BLO Nightly News

In a form of subversive media terrorism, BLO operatives purchased talking Barbie and G.I. Joe dolls, both of which were programmed to speak crude cultural clichés. The dolls were then taken to the BLO headquarters where “corrective surgery” was performed: switching the dolls’ voice boxes. The dolls were then placed back on the store shelves in a process of reverse shoplifting—”shopgiving.” In the format of a nightly news program, this witty and satiric video documents the activities of the Barbie Liberation Organization, including the “corrective surgery” procedure and the “shopgiving” actions. The video functions as witness and instruction manual on culture jamming—an interference strategy used by guerrilla art and media activists to expose and undermine the logic and domination of corporate-controlled media and capitalist culture.