalism put up 600 different “subvertisements” across Paris, the day before the talks were set to begin that directly used these brand’s identity to call them out on their contributions to climate change. Final Major Project Specialisation When breaking down the examples of what other designers have done using my earlier research, it was clear that they were making strides when it came to combating the problems of capitalism like alienation and commodity fetishization. Their work focused on bringing the information about the unethical ways that a company functions back to the forefront and heavily associating these unethical practices with their respective companies’ brands. But what I felt these past examples failed to tackle directly were two issues that I found to be almost unanimously present when conducting my own survey and interviews: pricing and accessibility of information. My results show that most people’s concern is a lack of time, energy or know-how to find unbiased information, and even when this information is available, it doesn’t influence their purchasing decisions, as their concern for ethics is eclipsed by their concern for price [FIG 13]. Even though over half of respondents stated that they take ethics into account when buying products [FIG 12], an overwhelming amount put “price” as their first priority, and “ethics” as their last, when asked to rank the following variables: price, convenience, speed, familiarity, and ethics [FIG 14]. I wanted to create a solution that tackled these issues and made ethics an important core part of being a successful brand. This is how I came to the idea for my solution “ergo sum” (the latin phrase for “therefore I am”, and the second half of “I shop therefore I am”) , an app that when used to scan a product either online or in person, will present you with a list of unethical practices that the product’s company partakes in. This information will be presented with that brand’s identity; using their colours, typeface, sounds, imagery, etc, therefore utilising culture jamming to associate these practices with the brand in the user’s mind. For more popular products and brands like iPhones or Cadbury Chocolates, there are animations and/or augmented reality elements that not only help the information stick in the user’s mind, but also make it shareable. The branding for the app itself is one that is distinct enough to be memorable, but can also fade into the background. Hence why it lacks colour and is inspired by the look of website wireframes, and other “brandless brands” like Muji. This is because I wanted the user’s focus to be on the brand of the products they scan. An important part of the app is how it also provides alternatives to the user that are from more ethical brands, that are either cheaper or similarly priced. With a large enough user base, this core function weaponizes the systems of capitalism against itself and combats greenwashing by making “being ethical” an important part of being a successful brand. Rather than undercutting their competition with lower prices, they could undercut them by having similar pricing, but conducting lesser or no unethical practices. An app like this may grow popular because users want to find more affordable alternatives to the things they want to buy as well as because they want to be more socially conscious about what they purchase. A widespread adoption can make it far easier to cut through the effects of commodity fetishization and manipulative business tactics. The app’s repeated use would make individuals more aware of the number of immoral practices that huge corporations are not only able to get away with, but encouraged to participate in under our capitalist system, due to their end goal always being to make more profits. Speculation Although my focus for my FMP has leaned a lot more towards the specialisation element, the speculation element is also important. My outcome for this project is a short video that utilises culture jamming to criticise a specific company and, in turn criticises capitalism. The company I chose for this is Nintendo as their strong branding is one that often hides unethical practices like their efforts towards union busting (Gach, 2022). Although my target audience for this element of my project is also the general public, I hope to have a particular focus on designers. It is also inevitable that the video is likely to resonate more with the gaming community, especially fans of Nintendo games. The video is split into 3 parts, the first seeming to be an advertisement for the “Nintendo Switch 2”. This section uses the colours, music, typeface, imagery, etc. that is unique to Nintendo’s brand, to make it seem like just another advertisement. But the next section of the video is almost identical to the first with its sequencing, but the words and footage touting the new features of the “Switch 2” have been replaced with direct call outs to the company’s unethical practices. This unexpected turn forces audiences to associate the company with not just its product but also its unfair practices, through the use of culture jamming. The third section of the video expands the focus to more than just Nintendo, and uses news clips and uncomfortable footage of companies doing unethical things to make the viewer feel an uneasy sense of dread. This short montage abruptly ends, with text on screen that directs these feelings of dread towards capitalism, and acts as a call to action to designers and all audiences to take a closer look at the flaws of the system we live in, and potentially use their skills to combat those flaws. Conclusion Both the speculation and specialisation elements of my project work together to bring attention to how broken our current capitalist society is. Seeing the negative impact that the desperate chase for profits has made on our society is troubling and incredibly frustrating. This frustration is what I channelled into my work in an attempt to raise awareness for the problems that plague our society due to the systems of capitalism. The slow gradual change towards a better more democratic society is sparked by an awareness that the change is necessary in the first place. Looking back at my work I feel it helps increase this awareness. In the future I hope to move my focus from using my work to address problems, to suggesting solutions; alterations or alternatives to capitalism that give the power back to the people. Capitalism is a core part of living in modern society. It is near impossible to exist without engaging in or participating in it. This hegemonic nature and its long-standing existence have convinced people that capitalism is the final evolution of economic systems. In addition, capitalism has ingrained itself into our political systems, and intertwined itself within the self-identity of our countries, further solidifying the idea that this is not only the best and most natural way for society to function, but it is the only way. But this idea is flawed. Capitalism is a widespread social construct. It is not inherently integral to the self-identity of any particular country, and it is neither perfect nor irreplaceable; thus, if it is not successfully achieving its goals or if those goals have become outdated, it can and should be replaced, or at the least altered (Second Thought, 2020; Wizinsky, 2022). My goal for this project is not only to question the structure of our economic society but also to bring to light the fragility of the idea that capitalism is inevitable or that it is an effective or positive way for our society to function. Widespread events like recessions, the housing crisis, the cost of living crisis, and the COVID-19 pandemic bring forward the idea that change needs to take place. This change is one that will take time and effort to make sure what replaces capitalism has a more democratic distribution of resources and the means of production. The first step in achieving this change is raising awareness that such a change is required or achievable. As the wealth gap between the top 1% and the average person widens, I want the public, particularly designers, to recognise that the mechanisms upon which modern society is founded are unsuitable and outdated and that we have the capacity and power to change them. Hence for my FMP I hope to target all general audiences, not just ones that are politically engaged. This is because if all people living in the modern world are subject to the systems of capitalism from birth, all people should also be made aware of its flaws. I also want to particularly focus on designers with the speculation element of my project in order to show them the impact of their role in preserving and/or creating the institutions that uphold capitalism. I hope to use my skills in branding, motion graphics, and video editing in order to create my final outcomes. Although these skills are not new to me, I am stepping out of my comfort zone by applying them to a project like this one. Designers and Capitalism Attempting to define the job of a “designer” can be difficult, as the practice of a designer is constantly expanding and evolving. We are surrounded by the creations of designers from many different fields, both old and new. But the constant across all these fields is that they all have a huge impact on our lives. Whether they are aware of this or not, they create the institutions that our society is built upon (Wizinsky, 2022). The work we do can have a widespread effect on millions of people all over the world. Unfortunately, under capitalism, the widespread effect is often reserved to serve the profit motive. We aim to etch our voices into the minds of consumers using our skills, just to end up saying, “Buy our stuff.” After researching the relationship between designers and capitalism and conducting a survey and interviews of my own with designers and design students, I found that designers, just like a large portion of the public, are often unaware of the economic or political impact of our work beyond the logics of capitalism (Wizinsky, 2022). We evaluate this impact by asking questions like “Did our profits increase?” or “Did this help the company grow?” but we fail to recognise that these questions are predicated on the idea that expansion in these areas is inherently positive. This dissonance between the authority we hold as decision-makers and our lack of awareness or control over the capitalist institutions we are actively endorsing can be frustrating. In the best cases, we are aware of our impact but are not able to challenge the status quo without risking our ability to put food on the table. In the worst cases, we are unintentionally or deliberately ignorant of our impact, either due to a lack of information/education or due to our unique privileges. Branding & Commodity Fetishism Branding is “the act of making a product, organisation, person, or place easy to recognize as different from others by connecting it with a particular name, design, symbol, set of qualities, etc” (Cambridge Dictionary, 2022). But in today’s world, the concept of branding has grown past the idea of loosely defined values and a recognizable logo. “Brands sell stories and make promises—of a better self-image, an improved appearance, more prestige, fulfillment, a healthier relationship to the world of brands, and so on” (Sturken and Cartwright, 2018, p. 272).  The focus of large corporations like Nike or Apple has progressively shifted more towards the marketing of their products, and less on their production. We are sold on the idea of a product and what that product represents, rather than the product itself. This can often create instances where these companies participate in “pseudoindividuality”. “Pseudoindividuality refers to the ways that cultural forms can define and interpellate viewer-consumer-users as individuals, when in fact they are selling homogeneous experiences” (Sturken and Cartwright, 2018). Apple sells the idea that its devices will allow their customers to express their individuality but the success of the company requires that they serve this same homogeneous idea of individuality to millions of customers. In Marxist theory, this “process of mystification that exists in capitalism between what things are and how they appear or what they mean to their users” (Sturken and Cartwright, 2018, p. 430) is known as Commodity Fetishism. “In commodity fetishism, exchange value supersedes use value so that things are valued not for what they do but for what they cost, how they look, and what connotations can be attached to them” (Sturken and Cartwright, 2018, p. 430). The main goal of good advertising is to empty a commodity of its inherent value and of how it was produced, and instead fill it with the new values assigned by a marketing team. The end user’s mind should be put as far away from how their products are made, or what even their products actually are, and should instead be on what those products, and in turn their brands, represent. This not only increases sales, but also allows the companies to more easily continue any unethical practices they might partake in, as the public’s attention is further skewed towards what the corporations want you to focus on instead.  Alienating the Worker and End User Potentially the most common flaw that anti-capitalist activists often repeat is how the capitalist system is built to separate individual workers from the means of producing goods/services. This idea comes from the Marxist theory of alienation. “In Marxism, alienation is a condition of capitalism in which humans experience a sense of separation from the products of their labour, hence from other aspects of life, including human relations” (Sturken and Cartwright, 2018, p. 426) This concept is one that explains the sense of existential dread, powerlessness and loneliness that we may feel as individuals, despite our society’s development and increased interdependence. The theory implies that alienation is inherent to the idea of capitalism, and a condition that it must fulfil. (Sturken and Cartwright, 2018; Øversveen, 2021) In addition to this, corporations capitalise on the worker’s separation from the means of production by exploiting their workers through unfair wages, unsafe working conditions, etc. These companies are often also the same large corporations that engage in commodity fetishization. In addition to this, companies have recently also started exploiting the dialogic loop of modern social media to personify themselves, further separating their brands from what they actually do. The leading example of this is Wendy’s use of Twitter, where they personify themselves as “the sassy friend that you can have lunch with”, rather than just a fast food chain. (Murthy, 2018; Baker, 2018) Capitalism and Activism The concept of selling ideas to consumers rather than just products is one that can go to very dark places, when those ideas are controversial or political ones. It is not uncommon today to see corporations taking a stance in political matters, but in our capitalist society these brands do not really have to believe in the ideas they are selling, as long as they are still fulfilling their end goal: to make profits. The perfect example of this is Nike’s push for women empowerment by featuring them in their advertising, back in 1978. But during this campaign, the female workers in the factories that made their shoes were put in horrible working conditions. (Sturken and Cartwright, 2018) The company was called out by Adbusters through the use of culture jamming, a concept I will explore further later in this essay. [FIG 4] Today, certain corporations have garnered support and built an audience, almost exclusively by focusing on selling ideas to such an extent, that their products are no longer the focus anymore. These corporations will often use people’s desire for identity in order to sell to them. (Klein, 2000) The perfect example of this is Alex Jones, and his coverage of “the war on christmas”. Alex Jones is an American right-wing conspiracy theorist who runs a show called “InfoWars”. In December of 2019 he, along with other right-wing media like Fox News started to sell the idea that the “woke left” were trying to get rid of christmas. Jones was exploiting the religious beliefs of his audience as he was aware that most of them were Christians. The points brought up and evidence provided in his coverage was weak and easily refutable (Harris Michael Brewis, 2020), but his fear-mongering was effective. He concludes the show by saying “the very same forces that have it out for christianity, have it out for InfoWars, and for you and your family”, following this up with a plea to go to InfoWars’ online store and  buy their products to help fund his show. The store sells incredibly expensive products like supplements and toothpaste, all branded with the InfoWars logo. This shows how corporations no longer have to simply take sides in political issues in order to sell more products, but have the capacity and power to manipulate public perception in order to create their own political issues that they can then use to make profits. InfoWars toothpaste isn’t a generic toothpaste with their logo put onto it, but is rather a way for the person who buys it to show that they are a patriotic Christian American that is fighting to preserve the freedoms their country provides them. Combating the Flaws of Capitalism It’s clear from previous sections that the goal of corporations is to distract us from their unethical practices in order to make their products more enticing. Hence, effectively combating the flaws of capitalism means that we must inform the public not only of the things the corporations don’t want them to know or think about, but also that these problems exist because of our capitalist system. But this is challenging as the brands that these corporations have built are so strong that when most people think of them their mind naturally goes to the ideas that they sell. For example when fans of Nintendo think of the company, they think of old nostalgic video games like Pokemon or Mario, not the company’s unfair and anti-consumer behaviour. However, designers and artists have found a way to not only subvert the pervasiveness of effective branding but also to utilise its recognizability to fight back against it through culture jamming. “Culture jamming is the practice of criticising and subverting advertising and consumerism in the mass media, by methods such as producing advertisements parodying those of global brands.” (Oxford Languages, 2023) It is an incredibly powerful practice as it utilises a form of parody that directly hijacks the success of an existing brand identity in order to convey a new message by associating that new message with that brand identity. Often this new message is one that criticises the original brand it is parodying. To find inspiration and direction for my own work I looked into multiple examples of anti-capitalist designs/artwork done by other artists, some of which utilised culture jamming very effectively, and some that found other effective ways to convey their message. Although I looked into many projects/campaigns like AdBusters, “Capitalism works for me!” by Steve Lambert, multiple projects from the Yes Men, posters from the Occupy Wall Street movement, and many others, I will focus on three examples that were the most significant inspiration for me. Barbra Kruger - I shop therefore I am It is impossible to discuss designers who have used their talents in activist capacities, without coming across Barbra Kruger. Her distinct style of Futura bold with sharp rectangles and her use of red and white colours is unique and iconic. In a way, these artistic decisions and her use of direct pronouns like “I” and “you” has become a brand identity of her own. Criticising our capitalist system is one of Kruger’s most well-known themes to address in her work, alongside the topic of feminism. One of her most popular pieces is one from 1987 known as “I shop therefore I am” [FIG 6]. The phrase is an alteration of a phrase from the French philosopher Rene Descartes, “I think therefore I am”. The original phrase aims to answer the question of “how do I know I exist?” by stating that if I have the ability to ask the question in the first place, then it must mean that I exist. Kruger twists this to attack society’s members who believe it’s necessary to supplant their own sense of worth with worldly possessions. She states that modern society believes that rather than more complex personal characteristics like accomplishments and individual ideas, people look to define themselves by their material belongings and social image instead. (Public Delivery, 2019) Channel 5 News/Repeat Stuff - Bo Burnham One of my biggest personal inspirations is Bo Burnham. His work often uses comedy and music to criticise elements of our modern society, in ways that don’t just spread his messages, but also entertain his audience. Although he is not a designer, but rather a comedian and musician, his work critiques industries that partake in unethical practices through the use of culture jamming, in similar ways to how I hope to do in my project. Both songs, “Channel 5 News” and “Repeat Stuff” are criticism of their respective industries; news media and pop music. Burnham mimics the tropes of both industries through the musical elements of his songs, while using the lyrics to bring to light the industry’s problems. “Repeat Stuff” also has a music video that parodies other pop artists’ music videos. Lines like “we tackle the flaws, in these obesity laws, in this segment that’s sponsored by Taco Bell” from Channel 5 News (2013) and “...Cashing in on puberty and low self-esteem, And girls’ desperate need to feel loved…” from Repeat Stuff (2013) clearly illustrate the direct nature of his criticism. What I find particularly note-worthy from both songs is how they hyperbolize the flaws of their respective industries. Burnham uses satanic motifs to clearly imply that the ones on top running these industries have dropped to satanic levels of exploitation and manipulation all in order to make more profits. This hyperbole makes the songs far more impactful, which is an effect I hope to replicate in the speculation element of my project. Brandalism “Brandalism” is a collective of activists, artists and designers that aim to “revolt against the corporate control of our culture and space.” (Brandalism, 2012) They utilise culture jamming to not only parody existing brand’s advertisements but also puts their work up in the same public spaces that large companies might. In doing so they not only help reclaim our public spaces from capitalist hegemony, but also bring to light the unethical practices of these companies. The perfect example of their work is their campaign against the 2015 “Conference of Parties”. The conference aimed to establish a global agreement to limit the emissions of further greenhouse gases, but was associated with many different companies attempting to greenwash their brands while continuing to contribute to rising temperatures with their own emissions. Brandalism put up 600 different “subvertisements” across Paris, the day before the talks were set to begin that directly used these brand’s identity to call them out on their contributions to climate change. Final Major Project Specialisation When breaking down the examples of what other designers have done using my earlier research, it was clear that they were making strides when it came to combating the problems of capitalism like alienation and commodity fetishization. Their work focused on bringing the information about the unethical ways that a company functions back to the forefront and heavily associating these unethical practices with their respective companies’ brands. But what I felt these past examples failed to tackle directly were two issues that I found to be almost unanimously present when conducting my own survey and interviews: pricing and accessibility of information. My results show that most people’s concern is a lack of time, energy or know-how to find unbiased information, and even when this information is available, it doesn’t influence their purchasing decisions, as their concern for ethics is eclipsed by their concern for price [FIG 13]. Even though over half of respondents stated that they take ethics into account when buying products [FIG 12], an overwhelming amount put “price” as their first priority, and “ethics” as their last, when asked to rank the following variables: price, convenience, speed, familiarity, and ethics [FIG 14]. I wanted to create a solution that tackled these issues and made ethics an important core part of being a successful brand. This is how I came to the idea for my solution “ergo sum” (the latin phrase for “therefore I am”, and the second half of “I shop therefore I am”) , an app that when used to scan a product either online or in person, will present you with a list of unethical practices that the product’s company partakes in. This information will be presented with that brand’s identity; using their colours, typeface, sounds, imagery, etc, therefore utilising culture jamming to associate these practices with the brand in the user’s mind. For more popular products and brands like iPhones or Cadbury Chocolates, there are animations and/or augmented reality elements that not only help the information stick in the user’s mind, but also make it shareable. The branding for the app itself is one that is distinct enough to be memorable, but can also fade into the background. Hence why it lacks colour and is inspired by the look of website wireframes, and other “brandless brands” like Muji. This is because I wanted the user’s focus to be on the brand of the products they scan. An important part of the app is how it also provides alternatives to the user that are from more ethical brands, that are either cheaper or similarly priced. With a large enough user base, this core function weaponizes the systems of capitalism against itself and combats greenwashing by making “being ethical” an important part of being a successful brand. Rather than undercutting their competition with lower prices, they could undercut them by having similar pricing, but conducting lesser or no unethical practices. An app like this may grow popular because users want to find more affordable alternatives to the things they want to buy as well as because they want to be more socially conscious about what they purchase. A widespread adoption can make it far easier to cut through the effects of commodity fetishization and manipulative business tactics. The app’s repeated use would make individuals more aware of the number of immoral practices that huge corporations are not only able to get away with, but encouraged to participate in under our capitalist system, due to their end goal always being to make more profits. Speculation Although my focus for my FMP has leaned a lot more towards the specialisation element, the speculation element is also important. My outcome for this project is a short video that utilises culture jamming to criticise a specific company and, in turn criticises capitalism. The company I chose for this is Nintendo as their strong branding is one that often hides unethical practices like their efforts towards union busting (Gach, 2022). Although my target audience for this element of my project is also the general public, I hope to have a particular focus on designers. It is also inevitable that the video is likely to resonate more with the gaming community, especially fans of Nintendo games. The video is split into 3 parts, the first seeming to be an advertisement for the “Nintendo Switch 2”. This section uses the colours, music, typeface, imagery, etc. that is unique to Nintendo’s brand, to make it seem like just another advertisement. But the next section of the video is almost identical to the first with its sequencing, but the words and footage touting the new features of the “Switch 2” have been replaced with direct call outs to the company’s unethical practices. This unexpected turn forces audiences to associate the company with not just its product but also its unfair practices, through the use of culture jamming. The third section of the video expands the focus to more than just Nintendo, and uses news clips and uncomfortable footage of companies doing unethical things to make the viewer feel an uneasy sense of dread. This short montage abruptly ends, with text on screen that directs these feelings of dread towards capitalism, and acts as a call to action to designers and all audiences to take a closer look at the flaws of the system we live in, and potentially use their skills to combat those flaws. Conclusion Both the speculation and specialisation elements of my project work together to bring attention to how broken our current capitalist society is. Seeing the negative impact that the desperate chase for profits has made on our society is troubling and incredibly frustrating. This frustration is what I channelled into my work in an attempt to raise awareness for the problems that plague our society due to the systems of capitalism. The slow gradual change towards a better more democratic society is sparked by an awareness that the change is necessary in the first place. Looking back at my work I feel it helps increase this awareness. In the future I hope to move my focus from using my work to address problems, to suggesting solutions; alterations or alternatives to capitalism that give the power back to the people. Capitalism is a core part of living in modern society. It is near impossible to exist without engaging in or participating in it. This hegemonic nature and its long-standing existence have convinced people that capitalism is the final evolution of economic systems. In addition, capitalism has ingrained itself into our political systems, and intertwined itself within the self-identity of our countries, further solidifying the idea that this is not only the best and most natural way for society to function, but it is the only way. But this idea is flawed. Capitalism is a widespread social construct. It is not inherently integral to the self-identity of any particular country, and it is neither perfect nor irreplaceable; thus, if it is not successfully achieving its goals or if those goals have become outdated, it can and should be replaced, or at the least altered (Second Thought, 2020; Wizinsky, 2022). My goal for this project is not only to question the structure of our economic society but also to bring to light the fragility of the idea that capitalism is inevitable or that it is an effective or positive way for our society to function. Widespread events like recessions, the housing crisis, the cost of living crisis, and the COVID-19 pandemic bring forward the idea that change needs to take place. This change is one that will take time and effort to make sure what replaces capitalism has a more democratic distribution of resources and the means of production. The first step in achieving this change is raising awareness that such a change is required or achievable. As the wealth gap between the top 1% and the average person widens, I want the public, particularly designers, to recognise that the mechanisms upon which modern society is founded are unsuitable and outdated and that we have the capacity and power to change them. Hence for my FMP I hope to target all general audiences, not just ones that are politically engaged. This is because if all people living in the modern world are subject to the systems of capitalism from birth, all people should also be made aware of its flaws. I also want to particularly focus on designers with the speculation element of my project in order to show them the impact of their role in preserving and/or creating the institutions that uphold capitalism. I hope to use my skills in branding, motion graphics, and video editing in order to create my final outcomes. Although these skills are not new to me, I am stepping out of my comfort zone by applying them to a project like this one. Designers and Capitalism Attempting to define the job of a “designer” can be difficult, as the practice of a designer is constantly expanding and evolving. We are surrounded by the creations of designers from many different fields, both old and new. But the constant across all these fields is that they all have a huge impact on our lives. Whether they are aware of this or not, they create the institutions that our society is built upon (Wizinsky, 2022). The work we do can have a widespread effect on millions of people all over the world. Unfortunately, under capitalism, the widespread effect is often reserved to serve the profit motive. We aim to etch our voices into the minds of consumers using our skills, just to end up saying, “Buy our stuff.” After researching the relationship between designers and capitalism and conducting a survey and interviews of my own with designers and design students, I found that designers, just like a large portion of the public, are often unaware of the economic or political impact of our work beyond the logics of capitalism (Wizinsky, 2022). We evaluate this impact by asking questions like “Did our profits increase?” or “Did this help the company grow?” but we fail to recognise that these questions are predicated on the idea that expansion in these areas is inherently positive. This dissonance between the authority we hold as decision-makers and our lack of awareness or control over the capitalist institutions we are actively endorsing can be frustrating. In the best cases, we are aware of our impact but are not able to challenge the status quo without risking our ability to put food on the table. In the worst cases, we are unintentionally or deliberately ignorant of our impact, either due to a lack of information/education or due to our unique privileges. Branding & Commodity Fetishism Branding is “the act of making a product, organisation, person, or place easy to recognize as different from others by connecting it with a particular name, design, symbol, set of qualities, etc” (Cambridge Dictionary, 2022). But in today’s world, the concept of branding has grown past the idea of loosely defined values and a recognizable logo. “Brands sell stories and make promises—of a better self-image, an improved appearance, more prestige, fulfillment, a healthier relationship to the world of brands, and so on” (Sturken and Cartwright, 2018, p. 272).  The focus of large corporations like Nike or Apple has progressively shifted more towards the marketing of their products, and less on their production. We are sold on the idea of a product and what that product represents, rather than the product itself. This can often create instances where these companies participate in “pseudoindividuality”. “Pseudoindividuality refers to the ways that cultural forms can define and interpellate viewer-consumer-users as individuals, when in fact they are selling homogeneous experiences” (Sturken and Cartwright, 2018). Apple sells the idea that its devices will allow their customers to express their individuality but the success of the company requires that they serve this same homogeneous idea of individuality to millions of customers. In Marxist theory, this “process of mystification that exists in capitalism between what things are and how they appear or what they mean to their users” (Sturken and Cartwright, 2018, p. 430) is known as Commodity Fetishism. “In commodity fetishism, exchange value supersedes use value so that things are valued not for what they do but for what they cost, how they look, and what connotations can be attached to them” (Sturken and Cartwright, 2018, p. 430). The main goal of good advertising is to empty a commodity of its inherent value and of how it was produced, and instead fill it with the new values assigned by a marketing team. The end user’s mind should be put as far away from how their products are made, or what even their products actually are, and should instead be on what those products, and in turn their brands, represent. This not only increases sales, but also allows the companies to more easily continue any unethical practices they might partake in, as the public’s attention is further skewed towards what the corporations want you to focus on instead.  