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Friday, January 11, 2008

Foolishness in NYC

posted by on January 11 at 10:09 AM

The profligacy and exploitativeness of capitalism are illustrated by the 20-story tall advertisement in New York pictured here. nyad2.jpgNote that it is being re-painted. I have watched this ad since July, and the capitalists spend 6-8 weeks painting it, then leave the finished product up for 3 or 4 weeks, then immediately start re-painting it to suit the whims of the next corporate master. This unproductive labor only serves the interest of the capitalist; Marx clarified productive vs. unproductive labor in Theories of Surplus Value:

An actor, for example, or even a clown, according to this definition, is a productive labourer if he works in the service of a capitalist (an entrepreneur) to whom he returns more labour than he receives from him in the form of wages; while a jobbing tailor who comes to the capitalist’s house and patches his trousers for him, producing a mere use-value for him, is an unproductive labourer. The former’s labour is exchanged with capital, the latter’s with revenue. The former’s labour produces a surplus-value; in the latter’s, revenue is consumed.

In places where workers control the means of production, such as Cuba, this waste does not exist. The monthly ration given to the Cuban workers—a bag of rice, two desiccated onions, four eggs, tea fannings, and a few cigarette butts—represents the full value of the labor of the workers. No labor is wasted at all on advertising, never mind on painting a sign over and over.

RSS icon Comments

1

Cuban advertising simply takes the form of pretty hilarious propaganda billboards. They're pretty much all over the Country.

Posted by Giffy | January 11, 2008 10:23 AM
2

Wow, you are almost as annoying as Charles.

Posted by Um what | January 11, 2008 10:27 AM
3

Posted while using a capitalist-built computer on a capitalist ISP in a capitalist-built building in a capitalist country in a capitalist continent in a capitalist world.

Oh, except for Cuba and Vietnam, maybe. Let's all move!!!

Posted by The CHZA | January 11, 2008 10:27 AM
4

@1: "Patria o muerte!" could be a good template for corporate advertising up here. Think about it: "Hyundai . . . OR DEATH!"

Might not work so well on the irony-deficient, though.

Posted by MplsKid | January 11, 2008 10:29 AM
5

Hey, a post with actual content! I suspect many will miss the point, though.

productive vs. unproductive labor

So does anyone still actually believe in notions like this? This should have disappeared along with geocentrism and Creationism.

Posted by tsm | January 11, 2008 10:29 AM
6

@2 - at least Charles is annoying in a Jen Graves oh-give-me-a-break kind of way. This guy is more annoying in a sophomore-year college roommate with a giant Che poster at Evergreen kind of way.

Posted by boffee | January 11, 2008 10:30 AM
7

You suck.

Posted by Mr. Poe | January 11, 2008 10:32 AM
8

impostor!

Posted by brandon | January 11, 2008 10:33 AM
9

@2: Don't forget the Democratic People's Republic of North Korea. Worker's paradise!

Surely, though, the original post was tongue-in-cheek. The part about the monthly value of the Cuban worker being equivalent to "a bag of rice, two desiccated onions, four eggs, tea fannings, and a few cigarette butts" strikes me as a pretty trenchant criticism of command economies.

Posted by MplsKid | January 11, 2008 10:34 AM
10

I'm confused. If I'm posting shit on SLOG while on the capitalist's dime is my labor productive or unproductive?

Posted by DOUG. | January 11, 2008 10:34 AM
11

Who is this clown?

Posted by Rotten666 | January 11, 2008 10:36 AM
12

Is there anything more tedious than a Karl Marx diatribe?

I'm going out to buy a Hyundai right now, and then to Costco to buy as much rice, onions, eggs, tea and cigarettes as that sucker will hold.

Posted by Joe M | January 11, 2008 10:37 AM
13

I'm not so sure the sign-painters are a good example of unproductive labor. It depends on your perspective. They don't actually work "for" Hyundai. They work for a painting company, contracted by an advertising agency, hired by Hyundai. from the painter's point of view, who cares if he repaints the same building every two months? He's getting paid, and utilizing that capital how he sees fit.

