Anti-Consumerist Sites
Adbusters - Vancouver based anti-consumerist magazine Adbusters. Famous for their spoof ads.
» www.adbusters.org
Buy Nothing Day – Every November, for 24 hours, we remember that no one was born to shop.
» www.adbusters.org
Naomi Klein - Homepage for the author of No Logo, Hidden Fences and Shock Doctrine.
» www.naomiklein.org
Commercial Alert - Commercial Alert’s mission is to keep the commercial culture within its proper sphere, ?and to prevent it from exploiting children and subverting the higher values of family, community, environmental integrity and democracy.
» www.commercialalert.org
Stay Free! – Brooklyn-based magazine that explores the politics and perversions of mass media and American culture.
» www.stayfreemagazine.org
The Idler - The Idler is a bi-yearly British magazine devoted to promoting its ethos of ‘idle living’ and all that entails.
» www.idler.co.uk
Free Press - Free Press is a national, nonpartisan organization working to reform the media.
» www.freepress.net
Church Of Stop Shopping - An activist performance group led by Reverend Billy that campaigns against the destruction of neighborhoods by malls and chain stores.
» www.revbilly.com
Advertising Educational Foundation – AEF provides educational content to enrich the understanding of advertising and to expand and elevate the advertising discourse… on-campus… in our society… and in the industry.
» www.aef.com
Media Education Foundation - A nonprofit organization devoted to media research and the production of resources to aid educators and others in fostering analytical media literacy.
» www.mediaed.org
The Anti-Advertising Agency - The Anti-Advertising Agency co-opts the tools and structures used by the advertising and public relations industries.
» www.antiadvertisingagency.com
Brand Channel - An international online exchange and resource about brand marketing and branding.
» www.brandchannel.com
Interbrand – A leading international branding consultancy specializing in brand services and activities, including brand strategy and corporate identity.
» www.interbrand.com
Lovemarks - Saatchi CEO Kevin Robert’s homepage on the future of brands.
» www.lovemarks.com
Emotional Branding – The homepage of Marc Gobe, including the 10 commandments of branding.
» www.emotionalbranding.com
Admap - Admap will keep you up to date with cutting edge practice, important issues and new thinking worldwide about advertising and marketing communications.
» www.admapmagazine.com
Trendwatching - The world’s most visited source for Consumer Trends and Insights.
» www.trendwatching.com
Ad Age – A definitive general collection of news and analysis regarding goings-on in the world of advertising.
» www.adage.com
AdPulp – Daily juice from the advertising business. AdPulp.com is a blog focused on advertising, branding, and marketing.
» www.adpulp.com
John Berger - Homepage for the storyteller, essayist, novelist, screenwriter, dramatist and critic.
» www.johnberger.org
Herbert Marcuse - A comprehensive collection of texts, links and pictures of the famous Frankfurt School philosopher and author of ‘One Dimensional Man’.
» www.marcuse.org
Sut Jhally - One of the world’s leading cultural studies scholars in the area of advertising, media, and consumption.
» www.sutjhally.com
Alain de Botton – Read and watch extract from de Botton’s seminal ‘Status Anxiety’.
» www.alaindebotton.com
Jonathon Porritt – Co-Founder and Programme Director of Forum for the Future, is an eminent writer, broadcaster and commentator on sustainable development.
» www.jonathonporritt.com
Tim Kasser - Professor Of Psychology specializing in consumerism and author of ‘The High Price of Materialism’, which is essential reading.
» www.faculty.knox.edu
Marxist Writers - Marxist website defending the ideas of Marxism as a tool for today’s labour movement, by the International Marxist Tendency.
» www.marxist.com
James B Twitchell - James Twitchell has written extensively on advertising and consumerism.
» www.clas.ufl.edu
Seth Godwin - The global brand guru riffs on marketing, respect, and the ways ideas spread.
» www.sethgodin.typepad.com
Russell Davies - Advertising practitioner supreme, whose blog is read by anyone that matters.
» www.russelldavies.typepad.com
Rita Clifton - If brand management were a religion, Rita Clifton would be a deity.
