Ethics Lecture.
Capitalism is based on unfair equalities.
What is it to be an ethical creative?
Ken Garland 1964
This is a less of a manifesto in a political sense but a manifesto in the type of people who signed it off. This is obviously produced in a boom time, in post-war affluence. All of these designers generally felt frustrated that really creative designers where wasting there talent on marketing pointless commodities. Effectively it is called for designers to do something more with there talents. Its a celebration of the designer and its a sigh of exploitation in talent in capitalism. They are proposing an ethical term in the sense of them saying its unethical to waste talent in the profit of other people and they should use there talent in a much more worthy way. It is a very worth document.
In 2000 it was replaced by this who created this by Adbusters.
This is a capitalist magazine and they think of themselves as a very political group and a journal of the environment. In the redraft the tone changes, to not just a cry about wasted talent but also more critical to advertising. But you would expect that due to there title.
Adbuster sub-verts
This is one of the confusing things and talk about graphic design and advertisers as we are one big thing. This manifesto is saying that we are all indoctrinating into one profession to make people buy things they don't need. This is more acute and to the point that selling things which are more problematic. Such as credit cards, due to the glamourising the way of the credit card you are closing people into a life time of debt. They are roping you into global exploitation.
The tone behind all this becomes very victorious and preaching. This would work to get people involved in charities and to educate the world.
Culture Jamming
Is this overthrowing anyone?
The buynothingday is ignored by most of the world and they have appropriate adverts to tell a funny message and tell people about the evils of capitalism. They are in favour of visual communication and politics.
Adbusters & Kalle Lasn
An example of a meme is something that sticks in your head. The circulation through the work virally, given that power what happens if we try and do something really great with the work. Basically, all this is, is replacing the system of capitalism with the dogma of uncapitalism. The adbuster revolution is what came out to try and formulate a broadly anti-capitalist of design.
This is one of the most famous works below:
This is his book about social change and human ecology. In this book, he made the same argument that most design was wasteful and exploited, put the creative talents towards didn't enrich the world. It is a cry for ethics.
Beer Can Automobile Can Bumber 1971
He came up with this idea when a car dealership said that when they said they was going to leave the bumbers how they are, even though they wasn't safe due to the expense on adding to the car. His idea is that not just because peoples talents are wasted but people are ignoring design solutions for profit.
He has come up with this design problem. if you think of all the problems in the world, they just play with the tip of the iceberg when actually there is a whole raft of problems in society in theory we could solve.
The first things first manifesto is arguing the same thing that we are only touching the surface and we could do a lot more when thinking in this way.
How do we determine what is good?
Ultimately we are going to have to work within that system, as designers. Although, there could be a way of working within that capital which is ethical. Although, how do we decide what is good?
To create a survey on what is ethical and what is not?
You have to:
Subject Relativism.
If everyone believed in that you wouldn't have any debates and everyone thinks this at some point or another. you have to have the frame work to decide waht is right and what is wrong.
Cultural Relativism.
This is floured and doesn't take much to spot the flaws in this. Obviously in society it creates the values within you live in. Not all culture relativism are the same. Really in a globalised world we have to have some shared values as we have to relate.
Divine Command Theory.
It is not based on reason but based on dogma and you been given a set of rules and you having to follow them.
None of these rules on the way to decide what is good, are not workable.
Immanuel Kant
he argued that the thing that distinguishes us from animals we don't just follow our gut instinct we sit back and analyse and think things through. he was one of the first people who decided to formulate in what should be ethical and what is not? He called this the categorical imperative, this is if you think things through you can decided what is ethical or not by sitting back and thinking. And what the act what you are doing and what it means. If you can universalise it and say if everyone did what I did would that be OK or would that be morally wrong? If you can't this means it is unethical
Eg. If no one every gave to society then the idea of charity would be redundant. But the idea of charity is what we all rely on sometime in our live. So therefore, this is unethical as it is against reason.
You should not use other people, or lie and deceit. This is based on vision. But adbusters, are using the skills of advertising to perpetuate capitalism method.
John Stuart Mill
For defining what is good? he was interested in the amount of good or bad or even pain you would get for your actions? It is based on your effect of your actions within society. The utility of you actions are put to. If it increases totally happiness they it is ethical, visa versa. If you do something and you see a broad benefit them this action is ethical. This is often called consequentialism, this could be due to doing a good deed and having bad consequences. An argument against this is that to lie is bad due to that if everyone lies then the whole world will break down, therefore this may be ethical but not desirable.
In some cases, acting ethically is sacrafising liberty.
Social Contrast Theory
Thomas Hobbes & Jean Jacques
The notion of the social contract. This is basically the argument that if everyone with the subjective relativist attitude is that if everyone did what you want we would have people trying to screw each other over. This argues to be aethical it is to think about the common good rather than the human gain. To think about the structure of society rather than the actually gain in ethical. Thatcher broke this theory down due to her saying that there is no such thing as society.
By thinking about these things is a formulation of thinking whether what we do is good or not. And this is kind of workable and have a workable ethical workstation for ourselves. This is based on shared believes & reason. This is a morality that comes from logical & processes of thinking.
Social & Ecologically Responsible Design
If you can say what you are doing is socially responsible, Papanek is what he about. What he was really about was generally about designing for benefiting all.
This is a radio he designed. One think he was against was us as educated designers going into the second world saying here I am here to save the day. He said the designers role was to provide them with solutions to use for themselves. Its a workable radio which can be made form rubbish on the streets of Africa. It is made out of an old tin can, so rather than making a posh radio, he has made a proposal so anyone can make it for themselves. It is a design not for profit or individual gain. But designed for the greater gain.
Papanek also says:
What peole get wrong is that they think I am trying to say all advertising is evil. What he was trying to say is that there is more thinks they can do to change the world. Tithe is an old term for giving something away for free. It is a sort of thing you do and give up in the common good of society. he says designers should do this but give 10% of our time to really worth while ethical causes. If everyone did that he said that the whole world would be improved. Stefan Sagmeister does this 1 every 10 years. This is a good utilitarian sense. This is ethical in the social contract as this is helping stabilise society & build links. This is much more a productive way of bettering the world.
Statstics of Capitalism
We can make solid change if we put our minds to it.
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