Posted by laterite | January 11, 2008 10:38 AM
14

sigh...it takes a lot of work to make New York boring.

isn't it about time for another installment of "The Las Vegas Chronicles of O/Savage"?

According to Gay Fleshbot, there's a paucity of Gay Porn Stars at this year's event, much to their chagrin.

"Paucity"? that's a word, right?

Kelsey Grammar Nazi, help me out, here...

Posted by michael strangeways | January 11, 2008 10:45 AM
15

JMR, this is your best Slog post so far. Maybe you're getting the hang of this. I thought I was reading Mudede for a second.

However, I'm not sure what the point of your post is as it begins with an anti-capitalist tone, yet ends with a rather uninspiring view of socialism.

Rice, dried onions, cigarette butts ... If you were being paid to write socialist propaganda, THAT would be waste spending.

Posted by Mahtli69 | January 11, 2008 10:47 AM
16

Talk about unproductive labor: just how much of that nasty, filthy, capitalist lucre did you plop down for the privilege of posting this (very disposable) drivel?

Posted by Fifty-Two-Eighty | January 11, 2008 10:48 AM
17

Maybe the guest Slogger is posting one post in the style of every real Slogger, with clever jabs like the onions/cigarrette butt comment to mock their views.

Or maybe I'm giving him/her too much credit.

Posted by Julie | January 11, 2008 10:48 AM
18

and completely Off Topic, but slightly more interesting than the topic at hand, I'm eating a slice of banana bread from Julia's Bakery, and it's awful...extremely dry and you can taste the baking soda. They really suck.

Posted by michael strangeways | January 11, 2008 10:48 AM
19

advertising isn't wasteful at all if the company sells more cars as a result of that advertising. how is this wasteful?

marx was ignorant of economics, period.

Posted by Bellevue Ave | January 11, 2008 10:48 AM
20

"Paucity" is acceptable. So is "dearth."

Posted by Greg | January 11, 2008 10:48 AM
21

As another NYC resident, and one who works right next to this sign in 1 Penn Plaza, I am pretty sure that there were disagreements regarding the previous sign which featured a hand holding a razor phone with a dirty bandaged wrist. Capitalising suicide, anyone?

Posted by KEA | January 11, 2008 10:50 AM
22

While I wouldn't nominate JMR for a marketing position in the Cuban Chamber of Commerce, you kinda have to admit for a 20-story high advertisement, it does blow chunks.

Posted by NapoleonXIV | January 11, 2008 10:51 AM
23

Let us all remember this fuck-o spent hundreds of his hard earned captialist dollars on the right to post his marxist drivel. Listen up folks!

So JMR, what's the difference between Hyundai spending a couple grand to infiltrate NYer's eyeballs, when you did the undeniable same by purchasing SLOG rights?

Posted by menelaus | January 11, 2008 10:53 AM
24

Ya'all quit your bitching at this guy. He paid good money to charity to post whatever the hell he wants.

Let it go.

Posted by *gong* | January 11, 2008 10:57 AM
25

Does anyone else think that "The desiccated onions" would make a great band name?

Posted by muckfetro | January 11, 2008 10:58 AM
26

@23

He'll get out of that with the "charity" card.

Posted by Mr. Poe | January 11, 2008 10:59 AM
27

This is the worst Slog posting ever. It reads like a bad teenage anarchist screed. All it needed was a "fight the white male corporate patriarchy" at the end.

Posted by Jason Josephes | January 11, 2008 11:03 AM
28

@18: That doesn't surprise me. Julia's is horrible and has been for years. I can't understand how they are expanding. Can't this town even get a few good neighborhood breakfast-brunch places. Rest in peace, Glo.

Posted by zabar | January 11, 2008 11:06 AM
29

Maybe the guest Slogger is posting one post in the style of every real Slogger, with clever jabs like the onions/cigarrette butt comment to mock their views.

