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Abusters' Fool's Fest 2001

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The Adbusters' Culture Jammers Network is sponsoring a crafty piece of consumer culture tomfoolery for April Fool's day. Adbusters is urging, or rather daring people to go to their nearest mall or stock market trading floor and rain down $100 in small bills. Videotape or take photos of the ensuing chaos, send your visual accounts to Adbusters, and you'll be reimbursed your $100. (I believe you have to register with Adbusters first and let them know you'll be participating.)

I want to do it, just to see how people react. Imagine what you would do if you were strolling through the mall, thinking about how you wish you could afford that fly pair of Nike's at Foot Locker, when all of a sudden you saw $100 falling from the sky. Up for grabs. Whoever gets it first keeps it. Of course, any sensible person would grab what came their way. You'd be a fool not to do so. But, would you throw a few elbows here and there to make out with an extra 5, 10, or 20 bucks? If somebody slipped and fell in the melee, would you help them up or grab the dollar bills just beyond their reach? Would the thought of maintaining order even cross your mind? It would be very difficult, I think, to avoid being swept up in the herd mentality if free money were falling from the sky.

This absurd anarchy is exactly what Adbusters wants to see. It's so simple a ruse that it's almost vulgar and childish, and I think Adbusters is fully aware of it. For example, the e-mail announcing the event ends by telling the recipient to, "Forward this message to the fools you know and your life will be blessed with nonsense." I think that most people realize on at least some level that the obsession with money we submit to every day is ridiculous and illusory. We know it's just green paper. Most of the time, it's either mind-bendingly frustrating or there's simply no time to bother with the inconvenience of considering the absurdity of the situation. It is worth thinking about, and recognizing, but come on-there's nothing we can do. Money's not just suddenly going to go away any time soon. Which is a shame, because money rarely brings out the best in people, and in fact often brings out humanity's most vile ugliness.

I think it's also a shame that before I even reflected on any of these things, another, more sinister thought occurred to me. Given my less than amicable regard towards the men and women of law enforcement, my first thought was, "Could I get arrested for doing this?" I knew the answer right away-I sure as hell could. Worse, I could easily picture being roughed up by some bitter, insignificant (and aware of it) mall security guard. I played out the scene in my head, imagining my outraged reaction to the overweight guard lumbering towards me, snatching my video camera away from me, violently tearing it open, and destroying my tape. What right did he have to do that, I would ask? Unable to articulate in words that my actions had undermined the tiny, barely existent measure of authority he believed himself to control, he would respond with terse, threatening statements and physical intimidation. I might not face jail time, but I'd certainly get a hard time.