Alienating the Worker and End User Potentially the most common flaw that anti-capitalist activists often repeat is how the capitalist system is built to separate individual workers from the means of producing goods/services. This idea comes from the Marxist theory of alienation. “In Marxism, alienation is a condition of capitalism in which humans experience a sense of separation from the products of their labour, hence from other aspects of life, including human relations” (Sturken and Cartwright, 2018, p. 426) This concept is one that explains the sense of existential dread, powerlessness and loneliness that we may feel as individuals, despite our society’s development and increased interdependence. The theory implies that alienation is inherent to the idea of capitalism, and a condition that it must fulfil. (Sturken and Cartwright, 2018; Øversveen, 2021) In addition to this, corporations capitalise on the worker’s separation from the means of production by exploiting their workers through unfair wages, unsafe working conditions, etc. These companies are often also the same large corporations that engage in commodity fetishization. In addition to this, companies have recently also started exploiting the dialogic loop of modern social media to personify themselves, further separating their brands from what they actually do. The leading example of this is Wendy’s use of Twitter, where they personify themselves as “the sassy friend that you can have lunch with”, rather than just a fast food chain. (Murthy, 2018; Baker, 2018) Capitalism and Activism The concept of selling ideas to consumers rather than just products is one that can go to very dark places, when those ideas are controversial or political ones. It is not uncommon today to see corporations taking a stance in political matters, but in our capitalist society these brands do not really have to believe in the ideas they are selling, as long as they are still fulfilling their end goal: to make profits. The perfect example of this is Nike’s push for women empowerment by featuring them in their advertising, back in 1978. But during this campaign, the female workers in the factories that made their shoes were put in horrible working conditions. (Sturken and Cartwright, 2018) The company was called out by Adbusters through the use of culture jamming, a concept I will explore further later in this essay. [FIG 4] Today, certain corporations have garnered support and built an audience, almost exclusively by focusing on selling ideas to such an extent, that their products are no longer the focus anymore. These corporations will often use people’s desire for identity in order to sell to them. (Klein, 2000) The perfect example of this is Alex Jones, and his coverage of “the war on christmas”. Alex Jones is an American right-wing conspiracy theorist who runs a show called “InfoWars”. In December of 2019 he, along with other right-wing media like Fox News started to sell the idea that the “woke left” were trying to get rid of christmas. Jones was exploiting the religious beliefs of his audience as he was aware that most of them were Christians. The points brought up and evidence provided in his coverage was weak and easily refutable (Harris Michael Brewis, 2020), but his fear-mongering was effective. He concludes the show by saying “the very same forces that have it out for christianity, have it out for InfoWars, and for you and your family”, following this up with a plea to go to InfoWars’ online store and  buy their products to help fund his show. The store sells incredibly expensive products like supplements and toothpaste, all branded with the InfoWars logo. This shows how corporations no longer have to simply take sides in political issues in order to sell more products, but have the capacity and power to manipulate public perception in order to create their own political issues that they can then use to make profits. InfoWars toothpaste isn’t a generic toothpaste with their logo put onto it, but is rather a way for the person who buys it to show that they are a patriotic Christian American that is fighting to preserve the freedoms their country provides them. Combating the Flaws of Capitalism It’s clear from previous sections that the goal of corporations is to distract us from their unethical practices in order to make their products more enticing. Hence, effectively combating the flaws of capitalism means that we must inform the public not only of the things the corporations don’t want them to know or think about, but also that these problems exist because of our capitalist system. But this is challenging as the brands that these corporations have built are so strong that when most people think of them their mind naturally goes to the ideas that they sell. For example when fans of Nintendo think of the company, they think of old nostalgic video games like Pokemon or Mario, not the company’s unfair and anti-consumer behaviour. However, designers and artists have found a way to not only subvert the pervasiveness of effective branding but also to utilise its recognizability to fight back against it through culture jamming. “Culture jamming is the practice of criticising and subverting advertising and consumerism in the mass media, by methods such as producing advertisements parodying those of global brands.” (Oxford Languages, 2023) It is an incredibly powerful practice as it utilises a form of parody that directly hijacks the success of an existing brand identity in order to convey a new message by associating that new message with that brand identity. Often this new message is one that criticises the original brand it is parodying. To find inspiration and direction for my own work I looked into multiple examples of anti-capitalist designs/artwork done by other artists, some of which utilised culture jamming very effectively, and some that found other effective ways to convey their message. Although I looked into many projects/campaigns like AdBusters, “Capitalism works for me!” by Steve Lambert, multiple projects from the Yes Men, posters from the Occupy Wall Street movement, and many others, I will focus on three examples that were the most significant inspiration for me. Barbra Kruger - I shop therefore I am It is impossible to discuss designers who have used their talents in activist capacities, without coming across Barbra Kruger. Her distinct style of Futura bold with sharp rectangles and her use of red and white colours is unique and iconic. In a way, these artistic decisions and her use of direct pronouns like “I” and “you” has become a brand identity of her own. Criticising our capitalist system is one of Kruger’s most well-known themes to address in her work, alongside the topic of feminism. One of her most popular pieces is one from 1987 known as “I shop therefore I am” [FIG 6]. The phrase is an alteration of a phrase from the French philosopher Rene Descartes, “I think therefore I am”. The original phrase aims to answer the question of “how do I know I exist?” by stating that if I have the ability to ask the question in the first place, then it must mean that I exist. Kruger twists this to attack society’s members who believe it’s necessary to supplant their own sense of worth with worldly possessions. She states that modern society believes that rather than more complex personal characteristics like accomplishments and individual ideas, people look to define themselves by their material belongings and social image instead. (Public Delivery, 2019) Channel 5 News/Repeat Stuff - Bo Burnham One of my biggest personal inspirations is Bo Burnham. His work often uses comedy and music to criticise elements of our modern society, in ways that don’t just spread his messages, but also entertain his audience. Although he is not a designer, but rather a comedian and musician, his work critiques industries that partake in unethical practices through the use of culture jamming, in similar ways to how I hope to do in my project. Both songs, “Channel 5 News” and “Repeat Stuff” are criticism of their respective industries; news media and pop music. Burnham mimics the tropes of both industries through the musical elements of his songs, while using the lyrics to bring to light the industry’s problems. “Repeat Stuff” also has a music video that parodies other pop artists’ music videos. Lines like “we tackle the flaws, in these obesity laws, in this segment that’s sponsored by Taco Bell” from Channel 5 News (2013) and “...Cashing in on puberty and low self-esteem, And girls’ desperate need to feel loved…” from Repeat Stuff (2013) clearly illustrate the direct nature of his criticism. What I find particularly note-worthy from both songs is how they hyperbolize the flaws of their respective industries. Burnham uses satanic motifs to clearly imply that the ones on top running these industries have dropped to satanic levels of exploitation and manipulation all in order to make more profits. This hyperbole makes the songs far more impactful, which is an effect I hope to replicate in the speculation element of my project. Brandalism “Brandalism” is a collective of activists, artists and designers that aim to “revolt against the corporate control of our culture and space.” (Brandalism, 2012) They utilise culture jamming to not only parody existing brand’s advertisements but also puts their work up in the same public spaces that large companies might. In doing so they not only help reclaim our public spaces from capitalist hegemony, but also bring to light the unethical practices of these companies. The perfect example of their work is their campaign against the 2015 “Conference of Parties”. The conference aimed to establish a global agreement to limit the emissions of further greenhouse gases, but was associated with many different companies attempting to greenwash their brands while continuing to contribute to rising temperatures with their own emissions. Brandalism put up 600 different “subvertisements” across Paris, the day before the talks were set to begin that directly used these brand’s identity to call them out on their contributions to climate change. Final Major Project Specialisation When breaking down the examples of what other designers have done using my earlier research, it was clear that they were making strides when it came to combating the problems of capitalism like alienation and commodity fetishization. Their work focused on bringing the information about the unethical ways that a company functions back to the forefront and heavily associating these unethical practices with their respective companies’ brands. But what I felt these past examples failed to tackle directly were two issues that I found to be almost unanimously present when conducting my own survey and interviews: pricing and accessibility of information. My results show that most people’s concern is a lack of time, energy or know-how to find unbiased information, and even when this information is available, it doesn’t influence their purchasing decisions, as their concern for ethics is eclipsed by their concern for price [FIG 13]. Even though over half of respondents stated that they take ethics into account when buying products [FIG 12], an overwhelming amount put “price” as their first priority, and “ethics” as their last, when asked to rank the following variables: price, convenience, speed, familiarity, and ethics [FIG 14]. I wanted to create a solution that tackled these issues and made ethics an important core part of being a successful brand. This is how I came to the idea for my solution “ergo sum” (the latin phrase for “therefore I am”, and the second half of “I shop therefore I am”) , an app that when used to scan a product either online or in person, will present you with a list of unethical practices that the product’s company partakes in. This information will be presented with that brand’s identity; using their colours, typeface, sounds, imagery, etc, therefore utilising culture jamming to associate these practices with the brand in the user’s mind. For more popular products and brands like iPhones or Cadbury Chocolates, there are animations and/or augmented reality elements that not only help the information stick in the user’s mind, but also make it shareable. The branding for the app itself is one that is distinct enough to be memorable, but can also fade into the background. Hence why it lacks colour and is inspired by the look of website wireframes, and other “brandless brands” like Muji. This is because I wanted the user’s focus to be on the brand of the products they scan. An important part of the app is how it also provides alternatives to the user that are from more ethical brands, that are either cheaper or similarly priced. With a large enough user base, this core function weaponizes the systems of capitalism against itself and combats greenwashing by making “being ethical” an important part of being a successful brand. Rather than undercutting their competition with lower prices, they could undercut them by having similar pricing, but conducting lesser or no unethical practices. An app like this may grow popular because users want to find more affordable alternatives to the things they want to buy as well as because they want to be more socially conscious about what they purchase. A widespread adoption can make it far easier to cut through the effects of commodity fetishization and manipulative business tactics. The app’s repeated use would make individuals more aware of the number of immoral practices that huge corporations are not only able to get away with, but encouraged to participate in under our capitalist system, due to their end goal always being to make more profits. Speculation Although my focus for my FMP has leaned a lot more towards the specialisation element, the speculation element is also important. My outcome for this project is a short video that utilises culture jamming to criticise a specific company and, in turn criticises capitalism. The company I chose for this is Nintendo as their strong branding is one that often hides unethical practices like their efforts towards union busting (Gach, 2022). Although my target audience for this element of my project is also the general public, I hope to have a particular focus on designers. It is also inevitable that the video is likely to resonate more with the gaming community, especially fans of Nintendo games. The video is split into 3 parts, the first seeming to be an advertisement for the “Nintendo Switch 2”. This section uses the colours, music, typeface, imagery, etc. that is unique to Nintendo’s brand, to make it seem like just another advertisement. But the next section of the video is almost identical to the first with its sequencing, but the words and footage touting the new features of the “Switch 2” have been replaced with direct call outs to the company’s unethical practices. This unexpected turn forces audiences to associate the company with not just its product but also its unfair practices, through the use of culture jamming. The third section of the video expands the focus to more than just Nintendo, and uses news clips and uncomfortable footage of companies doing unethical things to make the viewer feel an uneasy sense of dread. This short montage abruptly ends, with text on screen that directs these feelings of dread towards capitalism, and acts as a call to action to designers and all audiences to take a closer look at the flaws of the system we live in, and potentially use their skills to combat those flaws. Conclusion Both the speculation and specialisation elements of my project work together to bring attention to how broken our current capitalist society is. Seeing the negative impact that the desperate chase for profits has made on our society is troubling and incredibly frustrating. This frustration is what I channelled into my work in an attempt to raise awareness for the problems that plague our society due to the systems of capitalism. The slow gradual change towards a better more democratic society is sparked by an awareness that the change is necessary in the first place. Looking back at my work I feel it helps increase this awareness. In the future I hope to move my focus from using my work to address problems, to suggesting solutions; alterations or alternatives to capitalism that give the power back to the people. Capitalism is a core part of living in modern society. It is near impossible to exist without engaging in or participating in it. This hegemonic nature and its long-standing existence have convinced people that capitalism is the final evolution of economic systems. In addition, capitalism has ingrained itself into our political systems, and intertwined itself within the self-identity of our countries, further solidifying the idea that this is not only the best and most natural way for society to function, but it is the only way. But this idea is flawed. Capitalism is a widespread social construct. It is not inherently integral to the self-identity of any particular country, and it is neither perfect nor irreplaceable; thus, if it is not successfully achieving its goals or if those goals have become outdated, it can and should be replaced, or at the least altered (Second Thought, 2020; Wizinsky, 2022). My goal for this project is not only to question the structure of our economic society but also to bring to light the fragility of the idea that capitalism is inevitable or that it is an effective or positive way for our society to function. Widespread events like recessions, the housing crisis, the cost of living crisis, and the COVID-19 pandemic bring forward the idea that change needs to take place. This change is one that will take time and effort to make sure what replaces capitalism has a more democratic distribution of resources and the means of production. The first step in achieving this change is raising awareness that such a change is required or achievable. As the wealth gap between the top 1% and the average person widens, I want the public, particularly designers, to recognise that the mechanisms upon which modern society is founded are unsuitable and outdated and that we have the capacity and power to change them. Hence for my FMP I hope to target all general audiences, not just ones that are politically engaged. This is because if all people living in the modern world are subject to the systems of capitalism from birth, all people should also be made aware of its flaws. I also want to particularly focus on designers with the speculation element of my project in order to show them the impact of their role in preserving and/or creating the institutions that uphold capitalism. I hope to use my skills in branding, motion graphics, and video editing in order to create my final outcomes. Although these skills are not new to me, I am stepping out of my comfort zone by applying them to a project like this one. Designers and Capitalism Attempting to define the job of a “designer” can be difficult, as the practice of a designer is constantly expanding and evolving. We are surrounded by the creations of designers from many different fields, both old and new. But the constant across all these fields is that they all have a huge impact on our lives. Whether they are aware of this or not, they create the institutions that our society is built upon (Wizinsky, 2022). The work we do can have a widespread effect on millions of people all over the world. Unfortunately, under capitalism, the widespread effect is often reserved to serve the profit motive. We aim to etch our voices into the minds of consumers using our skills, just to end up saying, “Buy our stuff.” After researching the relationship between designers and capitalism and conducting a survey and interviews of my own with designers and design students, I found that designers, just like a large portion of the public, are often unaware of the economic or political impact of our work beyond the logics of capitalism (Wizinsky, 2022). We evaluate this impact by asking questions like “Did our profits increase?” or “Did this help the company grow?” but we fail to recognise that these questions are predicated on the idea that expansion in these areas is inherently positive. This dissonance between the authority we hold as decision-makers and our lack of awareness or control over the capitalist institutions we are actively endorsing can be frustrating. In the best cases, we are aware of our impact but are not able to challenge the status quo without risking our ability to put food on the table. In the worst cases, we are unintentionally or deliberately ignorant of our impact, either due to a lack of information/education or due to our unique privileges. Branding & Commodity Fetishism Branding is “the act of making a product, organisation, person, or place easy to recognize as different from others by connecting it with a particular name, design, symbol, set of qualities, etc” (Cambridge Dictionary, 2022). But in today’s world, the concept of branding has grown past the idea of loosely defined values and a recognizable logo. “Brands sell stories and make promises—of a better self-image, an improved appearance, more prestige, fulfillment, a healthier relationship to the world of brands, and so on” (Sturken and Cartwright, 2018, p. 272).  The focus of large corporations like Nike or Apple has progressively shifted more towards the marketing of their products, and less on their production. We are sold on the idea of a product and what that product represents, rather than the product itself. This can often create instances where these companies participate in “pseudoindividuality”. “Pseudoindividuality refers to the ways that cultural forms can define and interpellate viewer-consumer-users as individuals, when in fact they are selling homogeneous experiences” (Sturken and Cartwright, 2018). Apple sells the idea that its devices will allow their customers to express their individuality but the success of the company requires that they serve this same homogeneous idea of individuality to millions of customers. In Marxist theory, this “process of mystification that exists in capitalism between what things are and how they appear or what they mean to their users” (Sturken and Cartwright, 2018, p. 430) is known as Commodity Fetishism. “In commodity fetishism, exchange value supersedes use value so that things are valued not for what they do but for what they cost, how they look, and what connotations can be attached to them” (Sturken and Cartwright, 2018, p. 430). The main goal of good advertising is to empty a commodity of its inherent value and of how it was produced, and instead fill it with the new values assigned by a marketing team. The end user’s mind should be put as far away from how their products are made, or what even their products actually are, and should instead be on what those products, and in turn their brands, represent. This not only increases sales, but also allows the companies to more easily continue any unethical practices they might partake in, as the public’s attention is further skewed towards what the corporations want you to focus on instead.  Alienating the Worker and End User Potentially the most common flaw that anti-capitalist activists often repeat is how the capitalist system is built to separate individual workers from the means of producing goods/services. This idea comes from the Marxist theory of alienation. “In Marxism, alienation is a condition of capitalism in which humans experience a sense of separation from the products of their labour, hence from other aspects of life, including human relations” (Sturken and Cartwright, 2018, p. 426) This concept is one that explains the sense of existential dread, powerlessness and loneliness that we may feel as individuals, despite our society’s development and increased interdependence. The theory implies that alienation is inherent to the idea of capitalism, and a condition that it must fulfil. (Sturken and Cartwright, 2018; Øversveen, 2021) In addition to this, corporations capitalise on the worker’s separation from the means of production by exploiting their workers through unfair wages, unsafe working conditions, etc. These companies are often also the same large corporations that engage in commodity fetishization. In addition to this, companies have recently also started exploiting the dialogic loop of modern social media to personify themselves, further separating their brands from what they actually do. The leading example of this is Wendy’s use of Twitter, where they personify themselves as “the sassy friend that you can have lunch with”, rather than just a fast food chain. (Murthy, 2018; Baker, 2018) Capitalism and Activism The concept of selling ideas to consumers rather than just products is one that can go to very dark places, when those ideas are controversial or political ones. It is not uncommon today to see corporations taking a stance in political matters, but in our capitalist society these brands do not really have to believe in the ideas they are selling, as long as they are still fulfilling their end goal: to make profits. The perfect example of this is Nike’s push for women empowerment by featuring them in their advertising, back in 1978. But during this campaign, the female workers in the factories that made their shoes were put in horrible working conditions. (Sturken and Cartwright, 2018) The company was called out by Adbusters through the use of culture jamming, a concept I will explore further later in this essay. [FIG 4] Today, certain corporations have garnered support and built an audience, almost exclusively by focusing on selling ideas to such an extent, that their products are no longer the focus anymore. These corporations will often use people’s desire for identity in order to sell to them. (Klein, 2000) The perfect example of this is Alex Jones, and his coverage of “the war on christmas”. Alex Jones is an American right-wing conspiracy theorist who runs a show called “InfoWars”. In December of 2019 he, along with other right-wing media like Fox News started to sell the idea that the “woke left” were trying to get rid of christmas. Jones was exploiting the religious beliefs of his audience as he was aware that most of them were Christians. The points brought up and evidence provided in his coverage was weak and easily refutable (Harris Michael Brewis, 2020), but his fear-mongering was effective. He concludes the show by saying “the very same forces that have it out for christianity, have it out for InfoWars, and for you and your family”, following this up with a plea to go to InfoWars’ online store and  buy their products to help fund his show. The store sells incredibly expensive products like supplements and toothpaste, all branded with the InfoWars logo. This shows how corporations no longer have to simply take sides in political issues in order to sell more products, but have the capacity and power to manipulate public perception in order to create their own political issues that they can then use to make profits. InfoWars toothpaste isn’t a generic toothpaste with their logo put onto it, but is rather a way for the person who buys it to show that they are a patriotic Christian American that is fighting to preserve the freedoms their country provides them. Combating the Flaws of Capitalism It’s clear from previous sections that the goal of corporations is to distract us from their unethical practices in order to make their products more enticing. Hence, effectively combating the flaws of capitalism means that we must inform the public not only of the things the corporations don’t want them to know or think about, but also that these problems exist because of our capitalist system. But this is challenging as the brands that these corporations have built are so strong that when most people think of them their mind naturally goes to the ideas that they sell. For example when fans of Nintendo think of the company, they think of old nostalgic video games like Pokemon or Mario, not the company’s unfair and anti-consumer behaviour. However, designers and artists have found a way to not only subvert the pervasiveness of effective branding but also to utilise its recognizability to fight back against it through culture jamming. “Culture jamming is the practice of criticising and subverting advertising and consumerism in the mass media, by methods such as producing advertisements parodying those of global brands.” (Oxford Languages, 2023) It is an incredibly powerful practice as it utilises a form of parody that directly hijacks the success of an existing brand identity in order to convey a new message by associating that new message with that brand identity. Often this new message is one that criticises the original brand it is parodying. To find inspiration and direction for my own work I looked into multiple examples of anti-capitalist designs/artwork done by other artists, some of which utilised culture jamming very effectively, and some that found other effective ways to convey their message. Although I looked into many projects/campaigns like AdBusters, “Capitalism works for me!” by Steve Lambert, multiple projects from the Yes Men, posters from the Occupy Wall Street movement, and many others, I will focus on three examples that were the most significant inspiration for me. Barbra Kruger - I shop therefore I am It is impossible to discuss designers who have used their talents in activist capacities, without coming across Barbra Kruger. Her distinct style of Futura bold with sharp rectangles and her use of red and white colours is unique and iconic. In a way, these artistic decisions and her use of direct pronouns like “I” and “you” has become a brand identity of her own. Criticising our capitalist system is one of Kruger’s most well-known themes to address in her work, alongside the topic of feminism. One of her most popular pieces is one from 1987 known as “I shop therefore I am” [FIG 6]. The phrase is an alteration of a phrase from the French philosopher Rene Descartes, “I think therefore I am”. The original phrase aims to answer the question of “how do I know I exist?” by stating that if I have the ability to ask the question in the first place, then it must mean that I exist. Kruger twists this to attack society’s members who believe it’s necessary to supplant their own sense of worth with worldly possessions. She states that modern society believes that rather than more complex personal characteristics like accomplishments and individual ideas, people look to define themselves by their material belongings and social image instead. (Public Delivery, 2019) Channel 5 News/Repeat Stuff - Bo Burnham One of my biggest personal inspirations is Bo Burnham. His work often uses comedy and music to criticise elements of our modern society, in ways that don’t just spread his messages, but also entertain his audience. Although he is not a designer, but rather a comedian and musician, his work critiques industries that partake in unethical practices through the use of culture jamming, in similar ways to how I hope to do in my project. Both songs, “Channel 5 News” and “Repeat Stuff” are criticism of their respective industries; news media and pop music. Burnham mimics the tropes of both industries through the musical elements of his songs, while using the lyrics to bring to light the industry’s problems. “Repeat Stuff” also has a music video that parodies other pop artists’ music videos. Lines like “we tackle the flaws, in these obesity laws, in this segment that’s sponsored by Taco Bell” from Channel 5 News (2013) and “...Cashing in on puberty and low self-esteem, And girls’ desperate need to feel loved…” from Repeat Stuff (2013) clearly illustrate the direct nature of his criticism. What I find particularly note-worthy from both songs is how they hyperbolize the flaws of their respective industries. Burnham uses satanic motifs to clearly imply that the ones on top running these industries have dropped to satanic levels of exploitation and manipulation all in order to make more profits. This hyperbole makes the songs far more impactful, which is an effect I hope to replicate in the speculation element of my project. Brandalism “Brandalism” is a collective of activists, artists and designers that aim to “revolt against the corporate control of our culture and space.” (Brandalism, 2012) They utilise culture jamming to not only parody existing brand’s advertisements but also puts their work up in the same public spaces that large companies might. In doing so they not only help reclaim our public spaces from capitalist hegemony, but also bring to light the unethical practices of these companies. The perfect example of their work is their campaign against the 2015 “Conference of Parties”. The conference aimed to establish a global agreement to limit the emissions of further greenhouse gases, but was associated with many different companies attempting to greenwash their brands while continuing to contribute to rising temperatures with their own emissions. Brandalism put up 600 different “subvertisements” across Paris, the day before the talks were set to begin that directly used these brand’s identity to call them out on their contributions to climate change. Final Major Project Specialisation When breaking down the examples of what other designers have done using my earlier research, it was clear that they were making strides when it came to combating the problems of capitalism like alienation and commodity fetishization. Their work focused on bringing the information about the unethical ways that a company functions back to the forefront and heavily associating these unethical practices with their respective companies’ brands. But what I felt these past examples failed to tackle directly were two issues that I found to be almost unanimously present when conducting my own survey and interviews: pricing and accessibility of information. My results show that most people’s concern is a lack of time, energy or know-how to find unbiased information, and even when this information is available, it doesn’t influence their purchasing decisions, as their concern for ethics is eclipsed by their concern for price [FIG 13]. Even though over half of respondents stated that they take ethics into account when buying products [FIG 12], an overwhelming amount put “price” as their first priority, and “ethics” as their last, when asked to rank the following variables: price, convenience, speed, familiarity, and ethics [FIG 14]. I wanted to create a solution that tackled these issues and made ethics an important core part of being a successful brand. This is how I came