I thought of that a few weeks ago, but I decided that there were only maybe four authors whose writing was distinctive enough to be able to emulate it effectively, and in any event I just haven't had the time to write much.

Posted by JMR | January 11, 2008 11:07 AM
30

We hardly needed this post to prove that JMR is blind to the value of money. He spent hundreds to post this drivel on Slog, and the same again to travel to NYC and look at car ads.

I say give the guy two dessicated onions for his trouble and, since money is no determiner of value, think twice before selling Slog rights ever again.

Posted by Gurldoggie | January 11, 2008 11:13 AM
31

Yes, Julia's IS awful...

and such small portions...

Is the "Cuban" in the post referring to people living in the country where they make fine cigars, drive cool old Chevy's and where the men have enormous pingas and play baseball really well, or that tacky basketball team owning, Dancing with the Stars performing, but rather attractive billionaire, Mark Cuban?

Posted by michael strangeways | January 11, 2008 11:14 AM
32

Besides the giveaway pointed out by MplsKid @9, I'd say JMR's headline "Foolishness in NYC" refers to the post itself, not the painting.

The half of y'all ranting about Marxist propoganda, turn around and look up in the sky.  That's where the joke went.

Posted by lostboy | January 11, 2008 11:15 AM
33

LOL@29, although I can't tell whether that's supposed to be ECB or Dan.

And yep, it went over everyone's head. Nice job.

Posted by tsm | January 11, 2008 11:15 AM
34

JMR, for what it's worth, I like you.

Posted by kerri harrop | January 11, 2008 11:16 AM
35

You're at the wheel, JMR. Keep driving.

Posted by Lloyd Clydesdale | January 11, 2008 11:18 AM
36

No, it couldn't be ECB. No recipes.

Posted by Fifty-Two-Eighty | January 11, 2008 11:22 AM
37

@24 - I thought he paid good money to get roasted on Slog. Wasn't that the whole point?

@29 - I'm morbidly curious to see what you come up with for the JMRLove column. Last Days will be easy ... Nothing happened last week.

Posted by Mahtli69 | January 11, 2008 11:24 AM
38

This was obviously a Mudede spoof -- Sloggers, where is your sense of humor? Bah. Keep going, JMR.

Posted by Katelyn | January 11, 2008 11:29 AM
39

Introducing new Mudede Lite!

Half the intellectual firepower...but all of that tasty impenetrable fog of verbosity!

Pick some up...today!

Posted by Jubilation T. Cornball | January 11, 2008 11:34 AM
40

I thought it was a mudede spoof. not funny enough, but that seemed to be the target. if you really wanted to get closer and funnier you should have started talking about how attractive you found the sumo wrestler.

Posted by LMSW | January 11, 2008 11:38 AM
41

Hmmmmm....But ALL his posts are written in the same annoying style...

I hate...overly stylised writers..................

...

Posted by michael strangeways | January 11, 2008 11:46 AM
42

"The monthly ration given to the Cuban workers—a bag of rice, two desiccated onions, four eggs, tea fannings, and a few cigarette butts—represents the full value of the labor of the workers."

Finally, someone accurately assess the worth of a laborer. (The peasants ARE revolting...)

Posted by You_Gotta_Be_Kidding_Me | January 11, 2008 11:50 AM
43

Oh…. And why is Hyundai using ECB’s image in their advertising?... I don’t get it?

Posted by You_Gotta_Be_Kidding_Me | January 11, 2008 11:53 AM
44

@29. If there's anything I've learned on Slog, it's that random bolding is awesome.

Posted by Julie | January 11, 2008 11:55 AM
45

Commenters are being such insufferable jerks today! JMR is not BEING PAID to entertain you. He's doing this because he gave money to CHARITY. He owes you nothing!

Fools.

Posted by Irena | January 11, 2008 12:02 PM
46

No one said he "owes" us anything.

He's posting on a PUBLIC space and we're making comments on a PUBLIC space...that's the way it works. It's a public forum. It's give and take.

