{"id":11546,"date":"2019-10-14T15:51:50","date_gmt":"2019-10-14T15:51:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/astoryisnotatree.net\/?p=11546"},"modified":"2020-01-03T03:31:40","modified_gmt":"2020-01-03T03:31:40","slug":"visual-hijack-campus-dealer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/astoryisnotatree.net\/?p=11546","title":{"rendered":"Cultural HiJack: Campus Dealer"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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For this assignment, I set out to find images I found oppressive. Spending the summer at home in Los Angeles, I saw a lot of billboards and advertising for various weed companies. This particular ad irked me: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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ad for the company Eaze<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

It bothered me that these companies promote the idea that weed has now just “shown up” because the government says it’s finally acceptable to use it. I’d also heard of bad experiences with the company (expensive prices, late, etc) from friends and online. Additionally, there’s the whitewashing of marijuana; it’s now a “cool” and “progressive” designer drug for middle\/upper-class people to become consumers of this product once rich white entrepreneurs (instead of POC or the poor) are selling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I decided on two methods for getting my hijack out, stickers and business cards. Both are relatively innocuous but easy to produce and be seen around campus. I made the cards on Canva, as they have very Basic\u2122 type fonts and layouts that lean into the commercial sellout weed image. I set a fake number through Google Voice, which was surprisingly easy to do. For the sticker, I first drew it on paper and then scanned it into Affinity Designer to draw over. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For me, the harder part was transforming this very Cali-specific frame to a wider\/New England crowd, which is where the business card came in. Weed is on the way to being legalized in NY state (or at least decriminalized for now<\/a>), and the cards were a way to see how people on campus would react to a more commercialized (though fake) image of marijuana sales, I guess. The two images below are the final designs I created and printed: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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First up, I installed cards in places where students would see them on campus, so mainly the library: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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    At the library<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li>
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    Between the books<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li>
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    Library desk chair<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li>
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    Between the books<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li>
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    Library desk chair<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li>
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    Between the books<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li>
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    In the Theatre building<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li>
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    In the Theatre building<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li>
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    In the Theatre building<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    I had great fun slinking around the library and putting cards between books, but my favorite part of the install was going to a series of parties Friday night and dropping cards:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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