to the idea for my solution “ergo sum” (the latin phrase for “therefore I am”, and the second half of “I shop therefore I am”) , an app that when used to scan a product either online or in person, will present you with a list of unethical practices that the product’s company partakes in. This information will be presented with that brand’s identity; using their colours, typeface, sounds, imagery, etc, therefore utilising culture jamming to associate these practices with the brand in the user’s mind. For more popular products and brands like iPhones or Cadbury Chocolates, there are animations and/or augmented reality elements that not only help the information stick in the user’s mind, but also make it shareable. The branding for the app itself is one that is distinct enough to be memorable, but can also fade into the background. Hence why it lacks colour and is inspired by the look of website wireframes, and other “brandless brands” like Muji. This is because I wanted the user’s focus to be on the brand of the products they scan. An important part of the app is how it also provides alternatives to the user that are from more ethical brands, that are either cheaper or similarly priced. With a large enough user base, this core function weaponizes the systems of capitalism against itself and combats greenwashing by making “being ethical” an important part of being a successful brand. Rather than undercutting their competition with lower prices, they could undercut them by having similar pricing, but conducting lesser or no unethical practices. An app like this may grow popular because users want to find more affordable alternatives to the things they want to buy as well as because they want to be more socially conscious about what they purchase. A widespread adoption can make it far easier to cut through the effects of commodity fetishization and manipulative business tactics. The app’s repeated use would make individuals more aware of the number of immoral practices that huge corporations are not only able to get away with, but encouraged to participate in under our capitalist system, due to their end goal always being to make more profits. Speculation Although my focus for my FMP has leaned a lot more towards the specialisation element, the speculation element is also important. My outcome for this project is a short video that utilises culture jamming to criticise a specific company and, in turn criticises capitalism. The company I chose for this is Nintendo as their strong branding is one that often hides unethical practices like their efforts towards union busting (Gach, 2022). Although my target audience for this element of my project is also the general public, I hope to have a particular focus on designers. It is also inevitable that the video is likely to resonate more with the gaming community, especially fans of Nintendo games. The video is split into 3 parts, the first seeming to be an advertisement for the “Nintendo Switch 2”. This section uses the colours, music, typeface, imagery, etc. that is unique to Nintendo’s brand, to make it seem like just another advertisement. But the next section of the video is almost identical to the first with its sequencing, but the words and footage touting the new features of the “Switch 2” have been replaced with direct call outs to the company’s unethical practices. This unexpected turn forces audiences to associate the company with not just its product but also its unfair practices, through the use of culture jamming. The third section of the video expands the focus to more than just Nintendo, and uses news clips and uncomfortable footage of companies doing unethical things to make the viewer feel an uneasy sense of dread. This short montage abruptly ends, with text on screen that directs these feelings of dread towards capitalism, and acts as a call to action to designers and all audiences to take a closer look at the flaws of the system we live in, and potentially use their skills to combat those flaws. Conclusion Both the speculation and specialisation elements of my project work together to bring attention to how broken our current capitalist society is. Seeing the negative impact that the desperate chase for profits has made on our society is troubling and incredibly frustrating. This frustration is what I channelled into my work in an attempt to raise awareness for the problems that plague our society due to the systems of capitalism. The slow gradual change towards a better more democratic society is sparked by an awareness that the change is necessary in the first place. Looking back at my work I feel it helps increase this awareness. In the future I hope to move my focus from using my work to address problems, to suggesting solutions; alterations or alternatives to capitalism that give the power back to the people. Capitalism is a core part of living in modern society. It is near impossible to exist without engaging in or participating in it. This hegemonic nature and its long-standing existence have convinced people that capitalism is the final evolution of economic systems. In addition, capitalism has ingrained itself into our political systems, and intertwined itself within the self-identity of our countries, further solidifying the idea that this is not only the best and most natural way for society to function, but it is the only way. But this idea is flawed. Capitalism is a widespread social construct. It is not inherently integral to the self-identity of any particular country, and it is neither perfect nor irreplaceable; thus, if it is not successfully achieving its goals or if those goals have become outdated, it can and should be replaced, or at the least altered (Second Thought, 2020; Wizinsky, 2022). My goal for this project is not only to question the structure of our economic society but also to bring to light the fragility of the idea that capitalism is inevitable or that it is an effective or positive way for our society to function. Widespread events like recessions, the housing crisis, the cost of living crisis, and the COVID-19 pandemic bring forward the idea that change needs to take place. This change is one that will take time and effort to make sure what replaces capitalism has a more democratic distribution of resources and the means of production. The first step in achieving this change is raising awareness that such a change is required or achievable. As the wealth gap between the top 1% and the average person widens, I want the public, particularly designers, to recognise that the mechanisms upon which modern society is founded are unsuitable and outdated and that we have the capacity and power to change them. Hence for my FMP I hope to target all general audiences, not just ones that are politically engaged. This is because if all people living in the modern world are subject to the systems of capitalism from birth, all people should also be made aware of its flaws. I also want to particularly focus on designers with the speculation element of my project in order to show them the impact of their role in preserving and/or creating the institutions that uphold capitalism. I hope to use my skills in branding, motion graphics, and video editing in order to create my final outcomes. Although these skills are not new to me, I am stepping out of my comfort zone by applying them to a project like this one. Designers and Capitalism Attempting to define the job of a “designer” can be difficult, as the practice of a designer is constantly expanding and evolving. We are surrounded by the creations of designers from many different fields, both old and new. But the constant across all these fields is that they all have a huge impact on our lives. Whether they are aware of this or not, they create the institutions that our society is built upon (Wizinsky, 2022). The work we do can have a widespread effect on millions of people all over the world. Unfortunately, under capitalism, the widespread effect is often reserved to serve the profit motive. We aim to etch our voices into the minds of consumers using our skills, just to end up saying, “Buy our stuff.” After researching the relationship between designers and capitalism and conducting a survey and interviews of my own with designers and design students, I found that designers, just like a large portion of the public, are often unaware of the economic or political impact of our work beyond the logics of capitalism (Wizinsky, 2022). We evaluate this impact by asking questions like “Did our profits increase?” or “Did this help the company grow?” but we fail to recognise that these questions are predicated on the idea that expansion in these areas is inherently positive. This dissonance between the authority we hold as decision-makers and our lack of awareness or control over the capitalist institutions we are actively endorsing can be frustrating. In the best cases, we are aware of our impact but are not able to challenge the status quo without risking our ability to put food on the table. In the worst cases, we are unintentionally or deliberately ignorant of our impact, either due to a lack of information/education or due to our unique privileges. Branding & Commodity Fetishism Branding is “the act of making a product, organisation, person, or place easy to recognize as different from others by connecting it with a particular name, design, symbol, set of qualities, etc” (Cambridge Dictionary, 2022). But in today’s world, the concept of branding has grown past the idea of loosely defined values and a recognizable logo. “Brands sell stories and make promises—of a better self-image, an improved appearance, more prestige, fulfillment, a healthier relationship to the world of brands, and so on” (Sturken and Cartwright, 2018, p. 272).  The focus of large corporations like Nike or Apple has progressively shifted more towards the marketing of their products, and less on their production. We are sold on the idea of a product and what that product represents, rather than the product itself. This can often create instances where these companies participate in “pseudoindividuality”. “Pseudoindividuality refers to the ways that cultural forms can define and interpellate viewer-consumer-users as individuals, when in fact they are selling homogeneous experiences” (Sturken and Cartwright, 2018). Apple sells the idea that its devices will allow their customers to express their individuality but the success of the company requires that they serve this same homogeneous idea of individuality to millions of customers. In Marxist theory, this “process of mystification that exists in capitalism between what things are and how they appear or what they mean to their users” (Sturken and Cartwright, 2018, p. 430) is known as Commodity Fetishism. “In commodity fetishism, exchange value supersedes use value so that things are valued not for what they do but for what they cost, how they look, and what connotations can be attached to them” (Sturken and Cartwright, 2018, p. 430). The main goal of good advertising is to empty a commodity of its inherent value and of how it was produced, and instead fill it with the new values assigned by a marketing team. The end user’s mind should be put as far away from how their products are made, or what even their products actually are, and should instead be on what those products, and in turn their brands, represent. This not only increases sales, but also allows the companies to more easily continue any unethical practices they might partake in, as the public’s attention is further skewed towards what the corporations want you to focus on instead.  Alienating the Worker and End User Potentially the most common flaw that anti-capitalist activists often repeat is how the capitalist system is built to separate individual workers from the means of producing goods/services. This idea comes from the Marxist theory of alienation. “In Marxism, alienation is a condition of capitalism in which humans experience a sense of separation from the products of their labour, hence from other aspects of life, including human relations” (Sturken and Cartwright, 2018, p. 426) This concept is one that explains the sense of existential dread, powerlessness and loneliness that we may feel as individuals, despite our society’s development and increased interdependence. The theory implies that alienation is inherent to the idea of capitalism, and a condition that it must fulfil. (Sturken and Cartwright, 2018; Øversveen, 2021) In addition to this, corporations capitalise on the worker’s separation from the means of production by exploiting their workers through unfair wages, unsafe working conditions, etc. These companies are often also the same large corporations that engage in commodity fetishization. In addition to this, companies have recently also started exploiting the dialogic loop of modern social media to personify themselves, further separating their brands from what they actually do. The leading example of this is Wendy’s use of Twitter, where they personify themselves as “the sassy friend that you can have lunch with”, rather than just a fast food chain. (Murthy, 2018; Baker, 2018) Capitalism and Activism The concept of selling ideas to consumers rather than just products is one that can go to very dark places, when those ideas are controversial or political ones. It is not uncommon today to see corporations taking a stance in political matters, but in our capitalist society these brands do not really have to believe in the ideas they are selling, as long as they are still fulfilling their end goal: to make profits. The perfect example of this is Nike’s push for women empowerment by featuring them in their advertising, back in 1978. But during this campaign, the female workers in the factories that made their shoes were put in horrible working conditions. (Sturken and Cartwright, 2018) The company was called out by Adbusters through the use of culture jamming, a concept I will explore further later in this essay. [FIG 4] Today, certain corporations have garnered support and built an audience, almost exclusively by focusing on selling ideas to such an extent, that their products are no longer the focus anymore. These corporations will often use people’s desire for identity in order to sell to them. (Klein, 2000) The perfect example of this is Alex Jones, and his coverage of “the war on christmas”. Alex Jones is an American right-wing conspiracy theorist who runs a show called “InfoWars”. In December of 2019 he, along with other right-wing media like Fox News started to sell the idea that the “woke left” were trying to get rid of christmas. Jones was exploiting the religious beliefs of his audience as he was aware that most of them were Christians. The points brought up and evidence provided in his coverage was weak and easily refutable (Harris Michael Brewis, 2020), but his fear-mongering was effective. He concludes the show by saying “the very same forces that have it out for christianity, have it out for InfoWars, and for you and your family”, following this up with a plea to go to InfoWars’ online store and  buy their products to help fund his show. The store sells incredibly expensive products like supplements and toothpaste, all branded with the InfoWars logo. This shows how corporations no longer have to simply take sides in political issues in order to sell more products, but have the capacity and power to manipulate public perception in order to create their own political issues that they can then use to make profits. InfoWars toothpaste isn’t a generic toothpaste with their logo put onto it, but is rather a way for the person who buys it to show that they are a patriotic Christian American that is fighting to preserve the freedoms their country provides them. Combating the Flaws of Capitalism It’s clear from previous sections that the goal of corporations is to distract us from their unethical practices in order to make their products more enticing. Hence, effectively combating the flaws of capitalism means that we must inform the public not only of the things the corporations don’t want them to know or think about, but also that these problems exist because of our capitalist system. But this is challenging as the brands that these corporations have built are so strong that when most people think of them their mind naturally goes to the ideas that they sell. For example when fans of Nintendo think of the company, they think of old nostalgic video games like Pokemon or Mario, not the company’s unfair and anti-consumer behaviour. However, designers and artists have found a way to not only subvert the pervasiveness of effective branding but also to utilise its recognizability to fight back against it through culture jamming. “Culture jamming is the practice of criticising and subverting advertising and consumerism in the mass media, by methods such as producing advertisements parodying those of global brands.” (Oxford Languages, 2023) It is an incredibly powerful practice as it utilises a form of parody that directly hijacks the success of an existing brand identity in order to convey a new message by associating that new message with that brand identity. Often this new message is one that criticises the original brand it is parodying. To find inspiration and direction for my own work I looked into multiple examples of anti-capitalist designs/artwork done by other artists, some of which utilised culture jamming very effectively, and some that found other effective ways to convey their message. Although I looked into many projects/campaigns like AdBusters, “Capitalism works for me!” by Steve Lambert, multiple projects from the Yes Men, posters from the Occupy Wall Street movement, and many others, I will focus on three examples that were the most significant inspiration for me. Barbra Kruger - I shop therefore I am It is impossible to discuss designers who have used their talents in activist capacities, without coming across Barbra Kruger. Her distinct style of Futura bold with sharp rectangles and her use of red and white colours is unique and iconic. In a way, these artistic decisions and her use of direct pronouns like “I” and “you” has become a brand identity of her own. Criticising our capitalist system is one of Kruger’s most well-known themes to address in her work, alongside the topic of feminism. One of her most popular pieces is one from 1987 known as “I shop therefore I am” [FIG 6]. The phrase is an alteration of a phrase from the French philosopher Rene Descartes, “I think therefore I am”. The original phrase aims to answer the question of “how do I know I exist?” by stating that if I have the ability to ask the question in the first place, then it must mean that I exist. Kruger twists this to attack society’s members who believe it’s necessary to supplant their own sense of worth with worldly possessions. She states that modern society believes that rather than more complex personal characteristics like accomplishments and individual ideas, people look to define themselves by their material belongings and social image instead. (Public Delivery, 2019) Channel 5 News/Repeat Stuff - Bo Burnham One of my biggest personal inspirations is Bo Burnham. His work often uses comedy and music to criticise elements of our modern society, in ways that don’t just spread his messages, but also entertain his audience. Although he is not a designer, but rather a comedian and musician, his work critiques industries that partake in unethical practices through the use of culture jamming, in similar ways to how I hope to do in my project. Both songs, “Channel 5 News” and “Repeat Stuff” are criticism of their respective industries; news media and pop music. Burnham mimics the tropes of both industries through the musical elements of his songs, while using the lyrics to bring to light the industry’s problems. “Repeat Stuff” also has a music video that parodies other pop artists’ music videos. Lines like “we tackle the flaws, in these obesity laws, in this segment that’s sponsored by Taco Bell” from Channel 5 News (2013) and “...Cashing in on puberty and low self-esteem, And girls’ desperate need to feel loved…” from Repeat Stuff (2013) clearly illustrate the direct nature of his criticism. What I find particularly note-worthy from both songs is how they hyperbolize the flaws of their respective industries. Burnham uses satanic motifs to clearly imply that the ones on top running these industries have dropped to satanic levels of exploitation and manipulation all in order to make more profits. This hyperbole makes the songs far more impactful, which is an effect I hope to replicate in the speculation element of my project. Brandalism “Brandalism” is a collective of activists, artists and designers that aim to “revolt against the corporate control of our culture and space.” (Brandalism, 2012) They utilise culture jamming to not only parody existing brand’s advertisements but also puts their work up in the same public spaces that large companies might. In doing so they not only help reclaim our public spaces from capitalist hegemony, but also bring to light the unethical practices of these companies. The perfect example of their work is their campaign against the 2015 “Conference of Parties”. The conference aimed to establish a global agreement to limit the emissions of further greenhouse gases, but was associated with many different companies attempting to greenwash their brands while continuing to contribute to rising temperatures with their own emissions. Brandalism put up 600 different “subvertisements” across Paris, the day before the talks were set to begin that directly used these brand’s identity to call them out on their contributions to climate change. Final Major Project Specialisation When breaking down the examples of what other designers have done using my earlier research, it was clear that they were making strides when it came to combating the problems of capitalism like alienation and commodity fetishization. Their work focused on bringing the information about the unethical ways that a company functions back to the forefront and heavily associating these unethical practices with their respective companies’ brands. But what I felt these past examples failed to tackle directly were two issues that I found to be almost unanimously present when conducting my own survey and interviews: pricing and accessibility of information. My results show that most people’s concern is a lack of time, energy or know-how to find unbiased information, and even when this information is available, it doesn’t influence their purchasing decisions, as their concern for ethics is eclipsed by their concern for price [FIG 13]. Even though over half of respondents stated that they take ethics into account when buying products [FIG 12], an overwhelming amount put “price” as their first priority, and “ethics” as their last, when asked to rank the following variables: price, convenience, speed, familiarity, and ethics [FIG 14]. I wanted to create a solution that tackled these issues and made ethics an important core part of being a successful brand. This is how I came to the idea for my solution “ergo sum” (the latin phrase for “therefore I am”, and the second half of “I shop therefore I am”) , an app that when used to scan a product either online or in person, will present you with a list of unethical practices that the product’s company partakes in. This information will be presented with that brand’s identity; using their colours, typeface, sounds, imagery, etc, therefore utilising culture jamming to associate these practices with the brand in the user’s mind. For more popular products and brands like iPhones or Cadbury Chocolates, there are animations and/or augmented reality elements that not only help the information stick in the user’s mind, but also make it shareable. The branding for the app itself is one that is distinct enough to be memorable, but can also fade into the background. Hence why it lacks colour and is inspired by the look of website wireframes, and other “brandless brands” like Muji. This is because I wanted the user’s focus to be on the brand of the products they scan. An important part of the app is how it also provides alternatives to the user that are from more ethical brands, that are either cheaper or similarly priced. With a large enough user base, this core function weaponizes the systems of capitalism against itself and combats greenwashing by making “being ethical” an important part of being a successful brand. Rather than undercutting their competition with lower prices, they could undercut them by having similar pricing, but conducting lesser or no unethical practices. An app like this may grow popular because users want to find more affordable alternatives to the things they want to buy as well as because they want to be more socially conscious about what they purchase. A widespread adoption can make it far easier to cut through the effects of commodity fetishization and manipulative business tactics. The app’s repeated use would make individuals more aware of the number of immoral practices that huge corporations are not only able to get away with, but encouraged to participate in under our capitalist system, due to their end goal always being to make more profits. Speculation Although my focus for my FMP has leaned a lot more towards the specialisation element, the speculation element is also important. My outcome for this project is a short video that utilises culture jamming to criticise a specific company and, in turn criticises capitalism. The company I chose for this is Nintendo as their strong branding is one that often hides unethical practices like their efforts towards union busting (Gach, 2022). Although my target audience for this element of my project is also the general public, I hope to have a particular focus on designers. It is also inevitable that the video is likely to resonate more with the gaming community, especially fans of Nintendo games. The video is split into 3 parts, the first seeming to be an advertisement for the “Nintendo Switch 2”. This section uses the colours, music, typeface, imagery, etc. that is unique to Nintendo’s brand, to make it seem like just another advertisement. But the next section of the video is almost identical to the first with its sequencing, but the words and footage touting the new features of the “Switch 2” have been replaced with direct call outs to the company’s unethical practices. This unexpected turn forces audiences to associate the company with not just its product but also its unfair practices, through the use of culture jamming. The third section of the video expands the focus to more than just Nintendo, and uses news clips and uncomfortable footage of companies doing unethical things to make the viewer feel an uneasy sense of dread. This short montage abruptly ends, with text on screen that directs these feelings of dread towards capitalism, and acts as a call to action to designers and all audiences to take a closer look at the flaws of the system we live in, and potentially use their skills to combat those flaws. Conclusion Both the speculation and specialisation elements of my project work together to bring attention to how broken our current capitalist society is. Seeing the negative impact that the desperate chase for profits has made on our society is troubling and incredibly frustrating. This frustration is what I channelled into my work in an attempt to raise awareness for the problems that plague our society due to the systems of capitalism. The slow gradual change towards a better more democratic society is sparked by an awareness that the change is necessary in the first place. Looking back at my work I feel it helps increase this awareness. In the future I hope to move my focus from using my work to address problems, to suggesting solutions; alterations or alternatives to capitalism that give the power back to the people. Capitalism is a core part of living in modern society. It is near impossible to exist without engaging in or participating in it. This hegemonic nature and its long-standing existence have convinced people that capitalism is the final evolution of economic systems. In addition, capitalism has ingrained itself into our political systems, and intertwined itself within the self-identity of our countries, further solidifying the idea that this is not only the best and most natural way for society to function, but it is the only way. But this idea is flawed. Capitalism is a widespread social construct. It is not inherently integral to the self-identity of any particular country, and it is neither perfect nor irreplaceable; thus, if it is not successfully achieving its goals or if those goals have become outdated, it can and should be replaced, or at the least altered (Second Thought, 2020; Wizinsky, 2022). My goal for this project is not only to question the structure of our economic society but also to bring to light the fragility of the idea that capitalism is inevitable or that it is an effective or positive way for our society to function. Widespread events like recessions, the housing crisis, the cost of living crisis, and the COVID-19 pandemic bring forward the idea that change needs to take place. This change is one that will take time and effort to make sure what replaces capitalism has a more democratic distribution of resources and the means of production. The first step in achieving this change is raising awareness that such a change is required or achievable. As the wealth gap between the top 1% and the average person widens, I want the public, particularly designers, to recognise that the mechanisms upon which modern society is founded are unsuitable and outdated and that we have the capacity and power to change them. Hence for my FMP I hope to target all general audiences, not just ones that are politically engaged. This is because if all people living in the modern world are subject to the systems of capitalism from birth, all people should also be made aware of its flaws. I also want to particularly focus on designers with the speculation element of my project in order to show them the impact of their role in preserving and/or creating the institutions that uphold capitalism. I hope to use my skills in branding, motion graphics, and video editing in order to create my final outcomes. Although these skills are not new to me, I am stepping out of my comfort zone by applying them to a project like this one. Designers and Capitalism Attempting to define the job of a “designer” can be difficult, as the practice of a designer is constantly expanding and evolving. We are surrounded by the creations of designers from many different fields, both old and new. But the constant across all these fields is that they all have a huge impact on our lives. Whether they are aware of this or not, they create the institutions that our society is built upon (Wizinsky, 2022). The work we do can have a widespread effect on millions of people all over the world. Unfortunately, under capitalism, the widespread effect is often reserved to serve the profit motive. We aim to etch our voices into the minds of consumers using our skills, just to end up saying, “Buy our stuff.” After researching the relationship between designers and capitalism and conducting a survey and interviews of my own with designers and design students, I found that designers, just like a large portion of the public, are often unaware of the economic or political impact of our work beyond the logics of capitalism (Wizinsky, 2022). We evaluate this impact by asking questions like “Did our profits increase?” or “Did this help the company grow?” but we fail to recognise that these questions are predicated on the idea that expansion in these areas is inherently positive. This dissonance between the authority we hold as decision-makers and our lack of awareness or control over the capitalist institutions we are actively endorsing can be frustrating. In the best cases, we are aware of our impact but are not able to challenge the status quo without risking our ability to put food on the table. In the worst cases, we are unintentionally or deliberately ignorant of our impact, either due to a lack of information/education or due to our unique privileges. Branding & Commodity Fetishism Branding is “the act of making a product, organisation, person, or place easy to recognize as different from others by connecting it with a particular name, design, symbol, set of qualities, etc” (Cambridge Dictionary, 2022). But in today’s world, the concept of branding has grown past the idea of loosely defined values and a recognizable logo. “Brands sell stories and make promises—of a better self-image, an improved appearance, more prestige, fulfillment, a healthier relationship to the world of brands, and so on” (Sturken and Cartwright, 2018, p. 272).  The focus of large corporations like Nike or Apple has progressively shifted more towards the marketing of their products, and less on their production. We are sold on the idea of a product and what that product represents, rather than the product itself. This can often create instances where these companies participate in “pseudoindividuality”. “Pseudoindividuality refers to the ways that cultural forms can define and interpellate viewer-consumer-users as individuals, when in fact they are selling homogeneous experiences” (Sturken and Cartwright, 2018). Apple sells the idea that its devices will allow their customers to express their individuality but the success of the company requires that they serve this same homogeneous idea of individuality to millions of customers. In Marxist theory, this “process of mystification that exists in capitalism between what things are and how they appear or what they mean to their users” (Sturken and Cartwright, 2018, p. 430) is known as Commodity Fetishism. “In commodity fetishism, exchange value supersedes use value so that things are valued not for what they do but for what they cost, how they look, and what connotations can be attached to them” (Sturken and Cartwright, 2018, p. 430). The main goal of good advertising is to empty a commodity of its inherent value and of how it was produced, and instead fill it with the new values assigned by a marketing team. The end user’s mind should be put as far away from how their products are made, or what even their products actually are, and should instead be on what those products, and in turn their brands, represent. This not only increases sales, but also allows the companies to more easily continue any unethical practices they might partake in, as the public’s attention is further skewed towards what the corporations want you to focus on instead.  