Carnivalesque Rebellion and Nike

An alternative to the new wave of ecofascism

The future of environmentalism is in liberating humanity from the compulsion to consume. Rampant, earth-destroying consumption is the norm in the west largely because our imaginations are pillaged by any corporation with an advertising budget. From birth, we are assaulted by thousands of commercial messages each day whose single mantra is "buy". Silencing this refrain is the revolutionary alternative to ecological fascism. It is a revolution which is already budding and is marked by three synergetic campaigns: the criminalisation of advertising, the revocation of corporate power and the downshifting of the global economy.

The Next Step from AdBusters?

In TACTICAL BRIEFING #1 and #2 we initiated a worldwide boycott of Starbucks and called for a rejuvenation of local indie coffee culture. Now we continue our attack on megacorporations by calling for the unswooshing of Nike.
After purchasing Converse in 2003, Nike thought they could buy the rebellious spirit once embodied by wearing Chucks. But neither revolution nor cool are up for sale and now the time has come to divest from this truly pathetic megacorporation and its subsidiaries: Converse, Hurley, Umbro, and Cole Haan. Here’s the hash tag that will fell goliath: #UNSWOOSHNIKE
Just do it: don’t buy another pair of Nikes and urge your friends to do the same. If you already own a pair then take a marker and paint a blackspot over the logo for all to see. And next time you walk past a Niketown, slap a Just Douche It or All Empires Must Fall poster on the front door or window … or better still, go inside and draw little blackspots everywhere.
And help spread the #UNSWOOSHNIKE meme so that the whole world knows that Nike’s production of top down, megacorporate cool is finally coming to an end.