Regulatory issues - under UK IPSO guidelines, to promote, encourage or otherwise facilitate suicide is illegal
The entire article presents nothing but walls of text. This is highly unconventional for magazines, where walls of copy would normally be broken up with captions, pull quotes, images and adverts. This article therefore resembles more closely a book. Without any distraction, we are being forced to actively read this article. This conflicts with the style and aesthetic previously established by adbusters, contradicting its own brand identity.
However, the composition of the columns themselves themselves is tilted and canted, making the audience anxious and uneasy
In the article, we are posited as a shopper in a large American supermarket, a relatable experience. However, for each and every product that we and the narrator consider buying, we are told exactly how we are making the world a worse place
The lexis is clinical and confusing, using words like aposematic and nucleotide in order to construct a post apocalyptic and depressing sci fi narrative.
The article then uses iPhone as an example, discussing the conflict and issues that go in to their manufacture. Rather than engaging in fetishistic disavowal and ignoring issues, the article forces us to confront them
A hateful, aggressive, upsetting and accusatory article
A potentially harmful lexis, especially for vulnerable people. The article flatly asks the audience to consider committing suicide in order to save the planet. This brutal mode of address is designed to force audiences to confront societal issues using extreme tactics. This literally incites the audience to commit suicide breaking OFCOM guidelines
The article presents a highly affecting and genuinely depressing mode of address.
The article instantly positions the audience in a large American supermarket, constructing a highly realistic and relatable mode of address.
The article directly addresses the audience directly, repeatedly using the word ‘you’. This constructs a more commanding, instructing tone, connecting the audience directly with the text
The level of detail of this article is horrifying, and constructs a sense of existential anxiety. This is the horror of being alive. The article is desperately attempting to force the audience to confront reality.
“The microbeads in your toothpaste…” the horror of placing plastic inside us, of filling our bodies with microplastics and the health issues this cause…
“The worst thing about the meat isn’t the plastic or the pink slime…” constructing a sense of absolute disgust and hatred
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