Alienating the Worker and End User Potentially the most common flaw that anti-capitalist activists often repeat is how the capitalist system is built to separate individual workers from the means of producing goods/services. This idea comes from the Marxist theory of alienation. “In Marxism, alienation is a condition of capitalism in which humans experience a sense of separation from the products of their labour, hence from other aspects of life, including human relations” (Sturken and Cartwright, 2018, p. 426) This concept is one that explains the sense of existential dread, powerlessness and loneliness that we may feel as individuals, despite our society’s development and increased interdependence. The theory implies that alienation is inherent to the idea of capitalism, and a condition that it must fulfil. (Sturken and Cartwright, 2018; Øversveen, 2021) In addition to this, corporations capitalise on the worker’s separation from the means of production by exploiting their workers through unfair wages, unsafe working conditions, etc. These companies are often also the same large corporations that engage in commodity fetishization. In addition to this, companies have recently also started exploiting the dialogic loop of modern social media to personify themselves, further separating their brands from what they actually do. The leading example of this is Wendy’s use of Twitter, where they personify themselves as “the sassy friend that you can have lunch with”, rather than just a fast food chain. (Murthy, 2018; Baker, 2018) Capitalism and Activism The concept of selling ideas to consumers rather than just products is one that can go to very dark places, when those ideas are controversial or political ones. It is not uncommon today to see corporations taking a stance in political matters, but in our capitalist society these brands do not really have to believe in the ideas they are selling, as long as they are still fulfilling their end goal: to make profits. The perfect example of this is Nike’s push for women empowerment by featuring them in their advertising, back in 1978. But during this campaign, the female workers in the factories that made their shoes were put in horrible working conditions. (Sturken and Cartwright, 2018) The company was called out by Adbusters through the use of culture jamming, a concept I will explore further later in this essay. [FIG 4] Today, certain corporations have garnered support and built an audience, almost exclusively by focusing on selling ideas to such an extent, that their products are no longer the focus anymore. These corporations will often use people’s desire for identity in order to sell to them. (Klein, 2000) The perfect example of this is Alex Jones, and his coverage of “the war on christmas”. Alex Jones is an American right-wing conspiracy theorist who runs a show called “InfoWars”. In December of 2019 he, along with other right-wing media like Fox News started to sell the idea that the “woke left” were trying to get rid of christmas. Jones was exploiting the religious beliefs of his audience as he was aware that most of them were Christians. The points brought up and evidence provided in his coverage was weak and easily refutable (Harris Michael Brewis, 2020), but his fear-mongering was effective. He concludes the show by saying “the very same forces that have it out for christianity, have it out for InfoWars, and for you and your family”, following this up with a plea to go to InfoWars’ online store and  buy their products to help fund his show. The store sells incredibly expensive products like supplements and toothpaste, all branded with the InfoWars logo. This shows how corporations no longer have to simply take sides in political issues in order to sell more products, but have the capacity and power to manipulate public perception in order to create their own political issues that they can then use to make profits. InfoWars toothpaste isn’t a generic toothpaste with their logo put onto it, but is rather a way for the person who buys it to show that they are a patriotic Christian American that is fighting to preserve the freedoms their country provides them. Combating the Flaws of Capitalism It’s clear from previous sections that the goal of corporations is to distract us from their unethical practices in order to make their products more enticing. Hence, effectively combating the flaws of capitalism means that we must inform the public not only of the things the corporations don’t want them to know or think about, but also that these problems exist because of our capitalist system. But this is challenging as the brands that these corporations have built are so strong that when most people think of them their mind naturally goes to the ideas that they sell. For example when fans of Nintendo think of the company, they think of old nostalgic video games like Pokemon or Mario, not the company’s unfair and anti-consumer behaviour. However, designers and artists have found a way to not only subvert the pervasiveness of effective branding but also to utilise its recognizability to fight back against it through culture jamming. “Culture jamming is the practice of criticising and subverting advertising and consumerism in the mass media, by methods such as producing advertisements parodying those of global brands.” (Oxford Languages, 2023) It is an incredibly powerful practice as it utilises a form of parody that directly hijacks the success of an existing brand identity in order to convey a new message by associating that new message with that brand identity. Often this new message is one that criticises the original brand it is parodying. To find inspiration and direction for my own work I looked into multiple examples of anti-capitalist designs/artwork done by other artists, some of which utilised culture jamming very effectively, and some that found other effective ways to convey their message. Although I looked into many projects/campaigns like AdBusters, “Capitalism works for me!” by Steve Lambert, multiple projects from the Yes Men, posters from the Occupy Wall Street movement, and many others, I will focus on three examples that were the most significant inspiration for me. Barbra Kruger - I shop therefore I am It is impossible to discuss designers who have used their talents in activist capacities, without coming across Barbra Kruger. Her distinct style of Futura bold with sharp rectangles and her use of red and white colours is unique and iconic. In a way, these artistic decisions and her use of direct pronouns like “I” and “you” has become a brand identity of her own. Criticising our capitalist system is one of Kruger’s most well-known themes to address in her work, alongside the topic of feminism. One of her most popular pieces is one from 1987 known as “I shop therefore I am” [FIG 6]. The phrase is an alteration of a phrase from the French philosopher Rene Descartes, “I think therefore I am”. The original phrase aims to answer the question of “how do I know I exist?” by stating that if I have the ability to ask the question in the first place, then it must mean that I exist. Kruger twists this to attack society’s members who believe it’s necessary to supplant their own sense of worth with worldly possessions. She states that modern society believes that rather than more complex personal characteristics like accomplishments and individual ideas, people look to define themselves by their material belongings and social image instead. (Public Delivery, 2019) Channel 5 News/Repeat Stuff - Bo Burnham One of my biggest personal inspirations is Bo Burnham. His work often uses comedy and music to criticise elements of our modern society, in ways that don’t just spread his messages, but also entertain his audience. Although he is not a designer, but rather a comedian and musician, his work critiques industries that partake in unethical practices through the use of culture jamming, in similar ways to how I hope to do in my project. Both songs, “Channel 5 News” and “Repeat Stuff” are criticism of their respective industries; news media and pop music. Burnham mimics the tropes of both industries through the musical elements of his songs, while using the lyrics to bring to light the industry’s problems. “Repeat Stuff” also has a music video that parodies other pop artists’ music videos. Lines like “we tackle the flaws, in these obesity laws, in this segment that’s sponsored by Taco Bell” from Channel 5 News (2013) and “...Cashing in on puberty and low self-esteem, And girls’ desperate need to feel loved…” from Repeat Stuff (2013) clearly illustrate the direct nature of his criticism. What I find particularly note-worthy from both songs is how they hyperbolize the flaws of their respective industries. Burnham uses satanic motifs to clearly imply that the ones on top running these industries have dropped to satanic levels of exploitation and manipulation all in order to make more profits. This hyperbole makes the songs far more impactful, which is an effect I hope to replicate in the speculation element of my project. Brandalism “Brandalism” is a collective of activists, artists and designers that aim to “revolt against the corporate control of our culture and space.” (Brandalism, 2012) They utilise culture jamming to not only parody existing brand’s advertisements but also puts their work up in the same public spaces that large companies might. In doing so they not only help reclaim our public spaces from capitalist hegemony, but also bring to light the unethical practices of these companies. The perfect example of their work is their campaign against the 2015 “Conference of Parties”. The conference aimed to establish a global agreement to limit the emissions of further greenhouse gases, but was associated with many different companies attempting to greenwash their brands while continuing to contribute to rising temperatures with their own emissions. Brandalism put up 600 different “subvertisements” across Paris, the day before the talks were set to begin that directly used these brand’s identity to call them out on their contributions to climate change. Final Major Project Specialisation When breaking down the examples of what other designers have done using my earlier research, it was clear that they were making strides when it came to combating the problems of capitalism like alienation and commodity fetishization. Their work focused on bringing the information about the unethical ways that a company functions back to the forefront and heavily associating these unethical practices with their respective companies’ brands. But what I felt these past examples failed to tackle directly were two issues that I found to be almost unanimously present when conducting my own survey and interviews: pricing and accessibility of information. My results show that most people’s concern is a lack of time, energy or know-how to find unbiased information, and even when this information is available, it doesn’t influence their purchasing decisions, as their concern for ethics is eclipsed by their concern for price [FIG 13]. Even though over half of respondents stated that they take ethics into account when buying products [FIG 12], an overwhelming amount put “price” as their first priority, and “ethics” as their last, when asked to rank the following variables: price, convenience, speed, familiarity, and ethics [FIG 14]. I wanted to create a solution that tackled these issues and made ethics an important core part of being a successful brand. This is how I came to the idea for my solution “ergo sum” (the latin phrase for “therefore I am”, and the second half of “I shop therefore I am”) , an app that when used to scan a product either online or in person, will present you with a list of unethical practices that the product’s company partakes in. This information will be presented with that brand’s identity; using their colours, typeface, sounds, imagery, etc, therefore utilising culture jamming to associate these practices with the brand in the user’s mind. For more popular products and brands like iPhones or Cadbury Chocolates, there are animations and/or augmented reality elements that not only help the information stick in the user’s mind, but also make it shareable. The branding for the app itself is one that is distinct enough to be memorable, but can also fade into the background. Hence why it lacks colour and is inspired by the look of website wireframes, and other “brandless brands” like Muji. This is because I wanted the user’s focus to be on the brand of the products they scan. An important part of the app is how it also provides alternatives to the user that are from more ethical brands, that are either cheaper or similarly priced. With a large enough user base, this core function weaponizes the systems of capitalism against itself and combats greenwashing by making “being ethical” an important part of being a successful brand. Rather than undercutting their competition with lower prices, they could undercut them by having similar pricing, but conducting lesser or no unethical practices. An app like this may grow popular because users want to find more affordable alternatives to the things they want to buy as well as because they want to be more socially conscious about what they purchase. A widespread adoption can make it far easier to cut through the effects of commodity fetishization and manipulative business tactics. The app’s repeated use would make individuals more aware of the number of immoral practices that huge corporations are not only able to get away with, but encouraged to participate in under our capitalist system, due to their end goal always being to make more profits. Speculation Although my focus for my FMP has leaned a lot more towards the specialisation element, the speculation element is also important. My outcome for this project is a short video that utilises culture jamming to criticise a specific company and, in turn criticises capitalism. The company I chose for this is Nintendo as their strong branding is one that often hides unethical practices like their efforts towards union busting (Gach, 2022). Although my target audience for this element of my project is also the general public, I hope to have a particular focus on designers. It is also inevitable that the video is likely to resonate more with the gaming community, especially fans of Nintendo games. The video is split into 3 parts, the first seeming to be an advertisement for the “Nintendo Switch 2”. This section uses the colours, music, typeface, imagery, etc. that is unique to Nintendo’s brand, to make it seem like just another advertisement. But the next section of the video is almost identical to the first with its sequencing, but the words and footage touting the new features of the “Switch 2” have been replaced with direct call outs to the company’s unethical practices. This unexpected turn forces audiences to associate the company with not just its product but also its unfair practices, through the use of culture jamming. The third section of the video expands the focus to more than just Nintendo, and uses news clips and uncomfortable footage of companies doing unethical things to make the viewer feel an uneasy sense of dread. This short montage abruptly ends, with text on screen that directs these feelings of dread towards capitalism, and acts as a call to action to designers and all audiences to take a closer look at the flaws of the system we live in, and potentially use their skills to combat those flaws. Conclusion Both the speculation and specialisation elements of my project work together to bring attention to how broken our current capitalist society is. Seeing the negative impact that the desperate chase for profits has made on our society is troubling and incredibly frustrating. This frustration is what I channelled into my work in an attempt to raise awareness for the problems that plague our society due to the systems of capitalism. The slow gradual change towards a better more democratic society is sparked by an awareness that the change is necessary in the first place. Looking back at my work I feel it helps increase this awareness. In the future I hope to move my focus from using my work to address problems, to suggesting solutions; alterations or alternatives to capitalism that give the power back to the people. Capitalism is a core part of living in modern society. It is near impossible to exist without engaging in or participating in it. This hegemonic nature and its long-standing existence have convinced people that capitalism is the final evolution of economic systems. In addition, capitalism has ingrained itself into our political systems, and intertwined itself within the self-identity of our countries, further solidifying the idea that this is not only the best and most natural way for society to function, but it is the only way. But this idea is flawed. Capitalism is a widespread social construct. It is not inherently integral to the self-identity of any particular country, and it is neither perfect nor irreplaceable; thus, if it is not successfully achieving its goals or if those goals have become outdated, it can and should be replaced, or at the least altered (Second Thought, 2020; Wizinsky, 2022). My goal for this project is not only to question the structure of our economic society but also to bring to light the fragility of the idea that capitalism is inevitable or that it is an effective or positive way for our society to function. Widespread events like recessions, the housing crisis, the cost of living crisis, and the COVID-19 pandemic bring forward the idea that change needs to take place. This change is one that will take time and effort to make sure what replaces capitalism has a more democratic distribution of resources and the means of production. The first step in achieving this change is raising awareness that such a change is required or achievable. As the wealth gap between the top 1% and the average person widens, I want the public, particularly designers, to recognise that the mechanisms upon which modern society is founded are unsuitable and outdated and that we have the capacity and power to change them. Hence for my FMP I hope to target all general audiences, not just ones that are politically engaged. This is because if all people living in the modern world are subject to the systems of capitalism from birth, all people should also be made aware of its flaws. I also want to particularly focus on designers with the speculation element of my project in order to show them the impact of their role in preserving and/or creating the institutions that uphold capitalism. I hope to use my skills in branding, motion graphics, and video editing in order to create my final outcomes. Although these skills are not new to me, I am stepping out of my comfort zone by applying them to a project like this one. Designers and Capitalism Attempting to define the job of a “designer” can be difficult, as the practice of a designer is constantly expanding and evolving. We are surrounded by the creations of designers from many different fields, both old and new. But the constant across all these fields is that they all have a huge impact on our lives. Whether they are aware of this or not, they create the institutions that our society is built upon (Wizinsky, 2022). The work we do can have a widespread effect on millions of people all over the world. Unfortunately, under capitalism, the widespread effect is often reserved to serve the profit motive. We aim to etch our voices into the minds of consumers using our skills, just to end up saying, “Buy our stuff.” After researching the relationship between designers and capitalism and conducting a survey and interviews of my own with designers and design students, I found that designers, just like a large portion of the public, are often unaware of the economic or political impact of our work beyond the logics of capitalism (Wizinsky, 2022). We evaluate this impact by asking questions like “Did our profits increase?” or “Did this help the company grow?” but we fail to recognise that these questions are predicated on the idea that expansion in these areas is inherently positive. This dissonance between the authority we hold as decision-makers and our lack of awareness or control over the capitalist institutions we are actively endorsing can be frustrating. In the best cases, we are aware of our impact but are not able to challenge the status quo without risking our ability to put food on the table. In the worst cases, we are unintentionally or deliberately ignorant of our impact, either due to a lack of information/education or due to our unique privileges. Branding & Commodity Fetishism Branding is “the act of making a product, organisation, person, or place easy to recognize as different from others by connecting it with a particular name, design, symbol, set of qualities, etc” (Cambridge Dictionary, 2022). But in today’s world, the concept of branding has grown past the idea of loosely defined values and a recognizable logo. “Brands sell stories and make promises—of a better self-image, an improved appearance, more prestige, fulfillment, a healthier relationship to the world of brands, and so on” (Sturken and Cartwright, 2018, p. 272).  The focus of large corporations like Nike or Apple has progressively shifted more towards the marketing of their products, and less on their production. We are sold on the idea of a product and what that product represents, rather than the product itself. This can often create instances where these companies participate in “pseudoindividuality”. “Pseudoindividuality refers to the ways that cultural forms can define and interpellate viewer-consumer-users as individuals, when in fact they are selling homogeneous experiences” (Sturken and Cartwright, 2018). Apple sells the idea that its devices will allow their customers to express their individuality but the success of the company requires that they serve this same homogeneous idea of individuality to millions of customers. In Marxist theory, this “process of mystification that exists in capitalism between what things are and how they appear or what they mean to their users” (Sturken and Cartwright, 2018, p. 430) is known as Commodity Fetishism. “In commodity fetishism, exchange value supersedes use value so that things are valued not for what they do but for what they cost, how they look, and what connotations can be attached to them” (Sturken and Cartwright, 2018, p. 430). The main goal of good advertising is to empty a commodity of its inherent value and of how it was produced, and instead fill it with the new values assigned by a marketing team. The end user’s mind should be put as far away from how their products are made, or what even their products actually are, and should instead be on what those products, and in turn their brands, represent. This not only increases sales, but also allows the companies to more easily continue any unethical practices they might partake in, as the public’s attention is further skewed towards what the corporations want you to focus on instead.  Alienating the Worker and End User Potentially the most common flaw that anti-capitalist activists often repeat is how the capitalist system is built to separate individual workers from the means of producing goods/services. This idea comes from the Marxist theory of alienation. “In Marxism, alienation is a condition of capitalism in which humans experience a sense of separation from the products of their labour, hence from other aspects of life, including human relations” (Sturken and Cartwright, 2018, p. 426) This concept is one that explains the sense of existential dread, powerlessness and loneliness that we may feel as individuals, despite our society’s development and increased interdependence. The theory implies that alienation is inherent to the idea of capitalism, and a condition that it must fulfil. (Sturken and Cartwright, 2018; Øversveen, 2021) In addition to this, corporations capitalise on the worker’s separation from the means of production by exploiting their workers through unfair wages, unsafe working conditions, etc. These companies are often also the same large corporations that engage in commodity fetishization. In addition to this, companies have recently also started exploiting the dialogic loop of modern social media to personify themselves, further separating their brands from what they actually do. The leading example of this is Wendy’s use of Twitter, where they personify themselves as “the sassy friend that you can have lunch with”, rather than just a fast food chain. (Murthy, 2018; Baker, 2018) Capitalism and Activism The concept of selling ideas to consumers rather than just products is one that can go to very dark places, when those ideas are controversial or political ones. It is not uncommon today to see corporations taking a stance in political matters, but in our capitalist society these brands do not really have to believe in the ideas they are selling, as long as they are still fulfilling their end goal: to make profits. The perfect example of this is Nike’s push for women empowerment by featuring them in their advertising, back in 1978. But during this campaign, the female workers in the factories that made their shoes were put in horrible working conditions. (Sturken and Cartwright, 2018) The company was called out by Adbusters through the use of culture jamming, a concept I will explore further later in this essay. [FIG 4] Today, certain corporations have garnered support and built an audience, almost exclusively by focusing on selling ideas to such an extent, that their products are no longer the focus anymore. These corporations will often use people’s desire for identity in order to sell to them. (Klein, 2000) The perfect example of this is Alex Jones, and his coverage of “the war on christmas”. Alex Jones is an American right-wing conspiracy theorist who runs a show called “InfoWars”. In December of 2019 he, along with other right-wing media like Fox News started to sell the idea that the “woke left” were trying to get rid of christmas. Jones was exploiting the religious beliefs of his audience as he was aware that most of them were Christians. The points brought up and evidence provided in his coverage was weak and easily refutable (Harris Michael Brewis, 2020), but his fear-mongering was effective. He concludes the show by saying “the very same forces that have it out for christianity, have it out for InfoWars, and for you and your family”, following this up with a plea to go to InfoWars’ online store and  buy their products to help fund his show. The store sells incredibly expensive products like supplements and toothpaste, all branded with the InfoWars logo. This shows how corporations no longer have to simply take sides in political issues in order to sell more products, but have the capacity and power to manipulate public perception in order to create their own political issues that they can then use to make profits. InfoWars toothpaste isn’t a generic toothpaste with their logo put onto it, but is rather a way for the person who buys it to show that they are a patriotic Christian American that is fighting to preserve the freedoms their country provides them. Combating the Flaws of Capitalism It’s clear from previous sections that the goal of corporations is to distract us from their unethical practices in order to make their products more enticing. Hence, effectively combating the flaws of capitalism means that we must inform the public not only of the things the corporations don’t want them to know or think about, but also that these problems exist because of our capitalist system. But this is challenging as the brands that these corporations have built are so strong that when most people think of them their mind naturally goes to the ideas that they sell. For example when fans of Nintendo think of the company, they think of old nostalgic video games like Pokemon or Mario, not the company’s unfair and anti-consumer behaviour. However, designers and artists have found a way to not only subvert the pervasiveness of effective branding but also to utilise its recognizability to fight back against it through culture jamming. “Culture jamming is the practice of criticising and subverting advertising and consumerism in the mass media, by methods such as producing advertisements parodying those of global brands.” (Oxford Languages, 2023) It is an incredibly powerful practice as it utilises a form of parody that directly hijacks the success of an existing brand identity in order to convey a new message by associating that new message with that brand identity. Often this new message is one that criticises the original brand it is parodying. To find inspiration and direction for my own work I looked into multiple examples of anti-capitalist designs/artwork done by other artists, some of which utilised culture jamming very effectively, and some that found other effective ways to convey their message. Although I looked into many projects/campaigns like AdBusters, “Capitalism works for me!” by Steve Lambert, multiple projects from the Yes Men, posters from the Occupy Wall Street movement, and many others, I will focus on three examples that were the most significant inspiration for me. Barbra Kruger - I shop therefore I am It is impossible to discuss designers who have used their talents in activist capacities, without coming across Barbra Kruger. Her distinct style of Futura bold with sharp rectangles and her use of red and white colours is unique and iconic. In a way, these artistic decisions and her use of direct pronouns like “I” and “you” has become a brand identity of her own. Criticising our capitalist system is one of Kruger’s most well-known themes to address in her work, alongside the topic of feminism. One of her most popular pieces is one from 1987 known as “I shop therefore I am” [FIG 6]. The phrase is an alteration of a phrase from the French philosopher Rene Descartes, “I think therefore I am”. The original phrase aims to answer the question of “how do I know I exist?” by stating that if I have the ability to ask the question in the first place, then it must mean that I exist. Kruger twists this to attack society’s members who believe it’s necessary to supplant their own sense of worth with worldly possessions. She states that modern society believes that rather than more complex personal characteristics like accomplishments and individual ideas, people look to define themselves by their material belongings and social image instead. (Public Delivery, 2019) Channel 5 News/Repeat Stuff - Bo Burnham One of my biggest personal inspirations is Bo Burnham. His work often uses comedy and music to criticise elements of our modern society, in ways that don’t just spread his messages, but also entertain his audience. Although he is not a designer, but rather a comedian and musician, his work critiques industries that partake in unethical practices through the use of culture jamming, in similar ways to how I hope to do in my project. Both songs, “Channel 5 News” and “Repeat Stuff” are criticism of their respective industries; news media and pop music. Burnham mimics the tropes of both industries through the musical elements of his songs, while using the lyrics to bring to light the industry’s problems. “Repeat Stuff” also has a music video that parodies other pop artists’ music videos. Lines like “we tackle the flaws, in these obesity laws, in this segment that’s sponsored by Taco Bell” from Channel 5 News (2013) and “...Cashing in on puberty and low self-esteem, And girls’ desperate need to feel loved…” from Repeat Stuff (2013) clearly illustrate the direct nature of his criticism. What I find particularly note-worthy from both songs is how they hyperbolize the flaws of their respective industries. Burnham uses satanic motifs to clearly imply that the ones on top running these industries have dropped to satanic levels of exploitation and manipulation all in order to make more profits. This hyperbole makes the songs far more impactful, which is an effect I hope to replicate in the speculation element of my project. Brandalism “Brandalism” is a collective of activists, artists and designers that aim to “revolt against the corporate control of our culture and space.” (Brandalism, 2012) They utilise culture jamming to not only parody existing brand’s advertisements but also puts their work up in the same public spaces that large companies might. In doing so they not only help reclaim our public spaces from capitalist hegemony, but also bring to light the unethical practices of these companies. The perfect example of their work is their campaign against the 2015 “Conference of Parties”. The conference aimed to establish a global agreement to limit the emissions of further greenhouse gases, but was associated with many different companies attempting to greenwash their brands while continuing to contribute to rising temperatures with their own emissions. Brandalism put up 600 different “subvertisements” across Paris, the day before the talks were set to begin that directly used these brand’s identity to call them out on their contributions to climate change. Final Major Project Specialisation When breaking down the examples of what other designers have done using my earlier research, it was clear that they were making strides when it came to combating the problems of capitalism like alienation and commodity fetishization. Their work focused on bringing the information about the unethical ways that a company functions back to the forefront and heavily associating these unethical practices with their respective companies’ brands. But what I felt these past examples failed to tackle directly were two issues that I found to be almost unanimously present when conducting my own survey and interviews: pricing and accessibility of information. My results show that most people’s concern is a lack of time, energy or know-how to find unbiased information, and even when this information is available, it doesn’t influence their purchasing decisions, as their concern for ethics is eclipsed by their concern for price [FIG 13]. Even though over half of respondents stated that they take ethics into account when buying products [FIG 12], an overwhelming amount put “price” as their first priority, and “ethics” as their last, when asked to rank the following variables: price, convenience, speed, familiarity, and ethics [FIG 14]. I wanted to create a solution that tackled these issues and made ethics an important core part of being a successful brand. This is how I came to the idea for my solution “ergo sum” (the latin phrase for “therefore I am”, and the second half of “I shop therefore I am”) , an app that when used to scan a product either online or in person, will present you with a list of unethical practices that the product’s company partakes in. This information will be presented with that brand’s identity; using their colours, typeface, sounds, imagery, etc, therefore utilising culture jamming to associate these practices with the brand in the user’s mind. For more popular products and brands like iPhones or Cadbury Chocolates, there are animations and/or augmented reality elements that not only help the information stick in the user’s mind, but also make it shareable. The branding for the app itself is one that is distinct enough to be memorable, but can also fade into the background. Hence why it lacks colour and is inspired by the look of website wireframes, and other “brandless brands” like Muji. This is because I wanted the user’s focus to be on the brand of the products they scan. An important part of the app is how it also provides alternatives to the user that are from more ethical brands, that are either cheaper or similarly priced. With a large enough user base, this core function weaponizes the systems of capitalism against itself and combats greenwashing by making “being ethical” an important part of being a successful brand. Rather than undercutting their competition with lower prices, they could undercut them by having similar pricing, but conducting lesser or no unethical practices. An app like this may grow popular because users want