TV Turnoff Week is no ordinary social ritual. The goal is simple: to shake up routines and get people questioning the role of TV in their lives.

Sure, it’s a statement against dead-end couch culture. But it's also about cleaning up the mental environment. Like our oceans and air, our shared mindscape is littered with pollutants -- distorted news, manipulative ads, violence and top-down culture.

How can we fight back? In years past, we've smashed TVs, postered schools and offices, aired ads, and performed anti-tube street theater. The hottest idea this year? TV-B-Gone™ -- a key-chain remote control capable of turning off virtually any television. It's the ultimate tool for reclaiming our commons.

From April 25 to May 1, thousands of jammers will be hitting the streets with this ingenious device, illicitly zapping TVs. Clarity of mind, one click at a time.

FROM THE FRONT


GLOBAL TV TURNOFF FESTIVITIES

Again for this year, TV Turnoff Week events have been planned in dozens of countries across the planet, including Australia, Brazil, the United Kingdom, Canada, Japan, Taiwan, Italy, the United States, Switzerland, and Mexico. In the US alone, the TV Turnoff Network estimates that 7.6 million people participated in TV Turnoff 2004, with over 19,000 events spread across every state. Here are just a few of this year's offerings:

Washington DC, USA

The DC JammerGroup has focused their efforts on organizing TV Turnoff events at the Marie H. Reed Elementary School. At the beginning of the week, the school will be hosting a party for parents and children, where they'll be given information about the negative effects of television. At the end of the week, there will be a cake party to congratulate the kids on their week without TV.

The jammers are also planning a pub crawl on April 29 to turn off televisions while enjoying a few beers as a group.

Tempe/Pheonix, USA

One jammer in Arizona is planning on using his Urban Art Vehicle—an old-school van that he's turned into a mobile canvas—to promote TV Turnoff Week. Look for the Art Van at Final Fridays Art Walk (April 29th) in Tempe, and The Phoenix Jazz and Blues Festival. There will be artists doing a collaborative graffiti mural on the unpainted side of the van, and there are also plans for guerilla projections, TV-B-Gone insurrections, and wheatpasting.
Basel, Switzerland

The Basel JammerGroup is combining the TV-B-Gone device with street theatre to draw attention to TV Turnoff. The event's coordinator wrote to us to say that they wanted to communicate their message as conspicuously as possible, so they're integrating TV-B-Gone into their performances for everyone to see.

Vancouver, Canada


In Vancouver, the birthplace of Adbusters, three punk bands are putting on a "Smash Your Set" show organised by the local JammerGroup. The event is set for April 29th at The Asbalt.

New York City, USA


Jammers in NYC are planning a zombie invasion to dramatise the effects of unrestrained television consumption. Describing the event, one Jammer says that "an army of zombies will walk the earth in search of the one thing that sustains their hellish existence: TV. Their appitite for mindless entertainment, superficial sensationalist news reporting, and cynically manipulative commercial ploys grows ever more ravenous with each moment they spend as passive consumers of this insipid cultural detritus. Your only hope of escape is to shut off the TV and take shelter in the community of your fellow human beings."


Kitchener, Canada & Boston, USA


Parties are a popular way to kick off TV Turnoff Week events this year. In Kitchener, the Ontario JammerGroup has scheduled a community concert and picnic to celebrate. They've booked bands, printed T-shirts, and made signs, all to celebrate life without television. And in Boston, a "Protect Your Brain" concert has been organized for April 25.

Everywhere Else


Thousands of TV-B-Gone universal remote controls have been distributed globally, so from April 25 to May 1, don't be alarmed when you notice an unfamiliar silence taking hold in your area.
TV Off: The Knitted Sessions
As a part of Lisbon Fashion Week, aforest-design has created "TV Off," a line of knitted garments incorporating test patterns, knitted power buttons, and masks with sewn-up mouths. The collection is "a statement against dead-end couch and zapping culture . . . The goal is simple: to shake up routines and get people questioning the role of TV in their lives."


Saturday Morning Funnies
I think this image might be appropriate for your TV Turnoff campaign.

Judith Supine


Shhhhh...
This is an uncopyrighted image—figured I'd do something with the drawing rather than just let it rot in my sketchbook. Feel free to pass it along.

Paul


Family Hour
I am addicted to drugs
Though no doctor would tell me so,
I have a disease
That medicines cannot treat,
I stay up all night
Looking for happiness I cannot find.
I force my self awake.
Staring into Space
Staring blankly at a Light for an answer.
If it be my undoing then so shall it be,
For nothing can stop me
From watching my T.V.

Michael Mirer


SOURCE:
http://www.adbusters.org/metas/psycho/tvturnoff/
AND
http://adbusters.org/campaign_blogs/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=36&Itemid=40