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Journal of Promotional Communications

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Published

2016-09-26

Issue

Vol. 4 No. 1 (2016)

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Articles

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Rebellion. It's In Our Jeans

George Bartlett

Bournemouth University

Abstract

Robert Pfaller and Slavoj Žižek founded the theory of interpassivity, which refers to a situation in which an object deprives a subject of its passivity through the use of an ‘other’. My research explores the way in which rebellion and counterculture can be transferred from an active process, into something much more passive. Using the theory of interpassivity through the advertising case study of Levi Strauss & Co., this piece analyses the way in which brands are able to unburden consumers from any desire to act on rebellious impulse. It is by brands allowing consumers to unburden themselves of any anger or frustration towards the system they are a part of, without any action required on the part of the subject, which allows for the mainstream and the counterculture to live harmoniously alongside one another. I conclude on a paradox, that society may now continue to go about their consumer-capitalist fuelled lives, safe in the knowledge that they tried to change it through their consumer-capitalism.

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