to find more affordable alternatives to the things they want to buy as well as because they want to be more socially conscious about what they purchase. A widespread adoption can make it far easier to cut through the effects of commodity fetishization and manipulative business tactics. The app’s repeated use would make individuals more aware of the number of immoral practices that huge corporations are not only able to get away with, but encouraged to participate in under our capitalist system, due to their end goal always being to make more profits. Speculation Although my focus for my FMP has leaned a lot more towards the specialisation element, the speculation element is also important. My outcome for this project is a short video that utilises culture jamming to criticise a specific company and, in turn criticises capitalism. The company I chose for this is Nintendo as their strong branding is one that often hides unethical practices like their efforts towards union busting (Gach, 2022). Although my target audience for this element of my project is also the general public, I hope to have a particular focus on designers. It is also inevitable that the video is likely to resonate more with the gaming community, especially fans of Nintendo games. The video is split into 3 parts, the first seeming to be an advertisement for the “Nintendo Switch 2”. This section uses the colours, music, typeface, imagery, etc. that is unique to Nintendo’s brand, to make it seem like just another advertisement. But the next section of the video is almost identical to the first with its sequencing, but the words and footage touting the new features of the “Switch 2” have been replaced with direct call outs to the company’s unethical practices. This unexpected turn forces audiences to associate the company with not just its product but also its unfair practices, through the use of culture jamming. The third section of the video expands the focus to more than just Nintendo, and uses news clips and uncomfortable footage of companies doing unethical things to make the viewer feel an uneasy sense of dread. This short montage abruptly ends, with text on screen that directs these feelings of dread towards capitalism, and acts as a call to action to designers and all audiences to take a closer look at the flaws of the system we live in, and potentially use their skills to combat those flaws. Conclusion Both the speculation and specialisation elements of my project work together to bring attention to how broken our current capitalist society is. Seeing the negative impact that the desperate chase for profits has made on our society is troubling and incredibly frustrating. This frustration is what I channelled into my work in an attempt to raise awareness for the problems that plague our society due to the systems of capitalism. The slow gradual change towards a better more democratic society is sparked by an awareness that the change is necessary in the first place. Looking back at my work I feel it helps increase this awareness. In the future I hope to move my focus from using my work to address problems, to suggesting solutions; alterations or alternatives to capitalism that give the power back to the people. Capitalism is a core part of living in modern society. It is near impossible to exist without engaging in or participating in it. This hegemonic nature and its long-standing existence have convinced people that capitalism is the final evolution of economic systems. In addition, capitalism has ingrained itself into our political systems, and intertwined itself within the self-identity of our countries, further solidifying the idea that this is not only the best and most natural way for society to function, but it is the only way. But this idea is flawed. Capitalism is a widespread social construct. It is not inherently integral to the self-identity of any particular country, and it is neither perfect nor irreplaceable; thus, if it is not successfully achieving its goals or if those goals have become outdated, it can and should be replaced, or at the least altered (Second Thought, 2020; Wizinsky, 2022). My goal for this project is not only to question the structure of our economic society but also to bring to light the fragility of the idea that capitalism is inevitable or that it is an effective or positive way for our society to function. Widespread events like recessions, the housing crisis, the cost of living crisis, and the COVID-19 pandemic bring forward the idea that change needs to take place. This change is one that will take time and effort to make sure what replaces capitalism has a more democratic distribution of resources and the means of production. The first step in achieving this change is raising awareness that such a change is required or achievable. As the wealth gap between the top 1% and the average person widens, I want the public, particularly designers, to recognise that the mechanisms upon which modern society is founded are unsuitable and outdated and that we have the capacity and power to change them. Hence for my FMP I hope to target all general audiences, not just ones that are politically engaged. This is because if all people living in the modern world are subject to the systems of capitalism from birth, all people should also be made aware of its flaws. I also want to particularly focus on designers with the speculation element of my project in order to show them the impact of their role in preserving and/or creating the institutions that uphold capitalism. I hope to use my skills in branding, motion graphics, and video editing in order to create my final outcomes. Although these skills are not new to me, I am stepping out of my comfort zone by applying them to a project like this one. Designers and Capitalism Attempting to define the job of a “designer” can be difficult, as the practice of a designer is constantly expanding and evolving. We are surrounded by the creations of designers from many different fields, both old and new. But the constant across all these fields is that they all have a huge impact on our lives. Whether they are aware of this or not, they create the institutions that our society is built upon (Wizinsky, 2022). The work we do can have a widespread effect on millions of people all over the world. Unfortunately, under capitalism, the widespread effect is often reserved to serve the profit motive. We aim to etch our voices into the minds of consumers using our skills, just to end up saying, “Buy our stuff.” After researching the relationship between designers and capitalism and conducting a survey and interviews of my own with designers and design students, I found that designers, just like a large portion of the public, are often unaware of the economic or political impact of our work beyond the logics of capitalism (Wizinsky, 2022). We evaluate this impact by asking questions like “Did our profits increase?” or “Did this help the company grow?” but we fail to recognise that these questions are predicated on the idea that expansion in these areas is inherently positive. This dissonance between the authority we hold as decision-makers and our lack of awareness or control over the capitalist institutions we are actively endorsing can be frustrating. In the best cases, we are aware of our impact but are not able to challenge the status quo without risking our ability to put food on the table. In the worst cases, we are unintentionally or deliberately ignorant of our impact, either due to a lack of information/education or due to our unique privileges. Branding & Commodity Fetishism Branding is “the act of making a product, organisation, person, or place easy to recognize as different from others by connecting it with a particular name, design, symbol, set of qualities, etc” (Cambridge Dictionary, 2022). But in today’s world, the concept of branding has grown past the idea of loosely defined values and a recognizable logo. “Brands sell stories and make promises—of a better self-image, an improved appearance, more prestige, fulfillment, a healthier relationship to the world of brands, and so on” (Sturken and Cartwright, 2018, p. 272).  The focus of large corporations like Nike or Apple has progressively shifted more towards the marketing of their products, and less on their production. We are sold on the idea of a product and what that product represents, rather than the product itself. This can often create instances where these companies participate in “pseudoindividuality”. “Pseudoindividuality refers to the ways that cultural forms can define and interpellate viewer-consumer-users as individuals, when in fact they are selling homogeneous experiences” (Sturken and Cartwright, 2018). Apple sells the idea that its devices will allow their customers to express their individuality but the success of the company requires that they serve this same homogeneous idea of individuality to millions of customers. In Marxist theory, this “process of mystification that exists in capitalism between what things are and how they appear or what they mean to their users” (Sturken and Cartwright, 2018, p. 430) is known as Commodity Fetishism. “In commodity fetishism, exchange value supersedes use value so that things are valued not for what they do but for what they cost, how they look, and what connotations can be attached to them” (Sturken and Cartwright, 2018, p. 430). The main goal of good advertising is to empty a commodity of its inherent value and of how it was produced, and instead fill it with the new values assigned by a marketing team. The end user’s mind should be put as far away from how their products are made, or what even their products actually are, and should instead be on what those products, and in turn their brands, represent. This not only increases sales, but also allows the companies to more easily continue any unethical practices they might partake in, as the public’s attention is further skewed towards what the corporations want you to focus on instead.  Alienating the Worker and End User Potentially the most common flaw that anti-capitalist activists often repeat is how the capitalist system is built to separate individual workers from the means of producing goods/services. This idea comes from the Marxist theory of alienation. “In Marxism, alienation is a condition of capitalism in which humans experience a sense of separation from the products of their labour, hence from other aspects of life, including human relations” (Sturken and Cartwright, 2018, p. 426) This concept is one that explains the sense of existential dread, powerlessness and loneliness that we may feel as individuals, despite our society’s development and increased interdependence. The theory implies that alienation is inherent to the idea of capitalism, and a condition that it must fulfil. (Sturken and Cartwright, 2018; Øversveen, 2021) In addition to this, corporations capitalise on the worker’s separation from the means of production by exploiting their workers through unfair wages, unsafe working conditions, etc. These companies are often also the same large corporations that engage in commodity fetishization. In addition to this, companies have recently also started exploiting the dialogic loop of modern social media to personify themselves, further separating their brands from what they actually do. The leading example of this is Wendy’s use of Twitter, where they personify themselves as “the sassy friend that you can have lunch with”, rather than just a fast food chain. (Murthy, 2018; Baker, 2018) Capitalism and Activism The concept of selling ideas to consumers rather than just products is one that can go to very dark places, when those ideas are controversial or political ones. It is not uncommon today to see corporations taking a stance in political matters, but in our capitalist society these brands do not really have to believe in the ideas they are selling, as long as they are still fulfilling their end goal: to make profits. The perfect example of this is Nike’s push for women empowerment by featuring them in their advertising, back in 1978. But during this campaign, the female workers in the factories that made their shoes were put in horrible working conditions. (Sturken and Cartwright, 2018) The company was called out by Adbusters through the use of culture jamming, a concept I will explore further later in this essay. [FIG 4] Today, certain corporations have garnered support and built an audience, almost exclusively by focusing on selling ideas to such an extent, that their products are no longer the focus anymore. These corporations will often use people’s desire for identity in order to sell to them. (Klein, 2000) The perfect example of this is Alex Jones, and his coverage of “the war on christmas”. Alex Jones is an American right-wing conspiracy theorist who runs a show called “InfoWars”. In December of 2019 he, along with other right-wing media like Fox News started to sell the idea that the “woke left” were trying to get rid of christmas. Jones was exploiting the religious beliefs of his audience as he was aware that most of them were Christians. The points brought up and evidence provided in his coverage was weak and easily refutable (Harris Michael Brewis, 2020), but his fear-mongering was effective. He concludes the show by saying “the very same forces that have it out for christianity, have it out for InfoWars, and for you and your family”, following this up with a plea to go to InfoWars’ online store and  buy their products to help fund his show. The store sells incredibly expensive products like supplements and toothpaste, all branded with the InfoWars logo. This shows how corporations no longer have to simply take sides in political issues in order to sell more products, but have the capacity and power to manipulate public perception in order to create their own political issues that they can then use to make profits. InfoWars toothpaste isn’t a generic toothpaste with their logo put onto it, but is rather a way for the person who buys it to show that they are a patriotic Christian American that is fighting to preserve the freedoms their country provides them. Combating the Flaws of Capitalism It’s clear from previous sections that the goal of corporations is to distract us from their unethical practices in order to make their products more enticing. Hence, effectively combating the flaws of capitalism means that we must inform the public not only of the things the corporations don’t want them to know or think about, but also that these problems exist because of our capitalist system. But this is challenging as the brands that these corporations have built are so strong that when most people think of them their mind naturally goes to the ideas that they sell. For example when fans of Nintendo think of the company, they think of old nostalgic video games like Pokemon or Mario, not the company’s unfair and anti-consumer behaviour. However, designers and artists have found a way to not only subvert the pervasiveness of effective branding but also to utilise its recognizability to fight back against it through culture jamming. “Culture jamming is the practice of criticising and subverting advertising and consumerism in the mass media, by methods such as producing advertisements parodying those of global brands.” (Oxford Languages, 2023) It is an incredibly powerful practice as it utilises a form of parody that directly hijacks the success of an existing brand identity in order to convey a new message by associating that new message with that brand identity. Often this new message is one that criticises the original brand it is parodying. To find inspiration and direction for my own work I looked into multiple examples of anti-capitalist designs/artwork done by other artists, some of which utilised culture jamming very effectively, and some that found other effective ways to convey their message. Although I looked into many projects/campaigns like AdBusters, “Capitalism works for me!” by Steve Lambert, multiple projects from the Yes Men, posters from the Occupy Wall Street movement, and many others, I will focus on three examples that were the most significant inspiration for me. Barbra Kruger - I shop therefore I am It is impossible to discuss designers who have used their talents in activist capacities, without coming across Barbra Kruger. Her distinct style of Futura bold with sharp rectangles and her use of red and white colours is unique and iconic. In a way, these artistic decisions and her use of direct pronouns like “I” and “you” has become a brand identity of her own. Criticising our capitalist system is one of Kruger’s most well-known themes to address in her work, alongside the topic of feminism. One of her most popular pieces is one from 1987 known as “I shop therefore I am” [FIG 6]. The phrase is an alteration of a phrase from the French philosopher Rene Descartes, “I think therefore I am”. The original phrase aims to answer the question of “how do I know I exist?” by stating that if I have the ability to ask the question in the first place, then it must mean that I exist. Kruger twists this to attack society’s members who believe it’s necessary to supplant their own sense of worth with worldly possessions. She states that modern society believes that rather than more complex personal characteristics like accomplishments and individual ideas, people look to define themselves by their material belongings and social image instead. (Public Delivery, 2019) Channel 5 News/Repeat Stuff - Bo Burnham One of my biggest personal inspirations is Bo Burnham. His work often uses comedy and music to criticise elements of our modern society, in ways that don’t just spread his messages, but also entertain his audience. Although he is not a designer, but rather a comedian and musician, his work critiques industries that partake in unethical practices through the use of culture jamming, in similar ways to how I hope to do in my project. Both songs, “Channel 5 News” and “Repeat Stuff” are criticism of their respective industries; news media and pop music. Burnham mimics the tropes of both industries through the musical elements of his songs, while using the lyrics to bring to light the industry’s problems. “Repeat Stuff” also has a music video that parodies other pop artists’ music videos. Lines like “we tackle the flaws, in these obesity laws, in this segment that’s sponsored by Taco Bell” from Channel 5 News (2013) and “...Cashing in on puberty and low self-esteem, And girls’ desperate need to feel loved…” from Repeat Stuff (2013) clearly illustrate the direct nature of his criticism. What I find particularly note-worthy from both songs is how they hyperbolize the flaws of their respective industries. Burnham uses satanic motifs to clearly imply that the ones on top running these industries have dropped to satanic levels of exploitation and manipulation all in order to make more profits. This hyperbole makes the songs far more impactful, which is an effect I hope to replicate in the speculation element of my project. Brandalism “Brandalism” is a collective of activists, artists and designers that aim to “revolt against the corporate control of our culture and space.” (Brandalism, 2012) They utilise culture jamming to not only parody existing brand’s advertisements but also puts their work up in the same public spaces that large companies might. In doing so they not only help reclaim our public spaces from capitalist hegemony, but also bring to light the unethical practices of these companies. The perfect example of their work is their campaign against the 2015 “Conference of Parties”. The conference aimed to establish a global agreement to limit the emissions of further greenhouse gases, but was associated with many different companies attempting to greenwash their brands while continuing to contribute to rising temperatures with their own emissions. Brandalism put up 600 different “subvertisements” across Paris, the day before the talks were set to begin that directly used these brand’s identity to call them out on their contributions to climate change. Final Major Project Specialisation When breaking down the examples of what other designers have done using my earlier research, it was clear that they were making strides when it came to combating the problems of capitalism like alienation and commodity fetishization. Their work focused on bringing the information about the unethical ways that a company functions back to the forefront and heavily associating these unethical practices with their respective companies’ brands. But what I felt these past examples failed to tackle directly were two issues that I found to be almost unanimously present when conducting my own survey and interviews: pricing and accessibility of information. My results show that most people’s concern is a lack of time, energy or know-how to find unbiased information, and even when this information is available, it doesn’t influence their purchasing decisions, as their concern for ethics is eclipsed by their concern for price [FIG 13]. Even though over half of respondents stated that they take ethics into account when buying products [FIG 12], an overwhelming amount put “price” as their first priority, and “ethics” as their last, when asked to rank the following variables: price, convenience, speed, familiarity, and ethics [FIG 14]. I wanted to create a solution that tackled these issues and made ethics an important core part of being a successful brand. This is how I came to the idea for my solution “ergo sum” (the latin phrase for “therefore I am”, and the second half of “I shop therefore I am”) , an app that when used to scan a product either online or in person, will present you with a list of unethical practices that the product’s company partakes in. This information will be presented with that brand’s identity; using their colours, typeface, sounds, imagery, etc, therefore utilising culture jamming to associate these practices with the brand in the user’s mind. For more popular products and brands like iPhones or Cadbury Chocolates, there are animations and/or augmented reality elements that not only help the information stick in the user’s mind, but also make it shareable. The branding for the app itself is one that is distinct enough to be memorable, but can also fade into the background. Hence why it lacks colour and is inspired by the look of website wireframes, and other “brandless brands” like Muji. This is because I wanted the user’s focus to be on the brand of the products they scan. An important part of the app is how it also provides alternatives to the user that are from more ethical brands, that are either cheaper or similarly priced. With a large enough user base, this core function weaponizes the systems of capitalism against itself and combats greenwashing by making “being ethical” an important part of being a successful brand. Rather than undercutting their competition with lower prices, they could undercut them by having similar pricing, but conducting lesser or no unethical practices. An app like this may grow popular because users want to find more affordable alternatives to the things they want to buy as well as because they want to be more socially conscious about what they purchase. A widespread adoption can make it far easier to cut through the effects of commodity fetishization and manipulative business tactics. The app’s repeated use would make individuals more aware of the number of immoral practices that huge corporations are not only able to get away with, but encouraged to participate in under our capitalist system, due to their end goal always being to make more profits. Speculation Although my focus for my FMP has leaned a lot more towards the specialisation element, the speculation element is also important. My outcome for this project is a short video that utilises culture jamming to criticise a specific company and, in turn criticises capitalism. The company I chose for this is Nintendo as their strong branding is one that often hides unethical practices like their efforts towards union busting (Gach, 2022). Although my target audience for this element of my project is also the general public, I hope to have a particular focus on designers. It is also inevitable that the video is likely to resonate more with the gaming community, especially fans of Nintendo games. The video is split into 3 parts, the first seeming to be an advertisement for the “Nintendo Switch 2”. This section uses the colours, music, typeface, imagery, etc. that is unique to Nintendo’s brand, to make it seem like just another advertisement. But the next section of the video is almost identical to the first with its sequencing, but the words and footage touting the new features of the “Switch 2” have been replaced with direct call outs to the company’s unethical practices. This unexpected turn forces audiences to associate the company with not just its product but also its unfair practices, through the use of culture jamming. The third section of the video expands the focus to more than just Nintendo, and uses news clips and uncomfortable footage of companies doing unethical things to make the viewer feel an uneasy sense of dread. This short montage abruptly ends, with text on screen that directs these feelings of dread towards capitalism, and acts as a call to action to designers and all audiences to take a closer look at the flaws of the system we live in, and potentially use their skills to combat those flaws. Conclusion Both the speculation and specialisation elements of my project work together to bring attention to how broken our current capitalist society is. Seeing the negative impact that the desperate chase for profits has made on our society is troubling and incredibly frustrating. This frustration is what I channelled into my work in an attempt to raise awareness for the problems that plague our society due to the systems of capitalism. The slow gradual change towards a better more democratic society is sparked by an awareness that the change is necessary in the first place. Looking back at my work I feel it helps increase this awareness. In the future I hope to move my focus from using my work to address problems, to suggesting solutions; alterations or alternatives to capitalism that give the power back to the people. Capitalism is a core part of living in modern society. It is near impossible to exist without engaging in or participating in it. This hegemonic nature and its long-standing existence have convinced people that capitalism is the final evolution of economic systems. In addition, capitalism has ingrained itself into our political systems, and intertwined itself within the self-identity of our countries, further solidifying the idea that this is not only the best and most natural way for society to function, but it is the only way. But this idea is flawed. Capitalism is a widespread social construct. It is not inherently integral to the self-identity of any particular country, and it is neither perfect nor irreplaceable; thus, if it is not successfully achieving its goals or if those goals have become outdated, it can and should be replaced, or at the least altered (Second Thought, 2020; Wizinsky, 2022). My goal for this project is not only to question the structure of our economic society but also to bring to light the fragility of the idea that capitalism is inevitable or that it is an effective or positive way for our society to function. Widespread events like recessions, the housing crisis, the cost of living crisis, and the COVID-19 pandemic bring forward the idea that change needs to take place. This change is one that will take time and effort to make sure what replaces capitalism has a more democratic distribution of resources and the means of production. The first step in achieving this change is raising awareness that such a change is required or achievable. As the wealth gap between the top 1% and the average person widens, I want the public, particularly designers, to recognise that the mechanisms upon which modern society is founded are unsuitable and outdated and that we have the capacity and power to change them. Hence for my FMP I hope to target all general audiences, not just ones that are politically engaged. This is because if all people living in the modern world are subject to the systems of capitalism from birth, all people should also be made aware of its flaws. I also want to particularly focus on designers with the speculation element of my project in order to show them the impact of their role in preserving and/or creating the institutions that uphold capitalism. I hope to use my skills in branding, motion graphics, and video editing in order to create my final outcomes. Although these skills are not new to me, I am stepping out of my comfort zone by applying them to a project like this one. Designers and Capitalism Attempting to define the job of a “designer” can be difficult, as the practice of a designer is constantly expanding and evolving. We are surrounded by the creations of designers from many different fields, both old and new. But the constant across all these fields is that they all have a huge impact on our lives. Whether they are aware of this or not, they create the institutions that our society is built upon (Wizinsky, 2022). The work we do can have a widespread effect on millions of people all over the world. Unfortunately, under capitalism, the widespread effect is often reserved to serve the profit motive. We aim to etch our voices into the minds of consumers using our skills, just to end up saying, “Buy our stuff.” After researching the relationship between designers and capitalism and conducting a survey and interviews of my own with designers and design students, I found that designers, just like a large portion of the public, are often unaware of the economic or political impact of our work beyond the logics of capitalism (Wizinsky, 2022). We evaluate this impact by asking questions like “Did our profits increase?” or “Did this help the company grow?” but we fail to recognise that these questions are predicated on the idea that expansion in these areas is inherently positive. This dissonance between the authority we hold as decision-makers and our lack of awareness or control over the capitalist institutions we are actively endorsing can be frustrating. In the best cases, we are aware of our impact but are not able to challenge the status quo without risking our ability to put food on the table. In the worst cases, we are unintentionally or deliberately ignorant of our impact, either due to a lack of information/education or due to our unique privileges. Branding & Commodity Fetishism Branding is “the act of making a product, organisation, person, or place easy to recognize as different from others by connecting it with a particular name, design, symbol, set of qualities, etc” (Cambridge Dictionary, 2022). But in today’s world, the concept of branding has grown past the idea of loosely defined values and a recognizable logo. “Brands sell stories and make promises—of a better self-image, an improved appearance, more prestige, fulfillment, a healthier relationship to the world of brands, and so on” (Sturken and Cartwright, 2018, p. 272).  The focus of large corporations like Nike or Apple has progressively shifted more towards the marketing of their products, and less on their production. We are sold on the idea of a product and what that product represents, rather than the product itself. This can often create instances where these companies participate in “pseudoindividuality”. “Pseudoindividuality refers to the ways that cultural forms can define and interpellate viewer-consumer-users as individuals, when in fact they are selling homogeneous experiences” (Sturken and Cartwright, 2018). Apple sells the idea that its devices will allow their customers to express their individuality but the success of the company requires that they serve this same homogeneous idea of individuality to millions of customers. In Marxist theory, this “process of mystification that exists in capitalism between what things are and how they appear or what they mean to their users” (Sturken and Cartwright, 2018, p. 430) is known as Commodity Fetishism. “In commodity fetishism, exchange value supersedes use value so that things are valued not for what they do but for what they cost, how they look, and what connotations can be attached to them” (Sturken and Cartwright, 2018, p. 430). The main goal of good advertising is to empty a commodity of its inherent value and of how it was produced, and instead fill it with the new values assigned by a marketing team. The end user’s mind should be put as far away from how their products are made, or what even their products actually are, and should instead be on what those products, and in turn their brands, represent. This not only increases sales, but also allows the companies to more easily continue any unethical practices they might partake in, as the public’s attention is further skewed towards what the corporations want you to focus on instead.  