"ideological jujitsu"
It''s about time that
Laugh It Off were noticed by non-South African designers. The company, founded by Justin Nurse, are a radical design collective devoted to "culture jamming"--that is, creating debate about politcal and social issues through pop media. They are most well known for a range of t-shirts which altered the logos of prominent brands in South Africa.
Most recently, South African brewing giant SABMiller self-righteously attempted to
sue the pants off the small company, but were forced to drop the lawsuit under a hail of negative publicity. The reason? Nurse had shamed their sub-brand Carling (who primarily target the working-class black market in South Africa) by screening their logo and ad-slogans--altering "Black Label" to read "Black Labor." He also added the slogans "Black Labor, White Guilt" and "Black Neighbor, White Fence." The lawsuit created a public furor and negatively affected SABMiller's stock price. Nurse has also been sued by Lego, and physically harrassed by representatives of Standard Bank.