» www.amazon.com
Dr Robert Heath - If you only ever read one book on advertising, read Robert Heath’s ‘The Hidden Power Of Advertising’.
» www.lowattentionprocessing.com
Assorted Blogs
AdFreak - AdFreak like to focus on what’s next.
» www.adweek.blogs.com
AdRants – Weblog featuring news and musings on the oddities and wonders of the advertising industry.
» www.adrants.com
The Consumerist – Shoppers Bite Back.
» www.consumerist.com
Agenda Inc – Daily feed of trends in brands and culture.
» news.agendainc.com
Green Is The New Black – News on new collections, happenings and all things consciously fashionable.
» www.greenisthenewblack.typepad.com
Hippy Shopper – With green and eco issues now at the forefront of everyone’s minds, Hippyshopper is a one stop shop when it comes to ethical culture.
» hippyshopper.com
Multimedia
Adam Curtis’ ‘Century Of The Self’.
» Part 1
» Part 2
» Part 3
» Part 4
PBS Frontline – Companion web site to the investigative journalism series. Contains extended interviews, video, teacher’s resources, and additional material.
» www.pbs.org
Two films of particular interest are:
i. The Merchants of Cool – PBS’ Frontline looks at how America’s giant media corporations skillfully court the teenage consumer.
» www.pbs.org
ii. The Persuaders – Another Frontline report by Douglas Rushkoff (Merchants of Cool) on “the persuasion industry” from advertising, to public relations, to politics.
» www.pbs.org>
Corporate Watch and Ethical Consumer Sites
Corporate Watch UK – News, investigative information and analysis from activist, anti-corporate organization based in the UK.
» www.corporatewatch.org.uk
War On Want – War on Want fights poverty in developing countries in partnership and solidarity with people affected by globalisation. The site campaigns for workers’ rights and against the root causes of global poverty, inequality and injustice.
» www.waronwant.org
Labour Behind The Label – Labour Behind the Label is a campaign that supports garment workers’ efforts worldwide to improve their working conditions. They educate consumers, lobby companies and government, raise awareness, and encourage international solidarity with workers.
» www.labourbehindthelabel.org
Sedex – Sedex is a web-based system for companies to maintain data on labour practices at production sites and make it available to their customers, in order to drive and demonstrate improvements.
» www.sedex.org.uk
Ethical Consumer Magazine – Tips on ethical buying, consumer reports on a wide range of goods, information on UK and worldwide boycotts.
» www.ethicalconsumer.org
No Sweat – Provides campaigns against sweatshops and child labor, in the UK and around the world.
» www.nosweat.org.uk
Corp-Ethics – Corporate Ethics and Governance Watchdog. Bringing corporate crime, corruption and questionable practices to the public attention.
» www.corp-ethics.com
ActivistCash.com – A site by the Center for Consumer Freedom, providing in-depth profiles of anti-consumer activist groups, along with information about the sources of their exorbitant funding.
» www.activistcash.com
The Nag – Here’s the deal. One thing a month. Sign up to get nagged each month about one easy thing you can do to be greener, cleaner and, if you’re not careful, a tiny bit smug.
» thenag.net
Getting Help
Addictions.co.uk – Addictions can be formed to any activity or behaviour which allows people to escape from life and its problems and includes shopping or spending, sexual activities, gambling, food, prescribed and illegal drugs, alcohol and even other people.
» www.addictions.co.uk
Consumer Credit Counselling Service – A registered charity whose purpose is to assist people who are in financial difficulty by providing free, independent, impartial and realistic advice.
» www.cccs.co.uk
Affinity Healthcare – Provide specialist and complex mental health services to the NHS.
» www.affinityhealth.co.uk
Careline – National telephone counselling service. Tel: 0845 122 8622
» www.carelineuk.org
Samaritans – Confidential telephone support. Tel: 08457 90 90 90 (UK) or 1850 60 90 90 (ROI) http://www.samaritans.org/
» www.carelineuk.org
British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy – Search for a therapist in your local area.
» www.bacp.co.uk
Debtors Anonymous – A fellowship of men and women who share their experience, strength and hope with each other that they may solve their common problem and help others to recover from compulsive debting.
» www.debtorsanonymous.org.uk