Alienating the Worker and End User Potentially the most common flaw that anti-capitalist activists often repeat is how the capitalist system is built to separate individual workers from the means of producing goods/services. This idea comes from the Marxist theory of alienation. “In Marxism, alienation is a condition of capitalism in which humans experience a sense of separation from the products of their labour, hence from other aspects of life, including human relations” (Sturken and Cartwright, 2018, p. 426) This concept is one that explains the sense of existential dread, powerlessness and loneliness that we may feel as individuals, despite our society’s development and increased interdependence. The theory implies that alienation is inherent to the idea of capitalism, and a condition that it must fulfil. (Sturken and Cartwright, 2018; Øversveen, 2021) In addition to this, corporations capitalise on the worker’s separation from the means of production by exploiting their workers through unfair wages, unsafe working conditions, etc. These companies are often also the same large corporations that engage in commodity fetishization. In addition to this, companies have recently also started exploiting the dialogic loop of modern social media to personify themselves, further separating their brands from what they actually do. The leading example of this is Wendy’s use of Twitter, where they personify themselves as “the sassy friend that you can have lunch with”, rather than just a fast food chain. (Murthy, 2018; Baker, 2018) Capitalism and Activism The concept of selling ideas to consumers rather than just products is one that can go to very dark places, when those ideas are controversial or political ones. It is not uncommon today to see corporations taking a stance in political matters, but in our capitalist society these brands do not really have to believe in the ideas they are selling, as long as they are still fulfilling their end goal: to make profits. The perfect example of this is Nike’s push for women empowerment by featuring them in their advertising, back in 1978. But during this campaign, the female workers in the factories that made their shoes were put in horrible working conditions. (Sturken and Cartwright, 2018) The company was called out by Adbusters through the use of culture jamming, a concept I will explore further later in this essay. [FIG 4] Today, certain corporations have garnered support and built an audience, almost exclusively by focusing on selling ideas to such an extent, that their products are no longer the focus anymore. These corporations will often use people’s desire for identity in order to sell to them. (Klein, 2000) The perfect example of this is Alex Jones, and his coverage of “the war on christmas”. Alex Jones is an American right-wing conspiracy theorist who runs a show called “InfoWars”. In December of 2019 he, along with other right-wing media like Fox News started to sell the idea that the “woke left” were trying to get rid of christmas. Jones was exploiting the religious beliefs of his audience as he was aware that most of them were Christians. The points brought up and evidence provided in his coverage was weak and easily refutable (Harris Michael Brewis, 2020), but his fear-mongering was effective. He concludes the show by saying “the very same forces that have it out for christianity, have it out for InfoWars, and for you and your family”, following this up with a plea to go to InfoWars’ online store and  buy their products to help fund his show. The store sells incredibly expensive products like supplements and toothpaste, all branded with the InfoWars logo. This shows how corporations no longer have to simply take sides in political issues in order to sell more products, but have the capacity and power to manipulate public perception in order to create their own political issues that they can then use to make profits. InfoWars toothpaste isn’t a generic toothpaste with their logo put onto it, but is rather a way for the person who buys it to show that they are a patriotic Christian American that is fighting to preserve the freedoms their country provides them. Combating the Flaws of Capitalism It’s clear from previous sections that the goal of corporations is to distract us from their unethical practices in order to make their products more enticing. Hence, effectively combating the flaws of capitalism means that we must inform the public not only of the things the corporations don’t want them to know or think about, but also that these problems exist because of our capitalist system. But this is challenging as the brands that these corporations have built are so strong that when most people think of them their mind naturally goes to the ideas that they sell. For example when fans of Nintendo think of the company, they think of old nostalgic video games like Pokemon or Mario, not the company’s unfair and anti-consumer behaviour. However, designers and artists have found a way to not only subvert the pervasiveness of effective branding but also to utilise its recognizability to fight back against it through culture jamming. “Culture jamming is the practice of criticising and subverting advertising and consumerism in the mass media, by methods such as producing advertisements parodying those of global brands.” (Oxford Languages, 2023) It is an incredibly powerful practice as it utilises a form of parody that directly hijacks the success of an existing brand identity in order to convey a new message by associating that new message with that brand identity. Often this new message is one that criticises the original brand it is parodying. To find inspiration and direction for my own work I looked into multiple examples of anti-capitalist designs/artwork done by other artists, some of which utilised culture jamming very effectively, and some that found other effective ways to convey their message. Although I looked into many projects/campaigns like AdBusters, “Capitalism works for me!” by Steve Lambert, multiple projects from the Yes Men, posters from the Occupy Wall Street movement, and many others, I will focus on three examples that were the most significant inspiration for me. Barbra Kruger - I shop therefore I am It is impossible to discuss designers who have used their talents in activist capacities, without coming across Barbra Kruger. Her distinct style of Futura bold with sharp rectangles and her use of red and white colours is unique and iconic. In a way, these artistic decisions and her use of direct pronouns like “I” and “you” has become a brand identity of her own. Criticising our capitalist system is one of Kruger’s most well-known themes to address in her work, alongside the topic of feminism. One of her most popular pieces is one from 1987 known as “I shop therefore I am” [FIG 6]. The phrase is an alteration of a phrase from the French philosopher Rene Descartes, “I think therefore I am”. The original phrase aims to answer the question of “how do I know I exist?” by stating that if I have the ability to ask the question in the first place, then it must mean that I exist. Kruger twists this to attack society’s members who believe it’s necessary to supplant their own sense of worth with worldly possessions. She states that modern society believes that rather than more complex personal characteristics like accomplishments and individual ideas, people look to define themselves by their material belongings and social image instead. (Public Delivery, 2019) Channel 5 News/Repeat Stuff - Bo Burnham One of my biggest personal inspirations is Bo Burnham. His work often uses comedy and music to criticise elements of our modern society, in ways that don’t just spread his messages, but also entertain his audience. Although he is not a designer, but rather a comedian and musician, his work critiques industries that partake in unethical practices through the use of culture jamming, in similar ways to how I hope to do in my project. Both songs, “Channel 5 News” and “Repeat Stuff” are criticism of their respective industries; news media and pop music. Burnham mimics the tropes of both industries through the musical elements of his songs, while using the lyrics to bring to light the industry’s problems. “Repeat Stuff” also has a music video that parodies other pop artists’ music videos. Lines like “we tackle the flaws, in these obesity laws, in this segment that’s sponsored by Taco Bell” from Channel 5 News (2013) and “...Cashing in on puberty and low self-esteem, And girls’ desperate need to feel loved…” from Repeat Stuff (2013) clearly illustrate the direct nature of his criticism. What I find particularly note-worthy from both songs is how they hyperbolize the flaws of their respective industries. Burnham uses satanic motifs to clearly imply that the ones on top running these industries have dropped to satanic levels of exploitation and manipulation all in order to make more profits. This hyperbole makes the songs far more impactful, which is an effect I hope to replicate in the speculation element of my project. Brandalism “Brandalism” is a collective of activists, artists and designers that aim to “revolt against the corporate control of our culture and space.” (Brandalism, 2012) They utilise culture jamming to not only parody existing brand’s advertisements but also puts their work up in the same public spaces that large companies might. In doing so they not only help reclaim our public spaces from capitalist hegemony, but also bring to light the unethical practices of these companies. The perfect example of their work is their campaign against the 2015 “Conference of Parties”. The conference aimed to establish a global agreement to limit the emissions of further greenhouse gases, but was associated with many different companies attempting to greenwash their brands while continuing to contribute to rising temperatures with their own emissions. Brandalism put up 600 different “subvertisements” across Paris, the day before the talks were set to begin that directly used these brand’s identity to call them out on their contributions to climate change. Final Major Project Specialisation When breaking down the examples of what other designers have done using my earlier research, it was clear that they were making strides when it came to combating the problems of capitalism like alienation and commodity fetishization. Their work focused on bringing the information about the unethical ways that a company functions back to the forefront and heavily associating these unethical practices with their respective companies’ brands. But what I felt these past examples failed to tackle directly were two issues that I found to be almost unanimously present when conducting my own survey and interviews: pricing and accessibility of information. My results show that most people’s concern is a lack of time, energy or know-how to find unbiased information, and even when this information is available, it doesn’t influence their purchasing decisions, as their concern for ethics is eclipsed by their concern for price [FIG 13]. Even though over half of respondents stated that they take ethics into account when buying products [FIG 12], an overwhelming amount put “price” as their first priority, and “ethics” as their last, when asked to rank the following variables: price, convenience, speed, familiarity, and ethics [FIG 14]. I wanted to create a solution that tackled these issues and made ethics an important core part of being a successful brand. This is how I came to the idea for my solution “ergo sum” (the latin phrase for “therefore I am”, and the second half of “I shop therefore I am”) , an app that when used to scan a product either online or in person, will present you with a list of unethical practices that the product’s company partakes in. This information will be presented with that brand’s identity; using their colours, typeface, sounds, imagery, etc, therefore utilising culture jamming to associate these practices with the brand in the user’s mind. For more popular products and brands like iPhones or Cadbury Chocolates, there are animations and/or augmented reality elements that not only help the information stick in the user’s mind, but also make it shareable. The branding for the app itself is one that is distinct enough to be memorable, but can also fade into the background. Hence why it lacks colour and is inspired by the look of website wireframes, and other “brandless brands” like Muji. This is because I wanted the user’s focus to be on the brand of the products they scan. An important part of the app is how it also provides alternatives to the user that are from more ethical brands, that are either cheaper or similarly priced. With a large enough user base, this core function weaponizes the systems of capitalism against itself and combats greenwashing by making “being ethical” an important part of being a successful brand. Rather than undercutting their competition with lower prices, they could undercut them by having similar pricing, but conducting lesser or no unethical practices. An app like this may grow popular because users want to find more affordable alternatives to the things they want to buy as well as because they want to be more socially conscious about what they purchase. A widespread adoption can make it far easier to cut through the effects of commodity fetishization and manipulative business tactics. The app’s repeated use would make individuals more aware of the number of immoral practices that huge corporations are not only able to get away with, but encouraged to participate in under our capitalist system, due to their end goal always being to make more profits. Speculation Although my focus for my FMP has leaned a lot more towards the specialisation element, the speculation element is also important. My outcome for this project is a short video that utilises culture jamming to criticise a specific company and, in turn criticises capitalism. The company I chose for this is Nintendo as their strong branding is one that often hides unethical practices like their efforts towards union busting (Gach, 2022). Although my target audience for this element of my project is also the general public, I hope to have a particular focus on designers. It is also inevitable that the video is likely to resonate more with the gaming community, especially fans of Nintendo games. The video is split into 3 parts, the first seeming to be an advertisement for the “Nintendo Switch 2”. This section uses the colours, music, typeface, imagery, etc. that is unique to Nintendo’s brand, to make it seem like just another advertisement. But the next section of the video is almost identical to the first with its sequencing, but the words and footage touting the new features of the “Switch 2” have been replaced with direct call outs to the company’s unethical practices. This unexpected turn forces audiences to associate the company with not just its product but also its unfair practices, through the use of culture jamming. The third section of the video expands the focus to more than just Nintendo, and uses news clips and uncomfortable footage of companies doing unethical things to make the viewer feel an uneasy sense of dread. This short montage abruptly ends, with text on screen that directs these feelings of dread towards capitalism, and acts as a call to action to designers and all audiences to take a closer look at the flaws of the system we live in, and potentially use their skills to combat those flaws. Conclusion Both the speculation and specialisation elements of my project work together to bring attention to how broken our current capitalist society is. Seeing the negative impact that the desperate chase for profits has made on our society is troubling and incredibly frustrating. This frustration is what I channelled into my work in an attempt to raise awareness for the problems that plague our society due to the systems of capitalism. The slow gradual change towards a better more democratic society is sparked by an awareness that the change is necessary in the first place. Looking back at my work I feel it helps increase this awareness. In the future I hope to move my focus from using my work to address problems, to suggesting solutions; alterations or alternatives to capitalism that give the power back to the people. Capitalism is a core part of living in modern society. It is near impossible to exist without engaging in or participating in it. This hegemonic nature and its long-standing existence have convinced people that capitalism is the final evolution of economic systems. In addition, capitalism has ingrained itself into our political systems, and intertwined itself within the self-identity of our countries, further solidifying the idea that this is not only the best and most natural way for society to function, but it is the only way. But this idea is flawed. Capitalism is a widespread social construct. It is not inherently integral to the self-identity of any particular country, and it is neither perfect nor irreplaceable; thus, if it is not successfully achieving its goals or if those goals have become outdated, it can and should be replaced, or at the least altered (Second Thought, 2020; Wizinsky, 2022). My goal for this project is not only to question the structure of our economic society but also to bring to light the fragility of the idea that capitalism is inevitable or that it is an effective or positive way for our society to function. Widespread events like recessions, the housing crisis, the cost of living crisis, and the COVID-19 pandemic bring forward the idea that change needs to take place. This change is one that will take time and effort to make sure what replaces capitalism has a more democratic distribution of resources and the means of production. The first step in achieving this change is raising awareness that such a change is required or achievable. As the wealth gap between the top 1% and the average person widens, I want the public, particularly designers, to recognise that the mechanisms upon which modern society is founded are unsuitable and outdated and that we have the capacity and power to change them. Hence for my FMP I hope to target all general audiences, not just ones that are politically engaged. This is because if all people living in the modern world are subject to the systems of capitalism from birth, all people should also be made aware of its flaws. I also want to particularly focus on designers with the speculation element of my project in order to show them the impact of their role in preserving and/or creating the institutions that uphold capitalism. I hope to use my skills in branding, motion graphics, and video editing in order to create my final outcomes. Although these skills are not new to me, I am stepping out of my comfort zone by applying them to a project like this one. Designers and Capitalism Attempting to define the job of a “designer” can be difficult, as the practice of a designer is constantly expanding and evolving. We are surrounded by the creations of designers from many different fields, both old and new. But the constant across all these fields is that they all have a huge impact on our lives. Whether they are aware of this or not, they create the institutions that our society is built upon (Wizinsky, 2022). The work we do can have a widespread effect on millions of people all over the world. Unfortunately, under capitalism, the widespread effect is often reserved to serve the profit motive. We aim to etch our voices into the minds of consumers using our skills, just to end up saying, “Buy our stuff.” After researching the relationship between designers and capitalism and conducting a survey and interviews of my own with designers and design students, I found that designers, just like a large portion of the public, are often unaware of the economic or political impact of our work beyond the logics of capitalism (Wizinsky, 2022). We evaluate this impact by asking questions like “Did our profits increase?” or “Did this help the company grow?” but we fail to recognise that these questions are predicated on the idea that expansion in these areas is inherently positive. This dissonance between the authority we hold as decision-makers and our lack of awareness or control over the capitalist institutions we are actively endorsing can be frustrating. In the best cases, we are aware of our impact but are not able to challenge the status quo without risking our ability to put food on the table. In the worst cases, we are unintentionally or deliberately ignorant of our impact, either due to a lack of information/education or due to our unique privileges. Branding & Commodity Fetishism Branding is “the act of making a product, organisation, person, or place easy to recognize as different from others by connecting it with a particular name, design, symbol, set of qualities, etc” (Cambridge Dictionary, 2022). But in today’s world, the concept of branding has grown past the idea of loosely defined values and a recognizable logo. “Brands sell stories and make promises—of a better self-image, an improved appearance, more prestige, fulfillment, a healthier relationship to the world of brands, and so on” (Sturken and Cartwright, 2018, p. 272).  The focus of large corporations like Nike or Apple has progressively shifted more towards the marketing of their products, and less on their production. We are sold on the idea of a product and what that product represents, rather than the product itself. This can often create instances where these companies participate in “pseudoindividuality”. “Pseudoindividuality refers to the ways that cultural forms can define and interpellate viewer-consumer-users as individuals, when in fact they are selling homogeneous experiences” (Sturken and Cartwright, 2018). Apple sells the idea that its devices will allow their customers to express their individuality but the success of the company requires that they serve this same homogeneous idea of individuality to millions of customers. In Marxist theory, this “process of mystification that exists in capitalism between what things are and how they appear or what they mean to their users” (Sturken and Cartwright, 2018, p. 430) is known as Commodity Fetishism. “In commodity fetishism, exchange value supersedes use value so that things are valued not for what they do but for what they cost, how they look, and what connotations can be attached to them” (Sturken and Cartwright, 2018, p. 430). The main goal of good advertising is to empty a commodity of its inherent value and of how it was produced, and instead fill it with the new values assigned by a marketing team. The end user’s mind should be put as far away from how their products are made, or what even their products actually are, and should instead be on what those products, and in turn their brands, represent. This not only increases sales, but also allows the companies to more easily continue any unethical practices they might partake in, as the public’s attention is further skewed towards what the corporations want you to focus on instead.  Alienating the Worker and End User Potentially the most common flaw that anti-capitalist activists often repeat is how the capitalist system is built to separate individual workers from the means of producing goods/services. This idea comes from the Marxist theory of alienation. “In Marxism, alienation is a condition of capitalism in which humans experience a sense of separation from the products of their labour, hence from other aspects of life, including human relations” (Sturken and Cartwright, 2018, p. 426) This concept is one that explains the sense of existential dread, powerlessness and loneliness that we may feel as individuals, despite our society’s development and increased interdependence. The theory implies that alienation is inherent to the idea of capitalism, and a condition that it must fulfil. (Sturken and Cartwright, 2018; Øversveen, 2021) In addition to this, corporations capitalise on the worker’s separation from the means of production by exploiting their workers through unfair wages, unsafe working conditions, etc. These companies are often also the same large corporations that engage in commodity fetishization. In addition to this, companies have recently also started exploiting the dialogic loop of modern social media to personify themselves, further separating their brands from what they actually do. The leading example of this is Wendy’s use of Twitter, where they personify themselves as “the sassy friend that you can have lunch with”, rather than just a fast food chain. (Murthy, 2018; Baker, 2018) Capitalism and Activism The concept of selling ideas to consumers rather than just products is one that can go to very dark places, when those ideas are controversial or political ones. It is not uncommon today to see corporations taking a stance in political matters, but in our capitalist society these brands do not really have to believe in the ideas they are selling, as long as they are still fulfilling their end goal: to make profits. The perfect example of this is Nike’s push for women empowerment by featuring them in their advertising, back in 1978. But during this campaign, the female workers in the factories that made their shoes were put in horrible working conditions. (Sturken and Cartwright, 2018) The company was called out by Adbusters through the use of culture jamming, a concept I will explore further later in this essay. [FIG 4] Today, certain corporations have garnered support and built an audience, almost exclusively by focusing on selling ideas to such an extent, that their products are no longer the focus anymore. These corporations will often use people’s desire for identity in order to sell to them. (Klein, 2000) The perfect example of this is Alex Jones, and his coverage of “the war on christmas”. Alex Jones is an American right-wing conspiracy theorist who runs a show called “InfoWars”. In December of 2019 he, along with other right-wing media like Fox News started to sell the idea that the “woke left” were trying to get rid of christmas. Jones was exploiting the religious beliefs of his audience as he was aware that most of them were Christians. The points brought up and evidence provided in his coverage was weak and easily refutable (Harris Michael Brewis, 2020), but his fear-mongering was effective. He concludes the show by saying “the very same forces that have it out for christianity, have it out for InfoWars, and for you and your family”, following this up with a plea to go to InfoWars’ online store and  buy their products to help fund his show. The store sells incredibly expensive products like supplements and toothpaste, all branded with the InfoWars logo. This shows how corporations no longer have to simply take sides in political issues in order to sell more products, but have the capacity and power to manipulate public perception in order to create their own political issues that they can then use to make profits. InfoWars toothpaste isn’t a generic toothpaste with their logo put onto it, but is rather a way for the person who buys it to show that they are a patriotic Christian American that is fighting to preserve the freedoms their country provides them. Combating the Flaws of Capitalism It’s clear from previous sections that the goal of corporations is to distract us from their unethical practices in order to make their products more enticing. Hence, effectively combating the flaws of capitalism means that we must inform the public not only of the things the corporations don’t want them to know or think about, but also that these problems exist because of our capitalist system. But this is challenging as the brands that these corporations have built are so strong that when most people think of them their mind naturally goes to the ideas that they sell. For example when fans of Nintendo think of the company, they think of old nostalgic video games like Pokemon or Mario, not the company’s unfair and anti-consumer behaviour. However, designers and artists have found a way to not only subvert the pervasiveness of effective branding but also to utilise its recognizability to fight back against it through culture jamming. “Culture jamming is the practice of criticising and subverting advertising and consumerism in the mass media, by methods such as producing advertisements parodying those of global brands.” (Oxford Languages, 2023) It is an incredibly powerful practice as it utilises a form of parody that directly hijacks the success of an existing brand identity in order to convey a new message by associating that new message with that brand identity. Often this new message is one that criticises the original brand it is parodying. To find inspiration and direction for my own work I looked into multiple examples of anti-capitalist designs/artwork done by other artists, some of which utilised culture jamming very effectively, and some that found other effective ways to convey their message. Although I looked into many projects/campaigns like AdBusters, “Capitalism works for me!” by Steve Lambert, multiple projects from the Yes Men, posters from the Occupy Wall Street movement, and many others, I will focus on three examples that were the most significant inspiration for me. Barbra Kruger - I shop therefore I am It is impossible to discuss designers who have used their talents in activist capacities, without coming across Barbra Kruger. Her distinct style of Futura bold with sharp rectangles and her use of red and white colours is unique and iconic. In a way, these artistic decisions and her use of direct pronouns like “I” and “you” has become a brand identity of her own. Criticising our capitalist system is one of Kruger’s most well-known themes to address in her work, alongside the topic of feminism. One of her most popular pieces is one from 1987 known as “I shop therefore I am” [FIG 6]. The phrase is an alteration of a phrase from the French philosopher Rene Descartes, “I think therefore I am”. The original phrase aims to answer the question of “how do I know I exist?” by stating that if I have the ability to ask the question in the first place, then it must mean that I exist. Kruger twists this to attack society’s members who believe it’s necessary to supplant their own sense of worth with worldly possessions. She states that modern society believes that rather than more complex personal characteristics like accomplishments and individual ideas, people look to define themselves by their material belongings and social image instead. (Public Delivery, 2019) Channel 5 News/Repeat Stuff - Bo Burnham One of my biggest personal inspirations is Bo Burnham. His work often uses comedy and music to criticise elements of our modern society, in ways that don’t just spread his messages, but also entertain his audience. Although he is not a designer, but rather a comedian and musician, his work critiques industries that partake in unethical practices through the use of culture jamming, in similar ways to how I hope to do in my project. Both songs, “Channel 5 News” and “Repeat Stuff” are criticism of their respective industries; news media and pop music. Burnham mimics the tropes of both industries through the musical elements of his songs, while using the lyrics to bring to light the industry’s problems. “Repeat Stuff” also has a music video that parodies other pop artists’ music videos. Lines like “we tackle the flaws, in these obesity laws, in this segment that’s sponsored by Taco Bell” from Channel 5 News (2013) and “...Cashing in on puberty and low self-esteem, And girls’ desperate need to feel loved…” from Repeat Stuff (2013) clearly illustrate the direct nature of his criticism. What I find particularly note-worthy from both songs is how they hyperbolize the flaws of their respective industries. Burnham uses satanic motifs to clearly imply that the ones on top running these industries have dropped to satanic levels of exploitation and manipulation all in order to make more profits. This hyperbole makes the songs far more impactful, which is an effect I hope to replicate in the speculation element of my project. Brandalism “Brandalism” is a collective of activists, artists and designers that aim to “revolt against the corporate control of our culture and space.” (Brandalism, 2012) They utilise culture jamming to not only parody existing brand’s advertisements but also puts their work up in the same public spaces that large companies might. In doing so they not only help reclaim our public spaces from capitalist hegemony, but also bring to light the unethical practices of these companies. The perfect example of their work is their campaign against the 2015 “Conference of Parties”. The conference aimed to establish a global agreement to limit the emissions of further greenhouse gases, but was associated with many different companies attempting to greenwash their brands while continuing to contribute to rising temperatures with their own emissions. Brandalism put up 600 different “subvertisements” across Paris, the day before the talks were set to begin that directly used these brand’s identity to call them out on their contributions to climate change. Final Major Project Specialisation When breaking down the examples of what other designers have done using my earlier research, it was clear that they were making strides when it came to combating the problems of capitalism like alienation and commodity fetishization. Their work focused on bringing the information about the unethical ways that a company functions back to the forefront and heavily associating these unethical practices with their respective companies’ brands. But what I felt these past examples failed to tackle directly were two issues that I found to be almost unanimously present when conducting my own survey and interviews: pricing and accessibility of information. My results show that most people’s concern is a lack of time, energy or know-how to find unbiased information, and even when this information is available, it doesn’t influence their purchasing decisions, as their concern for ethics is eclipsed by their concern for price [FIG 13]. Even though over half of respondents stated that they take ethics into account when buying products [FIG 12], an overwhelming amount put “price” as their first priority, and “ethics” as their last, when asked to rank the following variables: price, convenience, speed, familiarity, and ethics [FIG 14]. I wanted to create a solution that tackled these issues and made ethics an important core part of being a successful brand. This is how I came to the idea for my solution “ergo sum” (the latin phrase for “therefore I am”, and the second half of “I shop therefore I am”) , an app that when used to scan a product either online or in person, will present you with a list of unethical practices that the product’s company partakes in. This information will be presented with that brand’s identity; using their colours, typeface, sounds, imagery, etc, therefore utilising culture jamming to associate these practices with the brand in the user’s mind. For more popular products and brands like iPhones or Cadbury Chocolates, there are animations and/or augmented reality elements that not only help the information stick in the user’s mind, but also make it shareable. The branding for the app itself is one that is distinct enough to be memorable, but can also fade into the background. Hence why it lacks colour and is inspired by the look of website wireframes, and other “brandless brands” like Muji. This is because I wanted the user’s focus to be on the brand of the products they scan. An important part of the app is how it also provides alternatives to the user that are from more ethical brands, that are either cheaper or similarly priced. With a large enough user base, this core function weaponizes the systems of capitalism against itself and combats greenwashing by making “being ethical” an important part of being a successful brand. Rather than undercutting their competition with lower prices, they could undercut them by having similar pricing, but conducting lesser or no unethical practices. An app like this may grow popular because users want to find more affordable alternatives to the things they want to buy as well as because they want to be more socially conscious about what they purchase. A widespread adoption can make it far easier to cut through the effects of commodity fetishization and manipulative business tactics. The app’s repeated use would make individuals more aware of the number of immoral practices that huge corporations are not only able to get away with, but encouraged to participate in under our capitalist system, due to their end goal always being to make more profits. Speculation Although my focus for my FMP has leaned a lot more towards the specialisation element, the speculation element is also important. My outcome for this project is a short video that utilises culture jamming to criticise a specific company and, in turn criticises capitalism. The company I chose for this is Nintendo as their strong branding is one that often hides unethical practices like their efforts towards union busting (Gach, 2022). Although my target audience for this element of my project is also the general public, I hope to have a particular focus on designers. It is also inevitable that the video is likely to resonate more with the gaming community, especially fans of Nintendo games. The video is split into 3 parts, the first seeming to be an advertisement for the “Nintendo Switch 2”. This section uses the colours, music, typeface, imagery, etc. that is unique to Nintendo’s brand, to make it seem like just another advertisement. But the next section of the video is almost identical to the first with its sequencing, but the words