by Anne Elizabeth Moore
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Product Description
A writer and activist investigates corporate America's inroads into—and alliances with—the cultural underground.
"There's an industry around you that works, whether you agree with it or not."—Alec Bourgeois, Dischord Records label manager
For years the do-it-yourself (DIY)/punk underground has worked against the logic of mass production and creative uniformity, disseminating radical ideas and directly making and trading goods and services. But what happens when the underground becomes just another market? What happens when the very tools that the artists and activists have used to build word of mouth are coopted by corporate America? What happens to cultural resistance when it becomes just another marketing platform?
Unmarketable examines the corrosive effects of corporate infiltration of the underground. Activist and author Anne Elizabeth Moore takes a critical look at the savvy advertising agencies, corporate marketing teams, and branding experts who use DIY techniques to reach a youth market—and at members of the underground who have helped forward corporate agendas through their own artistic, and occasionally activist, projects.
Covering everything from Adbusters to Tylenol's indie-star-studded Ouch! campaign, Unmarketable is a lively, funny, and much-needed look at what's happening to the underground and what it means for activism, commerce, and integrity in a world dominated by corporations.
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Average Customer Review:
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
 Unmarketable Is Timeless, 2008-04-11
Unmarketable articulately and wittily outlines how corporate America utilizes strategies of the underground for to market both underground and mainstream media. In this process, the corporate somehow manipulates the underground into the destruction of its own underground culture. The sad truth is that its probably only going to get worse. In fact, Entertainment Weekly in issue #984 Mar 28, 08 just ran a "Special Bonus Edition Entertainment Weekly: The Indie Rock 25" supplement, a saddle-stitched book that pulls out of the magazine separate from the rest of the issue, full of information about bands like Radiohead, Spoon, Yo La Tengo, the Pixies, and more, interspersed with ads for Toyota's Yaris, the ads themselves illustrated by the talented graphics artist and show poster designer Nazario Graziano, which lets us know just how subcultural a Yaris is supposed to be. And no doubt, a Yaris is a cute car. But let's not fool ourselves. Toyota ain't no small mom-and-pop business. They're out for your dough. And they're out to get your dough especially if you're young, subversive and into cool illustration. Ads like this supplement in EW have become more and more common, and unfortunately this is just going to go on and on. Moore's book is full of examples like this (OK, not the particular example since the EW Yaris ad is newer than the book), just like the bug zapper that nobody wants to look at. Thankfully, Unmarketable is a totally fun read.
Ms. Moore is the perfect author for this book because she's an experienced media critic and writer on a variety of topics relating to activism. She was the co-editor of the now-defunct Punk Planet. She's written for a whole slew of magazines including the Onion and Bitch. She's even been on Chicago Public Radio. Anne Elizabeth Moore continues to be at the forefront of making quality media and marketing observation.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
 Goes a Layer Deeper, 2008-02-25
I found this to be interesting and ultimately useful.
The style is concise and witty.
Any book which heps the reader to emerging insidious marketing techniques is worth reading. The fact that this one is well-written makes what is essential a pleasure.
If the price is beyond your means, try your local public library.
If they don't have it, request it!
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