And he's being treated EXACTLY the same as the regular Stranger writers, which is part of what he paid for. If he's going to write stuff that's irritating to people, he's going to get treated exactly the same way Charles and Adrian and Erica and Savage and Schmader get treated when they write annoying shit.

We don't have to like him, just because it's for charity.

Posted by michael strangeways | January 11, 2008 12:19 PM
47

Commenters are insufferable jerks every day. Do you honestly expect us to turn on a dime?

Posted by NapoleonXIV | January 11, 2008 12:23 PM
48

Commenters are being such insufferable jerks today!

How is this different from any other day, or different from me when I comment?

Posted by JMR | January 11, 2008 12:26 PM
49

JMR, for what it's worth, I like you.

Posted by kerri harrop

Kerri's a female name, right?

Posted by JMR | January 11, 2008 12:27 PM
50

Well aside from the ugliness of being forced to live in a constant visual din of Manic Overconsumption, the ad DOES make it easier to read the fine print when it's that large, right?

Posted by andy niable | January 11, 2008 12:29 PM
51

Thanks JMR. Someone has to try to backup the political end of Charles' posts ( I know he has plenty of support for the T & A picture end).

Marxism or no, this quote from one of your detractors above pretty much sums up why us (alleged) citizens allowed ourselves to be hereded into Iraq and 4 ADDITIONAL years of Bush :

"advertising isn't wasteful at all if the company sells more cars as a result of that advertising. how is this wasteful?"

Posted by mirror | January 11, 2008 12:42 PM
52

Next year, call this Strangercrombie item "Sacrificial Lamb for a Week" ... keep it up JMR. You're doing a great job of keeping the crowd in a frenzy..

Posted by M | January 11, 2008 1:27 PM
53

Now that was a brilliant post! Of course capitalism and our system are not perfect but compare our way of life against others out there like communist Cuba and wow am I am thankful to have what we have. If you ever personally talk to someone from Cuba who has left, *listen* to what they have to say about their government and ours and you will probably be moved by their stories, and some of your opinions may change a bit. Idealistically, communism and socialism look like they will provide the most for everyone but in the end capitalism actually does it by far the best...

Posted by Christine | January 11, 2008 1:32 PM
54

@46 & 47,

I'm just baiting you. If commenters on Slog weren't such insufferable jerks, I wouldn't be reading it.

Just between you and me, I think JMR's kinda pervy. But the photograph is cool.

Posted by Irena | January 11, 2008 1:59 PM
55

hey mirror, how is it wasteful to advertise if it nets more cars sold? you're not thinking like the car company, you're thinking as someone who has no functional experience in the business world. advertising isn't wasteful for the car company, it only seems wasteful to you, but you don't mean very much to the world in the big picture.

Posted by Bellevue Ave | January 11, 2008 2:17 PM
56

stop your self righteous unidimensional thinking commies, and understand why the world works the way it does.

Posted by Bellevue Ave | January 11, 2008 2:21 PM
57

Just between you and me, I think JMR's kinda pervy.

Speaking of pervy, it looks to me that the sumo in the ad is having doggie-style sex with someone wearing a green shirt. A normal-size person, not a sumo-size person. No one else has noticed this?

They need to finish painting that thing.

Posted by JMR | January 11, 2008 3:11 PM
58

Irena calls JMR pervy and she's 'baitin' a gay man...I haven't let a girl 'bait me since 11th grade.

yuck.

Posted by michael strangeways | January 11, 2008 4:36 PM
59

#55

It's what it says about the depth of your values consciousness I was alluding to.

Posted by mirror | January 11, 2008 5:00 PM
60

michael @58, relax. I'm teasing about JMR -- aren't we all pervy on this Slog? I know I am! He should consider it a compliment...

And I'm totally baffled by your "baitin' a gay man" comment. Are you trying to flatter yourself?

Posted by Irena | January 12, 2008 12:42 PM

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