and footage touting the new features of the “Switch 2” have been replaced with direct call outs to the company’s unethical practices. This unexpected turn forces audiences to associate the company with not just its product but also its unfair practices, through the use of culture jamming. The third section of the video expands the focus to more than just Nintendo, and uses news clips and uncomfortable footage of companies doing unethical things to make the viewer feel an uneasy sense of dread. This short montage abruptly ends, with text on screen that directs these feelings of dread towards capitalism, and acts as a call to action to designers and all audiences to take a closer look at the flaws of the system we live in, and potentially use their skills to combat those flaws. Conclusion Both the speculation and specialisation elements of my project work together to bring attention to how broken our current capitalist society is. Seeing the negative impact that the desperate chase for profits has made on our society is troubling and incredibly frustrating. This frustration is what I channelled into my work in an attempt to raise awareness for the problems that plague our society due to the systems of capitalism. The slow gradual change towards a better more democratic society is sparked by an awareness that the change is necessary in the first place. Looking back at my work I feel it helps increase this awareness. In the future I hope to move my focus from using my work to address problems, to suggesting solutions; alterations or alternatives to capitalism that give the power back to the people. Capitalism is a core part of living in modern society. It is near impossible to exist without engaging in or participating in it. This hegemonic nature and its long-standing existence have convinced people that capitalism is the final evolution of economic systems. In addition, capitalism has ingrained itself into our political systems, and intertwined itself within the self-identity of our countries, further solidifying the idea that this is not only the best and most natural way for society to function, but it is the only way. But this idea is flawed. Capitalism is a widespread social construct. It is not inherently integral to the self-identity of any particular country, and it is neither perfect nor irreplaceable; thus, if it is not successfully achieving its goals or if those goals have become outdated, it can and should be replaced, or at the least altered (Second Thought, 2020; Wizinsky, 2022). My goal for this project is not only to question the structure of our economic society but also to bring to light the fragility of the idea that capitalism is inevitable or that it is an effective or positive way for our society to function. Widespread events like recessions, the housing crisis, the cost of living crisis, and the COVID-19 pandemic bring forward the idea that change needs to take place. This change is one that will take time and effort to make sure what replaces capitalism has a more democratic distribution of resources and the means of production. The first step in achieving this change is raising awareness that such a change is required or achievable. As the wealth gap between the top 1% and the average person widens, I want the public, particularly designers, to recognise that the mechanisms upon which modern society is founded are unsuitable and outdated and that we have the capacity and power to change them. Hence for my FMP I hope to target all general audiences, not just ones that are politically engaged. This is because if all people living in the modern world are subject to the systems of capitalism from birth, all people should also be made aware of its flaws. I also want to particularly focus on designers with the speculation element of my project in order to show them the impact of their role in preserving and/or creating the institutions that uphold capitalism. I hope to use my skills in branding, motion graphics, and video editing in order to create my final outcomes. Although these skills are not new to me, I am stepping out of my comfort zone by applying them to a project like this one. Designers and Capitalism Attempting to define the job of a “designer” can be difficult, as the practice of a designer is constantly expanding and evolving. We are surrounded by the creations of designers from many different fields, both old and new. But the constant across all these fields is that they all have a huge impact on our lives. Whether they are aware of this or not, they create the institutions that our society is built upon (Wizinsky, 2022). The work we do can have a widespread effect on millions of people all over the world. Unfortunately, under capitalism, the widespread effect is often reserved to serve the profit motive. We aim to etch our voices into the minds of consumers using our skills, just to end up saying, “Buy our stuff.” After researching the relationship between designers and capitalism and conducting a survey and interviews of my own with designers and design students, I found that designers, just like a large portion of the public, are often unaware of the economic or political impact of our work beyond the logics of capitalism (Wizinsky, 2022). We evaluate this impact by asking questions like “Did our profits increase?” or “Did this help the company grow?” but we fail to recognise that these questions are predicated on the idea that expansion in these areas is inherently positive. This dissonance between the authority we hold as decision-makers and our lack of awareness or control over the capitalist institutions we are actively endorsing can be frustrating. In the best cases, we are aware of our impact but are not able to challenge the status quo without risking our ability to put food on the table. In the worst cases, we are unintentionally or deliberately ignorant of our impact, either due to a lack of information/education or due to our unique privileges. Branding & Commodity Fetishism Branding is “the act of making a product, organisation, person, or place easy to recognize as different from others by connecting it with a particular name, design, symbol, set of qualities, etc” (Cambridge Dictionary, 2022). But in today’s world, the concept of branding has grown past the idea of loosely defined values and a recognizable logo. “Brands sell stories and make promises—of a better self-image, an improved appearance, more prestige, fulfillment, a healthier relationship to the world of brands, and so on” (Sturken and Cartwright, 2018, p. 272).  The focus of large corporations like Nike or Apple has progressively shifted more towards the marketing of their products, and less on their production. We are sold on the idea of a product and what that product represents, rather than the product itself. This can often create instances where these companies participate in “pseudoindividuality”. “Pseudoindividuality refers to the ways that cultural forms can define and interpellate viewer-consumer-users as individuals, when in fact they are selling homogeneous experiences” (Sturken and Cartwright, 2018). Apple sells the idea that its devices will allow their customers to express their individuality but the success of the company requires that they serve this same homogeneous idea of individuality to millions of customers. In Marxist theory, this “process of mystification that exists in capitalism between what things are and how they appear or what they mean to their users” (Sturken and Cartwright, 2018, p. 430) is known as Commodity Fetishism. “In commodity fetishism, exchange value supersedes use value so that things are valued not for what they do but for what they cost, how they look, and what connotations can be attached to them” (Sturken and Cartwright, 2018, p. 430). The main goal of good advertising is to empty a commodity of its inherent value and of how it was produced, and instead fill it with the new values assigned by a marketing team. The end user’s mind should be put as far away from how their products are made, or what even their products actually are, and should instead be on what those products, and in turn their brands, represent. This not only increases sales, but also allows the companies to more easily continue any unethical practices they might partake in, as the public’s attention is further skewed towards what the corporations want you to focus on instead.  Alienating the Worker and End User Potentially the most common flaw that anti-capitalist activists often repeat is how the capitalist system is built to separate individual workers from the means of producing goods/services. This idea comes from the Marxist theory of alienation. “In Marxism, alienation is a condition of capitalism in which humans experience a sense of separation from the products of their labour, hence from other aspects of life, including human relations” (Sturken and Cartwright, 2018, p. 426) This concept is one that explains the sense of existential dread, powerlessness and loneliness that we may feel as individuals, despite our society’s development and increased interdependence. The theory implies that alienation is inherent to the idea of capitalism, and a condition that it must fulfil. (Sturken and Cartwright, 2018; Øversveen, 2021) In addition to this, corporations capitalise on the worker’s separation from the means of production by exploiting their workers through unfair wages, unsafe working conditions, etc. These companies are often also the same large corporations that engage in commodity fetishization. In addition to this, companies have recently also started exploiting the dialogic loop of modern social media to personify themselves, further separating their brands from what they actually do. The leading example of this is Wendy’s use of Twitter, where they personify themselves as “the sassy friend that you can have lunch with”, rather than just a fast food chain. (Murthy, 2018; Baker, 2018) Capitalism and Activism The concept of selling ideas to consumers rather than just products is one that can go to very dark places, when those ideas are controversial or political ones. It is not uncommon today to see corporations taking a stance in political matters, but in our capitalist society these brands do not really have to believe in the ideas they are selling, as long as they are still fulfilling their end goal: to make profits. The perfect example of this is Nike’s push for women empowerment by featuring them in their advertising, back in 1978. But during this campaign, the female workers in the factories that made their shoes were put in horrible working conditions. (Sturken and Cartwright, 2018) The company was called out by Adbusters through the use of culture jamming, a concept I will explore further later in this essay. [FIG 4] Today, certain corporations have garnered support and built an audience, almost exclusively by focusing on selling ideas to such an extent, that their products are no longer the focus anymore. These corporations will often use people’s desire for identity in order to sell to them. (Klein, 2000) The perfect example of this is Alex Jones, and his coverage of “the war on christmas”. Alex Jones is an American right-wing conspiracy theorist who runs a show called “InfoWars”. In December of 2019 he, along with other right-wing media like Fox News started to sell the idea that the “woke left” were trying to get rid of christmas. Jones was exploiting the religious beliefs of his audience as he was aware that most of them were Christians. The points brought up and evidence provided in his coverage was weak and easily refutable (Harris Michael Brewis, 2020), but his fear-mongering was effective. He concludes the show by saying “the very same forces that have it out for christianity, have it out for InfoWars, and for you and your family”, following this up with a plea to go to InfoWars’ online store and  buy their products to help fund his show. The store sells incredibly expensive products like supplements and toothpaste, all branded with the InfoWars logo. This shows how corporations no longer have to simply take sides in political issues in order to sell more products, but have the capacity and power to manipulate public perception in order to create their own political issues that they can then use to make profits. InfoWars toothpaste isn’t a generic toothpaste with their logo put onto it, but is rather a way for the person who buys it to show that they are a patriotic Christian American that is fighting to preserve the freedoms their country provides them. Combating the Flaws of Capitalism It’s clear from previous sections that the goal of corporations is to distract us from their unethical practices in order to make their products more enticing. Hence, effectively combating the flaws of capitalism means that we must inform the public not only of the things the corporations don’t want them to know or think about, but also that these problems exist because of our capitalist system. But this is challenging as the brands that these corporations have built are so strong that when most people think of them their mind naturally goes to the ideas that they sell. For example when fans of Nintendo think of the company, they think of old nostalgic video games like Pokemon or Mario, not the company’s unfair and anti-consumer behaviour. However, designers and artists have found a way to not only subvert the pervasiveness of effective branding but also to utilise its recognizability to fight back against it through culture jamming. “Culture jamming is the practice of criticising and subverting advertising and consumerism in the mass media, by methods such as producing advertisements parodying those of global brands.” (Oxford Languages, 2023) It is an incredibly powerful practice as it utilises a form of parody that directly hijacks the success of an existing brand identity in order to convey a new message by associating that new message with that brand identity. Often this new message is one that criticises the original brand it is parodying. To find inspiration and direction for my own work I looked into multiple examples of anti-capitalist designs/artwork done by other artists, some of which utilised culture jamming very effectively, and some that found other effective ways to convey their message. Although I looked into many projects/campaigns like AdBusters, “Capitalism works for me!” by Steve Lambert, multiple projects from the Yes Men, posters from the Occupy Wall Street movement, and many others, I will focus on three examples that were the most significant inspiration for me. Barbra Kruger - I shop therefore I am It is impossible to discuss designers who have used their talents in activist capacities, without coming across Barbra Kruger. Her distinct style of Futura bold with sharp rectangles and her use of red and white colours is unique and iconic. In a way, these artistic decisions and her use of direct pronouns like “I” and “you” has become a brand identity of her own. Criticising our capitalist system is one of Kruger’s most well-known themes to address in her work, alongside the topic of feminism. One of her most popular pieces is one from 1987 known as “I shop therefore I am” [FIG 6]. The phrase is an alteration of a phrase from the French philosopher Rene Descartes, “I think therefore I am”. The original phrase aims to answer the question of “how do I know I exist?” by stating that if I have the ability to ask the question in the first place, then it must mean that I exist. Kruger twists this to attack society’s members who believe it’s necessary to supplant their own sense of worth with worldly possessions. She states that modern society believes that rather than more complex personal characteristics like accomplishments and individual ideas, people look to define themselves by their material belongings and social image instead. (Public Delivery, 2019) Channel 5 News/Repeat Stuff - Bo Burnham One of my biggest personal inspirations is Bo Burnham. His work often uses comedy and music to criticise elements of our modern society, in ways that don’t just spread his messages, but also entertain his audience. Although he is not a designer, but rather a comedian and musician, his work critiques industries that partake in unethical practices through the use of culture jamming, in similar ways to how I hope to do in my project. Both songs, “Channel 5 News” and “Repeat Stuff” are criticism of their respective industries; news media and pop music. Burnham mimics the tropes of both industries through the musical elements of his songs, while using the lyrics to bring to light the industry’s problems. “Repeat Stuff” also has a music video that parodies other pop artists’ music videos. Lines like “we tackle the flaws, in these obesity laws, in this segment that’s sponsored by Taco Bell” from Channel 5 News (2013) and “...Cashing in on puberty and low self-esteem, And girls’ desperate need to feel loved…” from Repeat Stuff (2013) clearly illustrate the direct nature of his criticism. What I find particularly note-worthy from both songs is how they hyperbolize the flaws of their respective industries. Burnham uses satanic motifs to clearly imply that the ones on top running these industries have dropped to satanic levels of exploitation and manipulation all in order to make more profits. This hyperbole makes the songs far more impactful, which is an effect I hope to replicate in the speculation element of my project. Brandalism “Brandalism” is a collective of activists, artists and designers that aim to “revolt against the corporate control of our culture and space.” (Brandalism, 2012) They utilise culture jamming to not only parody existing brand’s advertisements but also puts their work up in the same public spaces that large companies might. In doing so they not only help reclaim our public spaces from capitalist hegemony, but also bring to light the unethical practices of these companies. The perfect example of their work is their campaign against the 2015 “Conference of Parties”. The conference aimed to establish a global agreement to limit the emissions of further greenhouse gases, but was associated with many different companies attempting to greenwash their brands while continuing to contribute to rising temperatures with their own emissions. Brandalism put up 600 different “subvertisements” across Paris, the day before the talks were set to begin that directly used these brand’s identity to call them out on their contributions to climate change. Final Major Project Specialisation When breaking down the examples of what other designers have done using my earlier research, it was clear that they were making strides when it came to combating the problems of capitalism like alienation and commodity fetishization. Their work focused on bringing the information about the unethical ways that a company functions back to the forefront and heavily associating these unethical practices with their respective companies’ brands. But what I felt these past examples failed to tackle directly were two issues that I found to be almost unanimously present when conducting my own survey and interviews: pricing and accessibility of information. My results show that most people’s concern is a lack of time, energy or know-how to find unbiased information, and even when this information is available, it doesn’t influence their purchasing decisions, as their concern for ethics is eclipsed by their concern for price [FIG 13]. Even though over half of respondents stated that they take ethics into account when buying products [FIG 12], an overwhelming amount put “price” as their first priority, and “ethics” as their last, when asked to rank the following variables: price, convenience, speed, familiarity, and ethics [FIG 14]. I wanted to create a solution that tackled these issues and made ethics an important core part of being a successful brand. This is how I came to the idea for my solution “ergo sum” (the latin phrase for “therefore I am”, and the second half of “I shop therefore I am”) , an app that when used to scan a product either online or in person, will present you with a list of unethical practices that the product’s company partakes in. This information will be presented with that brand’s identity; using their colours, typeface, sounds, imagery, etc, therefore utilising culture jamming to associate these practices with the brand in the user’s mind. For more popular products and brands like iPhones or Cadbury Chocolates, there are animations and/or augmented reality elements that not only help the information stick in the user’s mind, but also make it shareable. The branding for the app itself is one that is distinct enough to be memorable, but can also fade into the background. Hence why it lacks colour and is inspired by the look of website wireframes, and other “brandless brands” like Muji. This is because I wanted the user’s focus to be on the brand of the products they scan. An important part of the app is how it also provides alternatives to the user that are from more ethical brands, that are either cheaper or similarly priced. With a large enough user base, this core function weaponizes the systems of capitalism against itself and combats greenwashing by making “being ethical” an important part of being a successful brand. Rather than undercutting their competition with lower prices, they could undercut them by having similar pricing, but conducting lesser or no unethical practices. An app like this may grow popular because users want to find more affordable alternatives to the things they want to buy as well as because they want to be more socially conscious about what they purchase. A widespread adoption can make it far easier to cut through the effects of commodity fetishization and manipulative business tactics. The app’s repeated use would make individuals more aware of the number of immoral practices that huge corporations are not only able to get away with, but encouraged to participate in under our capitalist system, due to their end goal always being to make more profits. Speculation Although my focus for my FMP has leaned a lot more towards the specialisation element, the speculation element is also important. My outcome for this project is a short video that utilises culture jamming to criticise a specific company and, in turn criticises capitalism. The company I chose for this is Nintendo as their strong branding is one that often hides unethical practices like their efforts towards union busting (Gach, 2022). Although my target audience for this element of my project is also the general public, I hope to have a particular focus on designers. It is also inevitable that the video is likely to resonate more with the gaming community, especially fans of Nintendo games. The video is split into 3 parts, the first seeming to be an advertisement for the “Nintendo Switch 2”. This section uses the colours, music, typeface, imagery, etc. that is unique to Nintendo’s brand, to make it seem like just another advertisement. But the next section of the video is almost identical to the first with its sequencing, but the words and footage touting the new features of the “Switch 2” have been replaced with direct call outs to the company’s unethical practices. This unexpected turn forces audiences to associate the company with not just its product but also its unfair practices, through the use of culture jamming. The third section of the video expands the focus to more than just Nintendo, and uses news clips and uncomfortable footage of companies doing unethical things to make the viewer feel an uneasy sense of dread. This short montage abruptly ends, with text on screen that directs these feelings of dread towards capitalism, and acts as a call to action to designers and all audiences to take a closer look at the flaws of the system we live in, and potentially use their skills to combat those flaws. Conclusion Both the speculation and specialisation elements of my project work together to bring attention to how broken our current capitalist society is. Seeing the negative impact that the desperate chase for profits has made on our society is troubling and incredibly frustrating. This frustration is what I channelled into my work in an attempt to raise awareness for the problems that plague our society due to the systems of capitalism. The slow gradual change towards a better more democratic society is sparked by an awareness that the change is necessary in the first place. Looking back at my work I feel it helps increase this awareness. In the future I hope to move my focus from using my work to address problems, to suggesting solutions; alterations or alternatives to capitalism that give the power back to the people. Capitalism is a core part of living in modern society. It is near impossible to exist without engaging in or participating in it. This hegemonic nature and its long-standing existence have convinced people that capitalism is the final evolution of economic systems. In addition, capitalism has ingrained itself into our political systems, and intertwined itself within the self-identity of our countries, further solidifying the idea that this is not only the best and most natural way for society to function, but it is the only way. But this idea is flawed. Capitalism is a widespread social construct. It is not inherently integral to the self-identity of any particular country, and it is neither perfect nor irreplaceable; thus, if it is not successfully achieving its goals or if those goals have become outdated, it can and should be replaced, or at the least altered (Second Thought, 2020; Wizinsky, 2022). My goal for this project is not only to question the structure of our economic society but also to bring to light the fragility of the idea that capitalism is inevitable or that it is an effective or positive way for our society to function. Widespread events like recessions, the housing crisis, the cost of living crisis, and the COVID-19 pandemic bring forward the idea that change needs to take place. This change is one that will take time and effort to make sure what replaces capitalism has a more democratic distribution of resources and the means of production. The first step in achieving this change is raising awareness that such a change is required or achievable. As the wealth gap between the top 1% and the average person widens, I want the public, particularly designers, to recognise that the mechanisms upon which modern society is founded are unsuitable and outdated and that we have the capacity and power to change them. Hence for my FMP I hope to target all general audiences, not just ones that are politically engaged. This is because if all people living in the modern world are subject to the systems of capitalism from birth, all people should also be made aware of its flaws. I also want to particularly focus on designers with the speculation element of my project in order to show them the impact of their role in preserving and/or creating the institutions that uphold capitalism. I hope to use my skills in branding, motion graphics, and video editing in order to create my final outcomes. Although these skills are not new to me, I am stepping out of my comfort zone by applying them to a project like this one. Designers and Capitalism Attempting to define the job of a “designer” can be difficult, as the practice of a designer is constantly expanding and evolving. We are surrounded by the creations of designers from many different fields, both old and new. But the constant across all these fields is that they all have a huge impact on our lives. Whether they are aware of this or not, they create the institutions that our society is built upon (Wizinsky, 2022). The work we do can have a widespread effect on millions of people all over the world. Unfortunately, under capitalism, the widespread effect is often reserved to serve the profit motive. We aim to etch our voices into the minds of consumers using our skills, just to end up saying, “Buy our stuff.” After researching the relationship between designers and capitalism and conducting a survey and interviews of my own with designers and design students, I found that designers, just like a large portion of the public, are often unaware of the economic or political impact of our work beyond the logics of capitalism (Wizinsky, 2022). We evaluate this impact by asking questions like “Did our profits increase?” or “Did this help the company grow?” but we fail to recognise that these questions are predicated on the idea that expansion in these areas is inherently positive. This dissonance between the authority we hold as decision-makers and our lack of awareness or control over the capitalist institutions we are actively endorsing can be frustrating. In the best cases, we are aware of our impact but are not able to challenge the status quo without risking our ability to put food on the table. In the worst cases, we are unintentionally or deliberately ignorant of our impact, either due to a lack of information/education or due to our unique privileges. Branding & Commodity Fetishism Branding is “the act of making a product, organisation, person, or place easy to recognize as different from others by connecting it with a particular name, design, symbol, set of qualities, etc” (Cambridge Dictionary, 2022). But in today’s world, the concept of branding has grown past the idea of loosely defined values and a recognizable logo. “Brands sell stories and make promises—of a better self-image, an improved appearance, more prestige, fulfillment, a healthier relationship to the world of brands, and so on” (Sturken and Cartwright, 2018, p. 272).  The focus of large corporations like Nike or Apple has progressively shifted more towards the marketing of their products, and less on their production. We are sold on the idea of a product and what that product represents, rather than the product itself. This can often create instances where these companies participate in “pseudoindividuality”. “Pseudoindividuality refers to the ways that cultural forms can define and interpellate viewer-consumer-users as individuals, when in fact they are selling homogeneous experiences” (Sturken and Cartwright, 2018). Apple sells the idea that its devices will allow their customers to express their individuality but the success of the company requires that they serve this same homogeneous idea of individuality to millions of customers. In Marxist theory, this “process of mystification that exists in capitalism between what things are and how they appear or what they mean to their users” (Sturken and Cartwright, 2018, p. 430) is known as Commodity Fetishism. “In commodity fetishism, exchange value supersedes use value so that things are valued not for what they do but for what they cost, how they look, and what connotations can be attached to them” (Sturken and Cartwright, 2018, p. 430). The main goal of good advertising is to empty a commodity of its inherent value and of how it was produced, and instead fill it with the new values assigned by a marketing team. The end user’s mind should be put as far away from how their products are made, or what even their products actually are, and should instead be on what those products, and in turn their brands, represent. This not only increases sales, but also allows the companies to more easily continue any unethical practices they might partake in, as the public’s attention is further skewed towards what the corporations want you to focus on instead.  Alienating the Worker and End User Potentially the most common flaw that anti-capitalist activists often repeat is how the capitalist system is built to separate individual workers from the means of producing goods/services. This idea comes from the Marxist theory of alienation. “In Marxism, alienation is a condition of capitalism in which humans experience a sense of separation from the products of their labour, hence from other aspects of life, including human relations” (Sturken and Cartwright, 2018, p. 426) This concept is one that explains the sense of existential dread, powerlessness and loneliness that we may feel as individuals, despite our society’s development and increased interdependence. The theory implies that alienation is inherent to the idea of capitalism, and a condition that it must fulfil. (Sturken and Cartwright, 2018; Øversveen, 2021) In addition to this, corporations capitalise on the worker’s separation from the means of production by exploiting their workers through unfair wages, unsafe working conditions, etc. These companies are often also the same large corporations that engage in commodity fetishization. In addition to this, companies have recently also started exploiting the dialogic loop of modern social media to personify themselves, further separating their brands from what they actually do. The leading example of this is Wendy’s use of Twitter, where they personify themselves as “the sassy friend that you can have lunch with”, rather than just a fast food chain. (Murthy, 2018; Baker, 2018) Capitalism and Activism The concept of selling ideas to consumers rather than just products is one that can go to very dark places, when those ideas are controversial or political ones. It is not uncommon today to see corporations taking a stance in political matters, but in our capitalist society these brands do not really have to believe in the ideas they are selling, as long as they are still fulfilling their end goal: to make profits. The perfect example of this is Nike’s push for women empowerment by featuring them in their advertising, back in 1978. But during this campaign, the female workers in the factories that made their shoes were put in horrible working conditions. (Sturken and Cartwright, 2018) The company was called out by Adbusters through the use of culture jamming, a concept I will explore further later in this essay. [FIG 4] Today, certain corporations have garnered support and built an audience, almost exclusively by focusing on selling ideas to such an extent, that their products are no longer the focus anymore. These corporations will often use people’s desire for identity in order to sell to them. (Klein, 2000) The perfect example of this is Alex Jones, and his coverage of “the war on christmas”. Alex Jones is an American right-wing conspiracy theorist who runs a show called “InfoWars”. In December of 2019 he, along with other right-wing media like Fox News started to sell the idea that the “woke left” were trying to get rid of christmas. Jones was exploiting the religious beliefs of his audience as he was aware that most of them were Christians. The points brought up and evidence provided in his coverage was weak and easily refutable (Harris Michael Brewis, 2020), but his fear-mongering was effective. He concludes the show by saying “the very same forces that have it out for christianity, have it out for InfoWars, and for you and your family”, following this up with a plea to go to InfoWars’ online store and  buy their products to help fund his show. The store sells incredibly expensive products like supplements and toothpaste, all branded with the InfoWars logo. This shows how corporations no longer have to simply take sides in political issues in order to sell more products, but have the capacity and power to manipulate public perception in order to create their own political issues that they can then use to make profits. InfoWars toothpaste isn’t a generic toothpaste with their logo put onto it, but is rather a way for the person who buys it to show that they are a patriotic Christian American that is fighting to preserve the freedoms their country provides them. Combating the Flaws of Capitalism It’s clear from previous sections that the goal of corporations is to distract us from their unethical practices in order to make their products more enticing. Hence, effectively combating the flaws of capitalism means that we must inform the public not only of the things the corporations don’t want them to know or think about, but also that these problems exist because of our capitalist system. But this is challenging as the brands that these corporations have built are so strong that when most people think of them their mind naturally goes to the ideas that they sell. For example when fans of Nintendo think of the company, they think of old nostalgic video games like Pokemon or Mario, not the company’s unfair and anti-consumer behaviour. However, designers and artists have found a way to not only subvert the pervasiveness of effective branding but also to utilise its recognizability to fight back against it through culture jamming. “Culture jamming is the practice of criticising and subverting advertising and consumerism in the mass media, by methods such as producing advertisements parodying those of global brands.” (Oxford Languages, 2023) It is an incredibly powerful practice as it utilises a form of parody that directly hijacks the success of an existing brand identity in order to convey a new message by associating that new message with that brand identity. Often this new message is one that criticises the original brand it is parodying. To find inspiration and direction for my own work I looked into multiple examples of anti-capitalist designs/artwork done by other artists, some of which utilised culture jamming very effectively, and some that found other effective ways to convey their message. Although I looked into many projects/campaigns like AdBusters, “Capitalism works for me!” by Steve Lambert, multiple projects from the Yes Men, posters from the Occupy Wall Street movement, and many others, I will focus on three examples that were the most significant inspiration for me. Barbra Kruger - I shop therefore I am It is impossible to discuss designers who have used their talents in activist capacities, without coming across Barbra Kruger. Her distinct style of Futura bold with sharp rectangles and her use of red and white colours is unique and iconic. In a way, these artistic decisions and her use of direct pronouns like “I” and “you” has become a brand identity of her own. Criticising our capitalist system is one of Kruger’s most well-known themes to address in her work, alongside the topic of feminism. One of her most popular pieces is one from 1987 known as “I shop therefore I am” [FIG 6]. The phrase is an alteration of a phrase from the French philosopher Rene Descartes, “I think therefore I am”. The original phrase aims to answer the question of “how do I know I exist?” by stating that if I have the ability to ask the question in the first place, then it must mean that I exist. Kruger twists this to attack society’s members who believe it’s necessary to supplant their own sense of worth with worldly possessions. She states that modern society believes that rather than more complex personal characteristics like accomplishments and individual ideas, people look to define themselves by their material belongings and social image instead. (Public Delivery, 2019) Channel 5 News/Repeat Stuff - Bo Burnham One of my biggest personal inspirations is Bo Burnham. His work often uses comedy and music to criticise elements of our modern society, in ways that don’t just spread his messages, but also entertain his audience. Although he is not a designer, but rather a comedian and musician, his work critiques industries that partake in unethical practices through the use of culture jamming, in similar ways to how I hope to do in my project. Both songs, “Channel 5 News” and “Repeat Stuff” are criticism of their respective industries; news media and pop music. Burnham mimics the tropes of both industries through the musical elements of his songs, while using the lyrics to bring to light the industry’s problems. “Repeat Stuff” also has a music video that parodies other pop artists’ music videos. Lines like “we tackle the flaws, in these obesity laws, in this segment that’s sponsored by Taco Bell” from Channel 5 News (2013) and “...Cashing in on puberty and low self-esteem, And girls’ desperate need to feel loved…” from Repeat Stuff (2013) clearly illustrate the direct nature of his criticism. What I find particularly note-worthy from both songs is how they hyperbolize the flaws of their respective industries. Burnham uses satanic motifs to clearly imply that the ones on top running these industries have dropped to satanic levels of exploitation and manipulation all in order to make more profits. This hyperbole makes the songs far more impactful, which is an effect I hope to replicate in the speculation element of my project. Brandalism “Brandalism” is a collective of activists, artists and designers that aim to “revolt against the corporate control of our culture and space.” (Brandalism, 2012) They utilise culture jamming to not only parody existing brand’s advertisements but also puts their work up in the same public spaces that large companies might. In doing so they not only help reclaim our public spaces from capitalist hegemony, but also bring to light the unethical practices of these companies. The perfect example of their work is their campaign against the 2015 “Conference of Parties”. The conference aimed to establish a global agreement to limit the emissions of further greenhouse gases, but was associated with many different companies attempting to greenwash their brands while continuing to contribute to rising temperatures with their own emissions. Brandalism put up 600 different “subvertisements” across Paris, the day before the talks were set to begin that directly used these brand’s identity to call them out on their contributions to climate change. Final Major Project Specialisation When breaking down the examples of what other designers have done using my earlier research, it was clear that they were making strides when it came to combating the problems of capitalism like alienation and commodity fetishization. Their work focused on bringing the information about the unethical ways that a company functions back to the forefront and heavily associating these unethical practices with their respective companies’ brands. But what I felt these past examples failed to tackle directly were two issues that I found to be almost unanimously present when conducting my own survey and interviews: pricing and accessibility of information. My results show that most people’s concern is a lack of time, energy or know-how to find unbiased information, and even when this information is available, it doesn’t influence their purchasing decisions, as their concern for ethics is eclipsed by their concern for price [FIG 13]. Even though over half of respondents stated that they take ethics into account when buying products [FIG 12], an overwhelming amount put “price” as their first priority, and “ethics” as their last, when asked to rank the following variables: price, convenience, speed, familiarity, and ethics [FIG 14]. I wanted to create a solution that tackled these issues and made ethics an important core part of being a successful brand. This is how I came to the idea for my solution “ergo sum” (the latin phrase for “therefore I am”, and the second half of “I shop therefore I am”) , an app that when used to scan a product either online or in person, will present you with a list of unethical practices that the product’s company partakes in. This information will be presented with that brand’s identity; using their colours, typeface, sounds, imagery, etc, therefore utilising culture jamming to associate these practices with the brand in the user’s mind. For more popular products and brands like iPhones or Cadbury Chocolates, there are animations and/or augmented reality elements that not only help the information stick in the user’s mind, but also make it shareable. The branding for the app itself is one that is distinct enough to be memorable, but can also fade into the background. Hence why it lacks colour and is inspired by the look of website wireframes, and other “brandless brands” like Muji. This is because I wanted the user’s focus to be on the brand of the products they scan. An important part of the app is how it also provides alternatives to the user that are from more ethical brands, that are either cheaper or similarly priced. With a large enough user base, this core function weaponizes the systems of capitalism against itself and combats greenwashing by making “being ethical” an important part of being a successful brand. Rather than undercutting their competition with lower prices, they could undercut them by having similar pricing, but conducting lesser or no unethical practices. An app like this may grow popular because users want to find more affordable alternatives to the things they want to buy as well as because they want to be more socially conscious about what they purchase. A widespread adoption can make it far easier to cut through the effects of commodity fetishization and manipulative business tactics. The app’s repeated use would make individuals more aware of the number of immoral practices that huge corporations are not only able to get away with, but encouraged to participate in under our capitalist system, due to their end goal always being to make more profits. Speculation Although my focus for my FMP has leaned a lot more towards the specialisation element, the speculation element is also important. My outcome for this project is a short video that utilises culture jamming to criticise a specific company and, in turn criticises capitalism. The company I chose for this is Nintendo as their strong branding is one that often hides unethical practices like their efforts towards union busting (Gach, 2022). Although my target audience for this element of my project is also the general public, I hope to have a particular focus on designers. It is also inevitable that the video is likely to resonate more with the gaming community, especially fans of Nintendo games. The video is split into 3 parts, the first seeming to be an advertisement for the “Nintendo Switch 2”. This section uses the colours, music, typeface, imagery, etc. that is unique to Nintendo’s brand, to make it seem like just another advertisement. But the next section of the video is almost identical to the first with its sequencing, but the words and footage touting the new features of the “Switch 2” have been replaced with direct call outs to the company’s unethical practices. This unexpected turn forces audiences to associate the company with not just its product but also its unfair practices, through the use of culture jamming. The third section of the video expands the focus to more than just Nintendo, and uses news clips and uncomfortable footage of companies doing unethical things to make the viewer feel an uneasy sense of dread. This short montage abruptly ends, with text on screen that directs these feelings of dread towards capitalism, and acts as a call to action to designers and all audiences to take a closer look at the flaws of the system we live in, and potentially use their skills to combat those flaws. Conclusion Both the speculation and specialisation elements of my project work together to bring attention to how broken our current capitalist society is. Seeing the negative impact that the desperate chase for profits has made on our society is troubling and incredibly frustrating. This frustration is what I channelled into my work in an attempt to raise awareness for the problems that plague our society due to the systems of capitalism. The slow gradual change towards a better more democratic society is sparked by an awareness that the change is necessary in the first place. Looking back at my work I feel it helps increase this awareness. In the future I hope to move my focus from using my work to address problems, to suggesting solutions; alterations or alternatives to capitalism that give the power back to the people. Capitalism is a core part of living in modern society. It is near impossible to exist without engaging in or participating in it. This hegemonic nature and its long-standing existence have convinced people that capitalism is the final evolution of economic systems. In addition, capitalism has ingrained itself into our political systems, and intertwined itself within the self-identity of our countries, further solidifying the idea that this is not only the best and most natural way for society to function, but it is the only way. But this idea is flawed. Capitalism is a widespread social construct. It is not inherently integral to the self-identity of any particular country, and it is neither perfect nor irreplaceable; thus, if it is not successfully achieving its goals or if those goals have become outdated, it can and should be replaced, or at the least altered (Second Thought, 2020; Wizinsky, 2022). My goal for this project is not only to question the structure of our economic society but also to bring to light the fragility of the idea that capitalism is inevitable or that it is an effective or positive way for our society to function. Widespread events like recessions, the housing crisis, the cost of living crisis, and the COVID-19 pandemic bring forward the idea that change needs to take place. This change is one that will take time and effort to make sure what replaces capitalism has a more democratic distribution of resources and the means of production. The first step in achieving this change is raising awareness that such a change is required or achievable. As the wealth gap between the top 1% and the average person widens, I want the public, particularly designers, to recognise that the mechanisms upon which modern society is founded are unsuitable and outdated and that we have the capacity and power to change them. Hence for my FMP I hope to target all general audiences, not just ones that are politically engaged. This is because if all people living in the modern world are subject to the systems of capitalism from birth, all people should also be made aware of its flaws. I also want to particularly focus on designers with the speculation element of my project in order to show them the impact of their role in preserving and/or creating the institutions that uphold capitalism. I hope to use my skills in branding, motion graphics, and video editing in order to create my final outcomes. Although these skills are not new to me, I am stepping out of my comfort zone by applying them to a project like this one. Designers and Capitalism Attempting to define the job of a “designer” can be difficult, as the practice of a designer is constantly expanding and evolving. We are surrounded by the creations of designers from many different fields, both old and new. But the constant across all these fields is that they all have a huge impact on our lives. Whether they are aware of this or not, they create the institutions that our society is built upon (Wizinsky, 2022). The work we do can have a widespread effect on millions of people all over the world. Unfortunately, under capitalism, the widespread effect is often reserved to serve the profit motive. We aim to etch our voices into the minds of consumers using our skills, just to end up saying, “Buy our stuff.” After researching the relationship between designers and capitalism and conducting a survey and interviews of my own with designers and design students, I found that designers, just like a large portion of the public, are often unaware of the economic or political impact of our work beyond the logics of capitalism (Wizinsky, 2022). We evaluate this impact by asking questions like “Did our profits increase?” or “Did this help the company grow?” but we fail to recognise that these questions are predicated on the idea that expansion in these areas is inherently positive. This dissonance between the authority we hold as decision-makers and our lack of awareness or control over the capitalist institutions we are actively endorsing can be frustrating. In the best cases, we are aware of our impact but are not able to challenge the status quo without risking our ability to put food on the table. In the worst cases, we are unintentionally or deliberately ignorant of our impact, either due to a lack of information/education or due to our unique privileges. Branding & Commodity Fetishism Branding is “the act of making a product, organisation, person, or place easy to recognize as different from others by connecting it with a particular name, design, symbol, set of qualities, etc” (Cambridge Dictionary, 2022). But in today’s world, the concept of branding has grown past the idea of loosely defined values and a recognizable logo. “Brands sell stories and make promises—of a better self-image, an improved appearance, more prestige, fulfillment, a healthier relationship to the world of brands, and so on” (Sturken and Cartwright, 2018, p. 272).  The focus of large corporations like Nike or Apple has progressively shifted more towards the marketing of their products, and less on their production. We are sold on the idea of a product and what that product represents, rather than the product itself. This can often create instances where these companies participate in “pseudoindividuality”. “Pseudoindividuality refers to the ways that cultural forms can define and interpellate viewer-consumer-users as individuals, when in fact they are selling homogeneous experiences” (Sturken and Cartwright, 2018). Apple sells the idea that its devices will allow their customers to express their individuality but the success of the company requires that they serve this same homogeneous idea of individuality to millions of customers. In Marxist theory, this “process of mystification that exists in capitalism between what things are and how they appear or what they mean to their users” (Sturken and Cartwright, 2018, p. 430) is known as Commodity Fetishism. “In commodity fetishism, exchange value supersedes use value so that things are valued not for what they do but for what they cost, how they look, and what connotations can be attached to them” (Sturken and Cartwright, 2018, p. 430). The main goal of good advertising is to empty a commodity of its inherent value and of how it was produced, and instead fill it with the new values assigned by a marketing team. The end user’s mind should be put as far away from how their products are made, or what even their products actually are, and should instead be on what those products, and in turn their brands, represent. This not only increases sales, but also allows the companies to more easily continue any unethical practices they might partake in, as the public’s attention is further skewed towards what the corporations want you to focus on instead.  Alienating the Worker and End User Potentially the most common flaw that anti-capitalist activists often repeat is how the capitalist system is built to separate individual workers from the means of producing goods/services. This idea comes from the Marxist theory of alienation. “In Marxism, alienation is a condition of capitalism in which humans experience a sense of separation from the products of their labour, hence from other aspects of life, including human relations” (Sturken and Cartwright, 2018, p. 426) This concept is one that explains the sense of existential dread, powerlessness and loneliness that we may feel as individuals, despite our society’s development and increased interdependence. The theory implies that alienation is inherent to the idea of capitalism, and a condition that it must fulfil. (Sturken and Cartwright, 2018; Øversveen, 2021) In addition to this, corporations capitalise on the worker’s separation from the means of production by exploiting their workers through unfair wages, unsafe working conditions, etc. These companies are often also the same large corporations that engage in commodity fetishization. In addition to this, companies have recently also started exploiting the dialogic loop of modern social media to personify themselves, further separating their brands from what they actually do. The leading example of this is Wendy’s use of Twitter, where they personify themselves as “the sassy friend that you can have lunch with”, rather than just a fast food chain. (Murthy, 2018; Baker, 2018) Capitalism and Activism The concept of selling ideas to consumers rather than just products is one that can go to very dark places, when those ideas are controversial or political ones. It is not uncommon today to see corporations taking a stance in political matters, but in our capitalist society these brands do not really have to believe in the ideas they are selling, as long as they are still fulfilling their end goal: to make profits. The perfect example of this is Nike’s push for women empowerment by featuring them in their advertising, back in 1978. But during this campaign, the female workers in the factories that made their shoes were put in horrible working conditions. (Sturken and Cartwright, 2018) The company was called out by Adbusters through the use of culture jamming, a concept I will explore further later in this essay. [FIG 4] Today, certain corporations have garnered support and built an audience, almost exclusively by focusing on selling ideas to such an extent, that their products are no longer the focus anymore. These corporations will often use people’s desire for identity in order to sell to them. (Klein, 2000) The perfect example of this is Alex Jones, and his coverage of “the war on christmas”. Alex Jones is an American right-wing conspiracy theorist who runs a show called “InfoWars”. In December of 2019 he, along with other right-wing media like Fox News started to sell the idea that the “woke left” were trying to get rid of christmas. Jones was exploiting the religious beliefs of his audience as he was aware that most of them were Christians. The points brought up and evidence provided in his coverage was weak and easily refutable (Harris Michael Brewis, 2020), but his fear-mongering was effective. He concludes the show by saying “the very same forces that have it out for christianity, have it out for InfoWars, and for you and your family”, following this up with a plea to go to InfoWars’ online store and  buy their products to help fund his show. The store sells incredibly expensive products like supplements and toothpaste, all branded with the InfoWars logo. This shows how corporations no longer have to simply take sides in political issues in order to sell more products, but have the capacity and power to manipulate public perception in order to create their own political issues that they can then use to make profits. InfoWars toothpaste isn’t a generic toothpaste with their logo put onto it, but is rather a way for the person who buys it to show that they are a patriotic Christian American that is fighting to preserve the freedoms their country provides them. Combating the Flaws of Capitalism It’s clear from previous sections that the goal of corporations is to distract us from their unethical practices in order to make their products more enticing. Hence, effectively combating the flaws of capitalism means that we must inform the public not only of the things the corporations don’t want them to know or think about, but also that these problems exist because of our capitalist system. But this is challenging as the brands that these corporations have built are so strong that when most people think of them their mind naturally goes to the ideas that they sell. For example when fans of Nintendo think of the company, they think of old nostalgic video games like Pokemon or Mario, not the company’s unfair and anti-consumer behaviour. However, designers and artists have found a way to not only subvert the pervasiveness of effective branding but also to utilise its recognizability to fight back against it through culture jamming. “Culture jamming is the practice of criticising and subverting advertising and consumerism in the mass media, by methods such as producing advertisements parodying those of global brands.” (Oxford Languages, 2023) It is an incredibly powerful practice as it utilises a form of parody that directly hijacks the success of an existing brand identity in order to convey a new message by associating that new message with that brand identity. Often this new message is one that criticises the original brand it is parodying. To find inspiration and direction for my own work I looked into multiple examples of anti-capitalist designs/artwork done by other artists, some of which utilised culture jamming very effectively, and some that found other effective ways to convey their message. Although I looked into many projects/campaigns like AdBusters, “Capitalism works for me!” by Steve Lambert, multiple projects from the Yes Men, posters from the Occupy Wall Street movement, and many others, I will focus on three examples that were the most significant inspiration for me. Barbra Kruger - I shop therefore I am It is impossible to discuss designers who have used their talents in activist capacities, without coming across Barbra Kruger. Her distinct style of Futura bold with sharp rectangles and her use of red and white colours is unique and iconic. In a way, these artistic decisions and her use of direct pronouns like “I” and “you” has become a brand identity of her own. Criticising our capitalist system is one of Kruger’s most well-known themes to address in her work, alongside the topic of feminism. One of her most popular pieces is one from 1987 known as “I shop therefore I am” [FIG 6]. The phrase is an alteration of a phrase from the French philosopher Rene Descartes, “I think therefore I am”. The original phrase aims to answer the question of “how do I know I exist?” by stating that if I have the ability to ask the question in the first place, then it must mean that I exist. Kruger twists this to attack society’s members who believe it’s necessary to supplant their own sense of worth with worldly possessions. She states that modern society believes that rather than more complex personal characteristics like accomplishments and individual ideas, people look to define themselves by their material belongings and social image instead. (Public Delivery, 2019) Channel 5 News/Repeat Stuff - Bo Burnham One of my biggest personal inspirations is Bo Burnham. His work often uses comedy and music to criticise elements of our modern society, in ways that don’t just spread his messages, but also entertain his audience. Although he is not a designer, but rather a comedian and musician, his work critiques industries that partake in unethical practices through the use of culture jamming, in similar ways to how I hope to do in my project. Both songs, “Channel 5 News” and “Repeat Stuff” are criticism of their respective industries; news media and pop music. Burnham mimics the tropes of both industries through the musical elements of his songs, while using the lyrics to bring to light the industry’s problems. “Repeat Stuff” also has a music video that parodies other pop artists’ music videos. Lines like “we tackle the flaws, in these obesity laws, in this segment that’s sponsored by Taco Bell” from Channel 5 News (2013) and “...Cashing in on puberty and low self-esteem, And girls’ desperate need to feel loved…” from Repeat Stuff (2013) clearly illustrate the direct nature of his criticism. What I find particularly note-worthy from both songs is how they hyperbolize the flaws of their respective industries. Burnham uses satanic motifs to clearly imply that the ones on top running these industries have dropped to satanic levels of exploitation and manipulation all in order to make more profits. This hyperbole makes the songs far more impactful, which is an effect I hope to replicate in the speculation element of my project. Brandalism “Brandalism” is a collective of activists, artists and designers that aim to “revolt against the corporate control of our culture and space.” (Brandalism, 2012) They utilise culture jamming to not only parody existing brand’s advertisements but also puts their work up in the same public spaces that large companies might. In doing so they not only help reclaim our public spaces from capitalist hegemony, but also bring to light the unethical practices of these companies. The perfect example of their work is their campaign against the 2015 “Conference of Parties”. The conference aimed to establish a global agreement to limit the emissions of further greenhouse gases, but was associated with many different companies attempting to greenwash their brands while continuing to contribute to rising temperatures with their own emissions. Brandalism put up 600 different “subvertisements” across Paris, the day before the talks were set to begin that directly used these brand’s identity to call them out on their contributions to climate change. Final Major Project Specialisation When breaking down the examples of what other designers have done using my earlier research, it was clear that they were making strides when it came to combating the problems of capitalism like alienation and commodity fetishization. Their work focused on bringing the information about the unethical ways that a company functions back to the forefront and heavily associating these unethical practices with their respective companies’ brands. But what I felt these past examples failed to tackle directly were two issues that I found to be almost unanimously present when conducting my own survey and interviews: pricing and accessibility of information. My results show that most people’s concern is a lack of time, energy or know-how to find unbiased information, and even when this information is available, it doesn’t influence their purchasing decisions, as their concern for ethics is eclipsed by their concern for price [FIG 13]. Even though over half of respondents stated that they take ethics into account when buying products [FIG 12], an overwhelming amount put “price” as their first priority, and “ethics” as their last, when asked to rank the following variables: price, convenience, speed, familiarity, and ethics [FIG 14]. I wanted to create a solution that tackled these issues and made ethics an important core part of being a successful brand. This is how I came to the idea for my solution “ergo sum” (the latin phrase for “therefore I am”, and the second half of “I shop therefore I am”) , an app that when used to scan a product either online or in person, will present you with a list of unethical practices that the product’s company partakes in. This information will be presented with that brand’s identity; using their colours, typeface, sounds, imagery, etc, therefore utilising culture jamming to associate these practices with the brand in the user’s mind. For more popular products and brands like iPhones or Cadbury Chocolates, there are animations and/or augmented reality elements that not only help the information stick in the user’s mind, but also make it shareable. The branding for the app itself is one that is distinct enough to be memorable, but can also fade into the background. Hence why it lacks colour and is inspired by the look of website wireframes, and other “brandless brands” like Muji. This is because I wanted the user’s focus to be on the brand of the products they scan. An important part of the app is how it also provides alternatives to the user that are from more ethical brands, that are either cheaper or similarly priced. With a large enough user base, this core function weaponizes the systems of capitalism against itself and combats greenwashing by making “being ethical” an important part of being a successful brand. Rather than undercutting their competition with lower prices, they could undercut them by having similar pricing, but conducting lesser or no unethical practices. An app like this may grow popular because users want to find more affordable alternatives to the things they want to buy as well as because they want to be more socially conscious about what they purchase. A widespread adoption can make it far easier to cut through the effects of commodity fetishization and manipulative business tactics. The app’s repeated use would make individuals more aware of the number of immoral practices that huge corporations are not only able to get away with, but encouraged to participate in under our capitalist system, due to their end goal always being to make more profits. Speculation Although my focus for my FMP has leaned a lot more towards the specialisation element, the speculation element is also important. My outcome for this project is a short video that utilises culture jamming to criticise a specific company and, in turn criticises capitalism. The company I chose for this is Nintendo as their strong branding is one that often hides unethical practices like their efforts towards union busting (Gach, 2022). Although my target audience for this element of my project is also the general public, I hope to have a particular focus on designers. It is also inevitable that the video is likely to resonate more with the gaming community, especially fans of Nintendo games. The video is split into 3 parts, the first seeming to be an advertisement for the “Nintendo Switch 2”. This section uses the colours, music, typeface, imagery, etc. that is unique to Nintendo’s brand, to make it seem like just another advertisement. But the next section of the video is almost identical to the first with its sequencing, but the words and footage touting the new features of the “Switch 2” have been replaced with direct call outs to the company’s unethical practices. This unexpected turn forces audiences to associate the company with not just its product but also its unfair practices, through the use of culture jamming. The third section of the video expands the focus to more than just Nintendo, and uses news clips and uncomfortable footage of companies doing unethical things to make the viewer feel an uneasy sense of dread. This short montage abruptly ends, with text on screen that directs these feelings of dread towards capitalism, and acts as a call to action to designers and all audiences to take a closer look at the flaws of the system we live in, and potentially use their skills to combat those flaws. Conclusion Both the speculation and specialisation elements of my project work together to bring attention to how broken our current capitalist society is. Seeing the negative impact that the desperate chase for profits has made on our society is troubling and incredibly frustrating. This frustration is what I channelled into my work in an attempt to raise awareness for the problems that plague our society due to the systems of capitalism. The slow gradual change towards a better more democratic society is sparked by an awareness that the change is necessary in the first place. Looking back at my work I feel it helps increase this awareness. In the future I hope to move my focus from using my work to address problems, to suggesting solutions; alterations or alternatives to capitalism that give the power back to the people.