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What is a Whirl-Mart?
The action is comprised of a group of anti-shoppers ranging in size from 1 to 50 members. The ritual consists of activists/actors arriving at a Wal-Mart, Toys-R-Us or another chain superstore at 12-noon on the first Saturday or Sunday of the month and proceeding to push empty shopping carts slowly and silently through the aisles. Eventually, all of the participants locate one another and form a single-file chain of anti-shoppers which weaves, wanders, and whirls throughout the store for about an hour. It is a collective reclamation of space that is otherwise only used for buying and selling. It is a symbolic display of the will to resist the capitalist ideology.
'Whirl-Mart' is an experiment that can be approached from several different angles. As a work of art, it examines and blurs the boundaries that have been established between performance art, protest, living sculpture, and direct action. As an action of resistance, it utilizes the power of silence in occupying private consumer-dominated space with a symbolic spectacle. As a ceremony, it is a counter-ritual to shopping that transforms the super-store and its wall-to-wall array of products into a surreal and colorful cathedral. And what the heck-- it's just darned fun!
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Whirl-Mart Ritual Resistance International Whirl-Mart HQ World Changing Models, Tools, and Ideas for Building a Bright Green Future Critical Mass Critical Mass is not an organization, it's an unorganized
coincidence. It's a movement ... of bicycles, in the streets. Rev Billy's Church of Stop Shopping Lots of great scripts from/for performance interventions
with a heavy focus on Starbucks. Commerce
Jamming Commerce Jamming source page. AdBusters A global network of those who want to advance the new social
activist movement of the information age. Commercial Alert wants to keep commercial culture within
its proper sphere, and to prevent it from exploiting children and subverting
the higher values of family, community, environmental integrity and
democracy. No Media Kings Jim Munroe's guide to doin' it for yourself Booksense.com Internet book search that sends your order to your nearest
independent bookstore. Starbucks Delocator Search that helps you locate locally owned alternatives to Starbucks
Media
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outlets for the creation of radical, accurate, and passionate tellings of the truth Project of the Independent Media Institute, a nonprofit
organization dedicated to strengthening and supporting independent and
alternative journalism. The Electronic Frontier Foundation is the first to identify
threats to our basic rights online and to advocate on behalf of free expression
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Topics include privacy, free speech, the role of government and corporations,
antitrust, and more. MediaChannel.org The global network for democratic media.
PLUS the News Dissector's Weblog. CorpWatch.org counters corporate-led globalization through education,
network-building and activism.
edited with emphasis from NYT article--may require free registration:
Much to the chagrin of Seattle-based Starbucks Corp., Playboy
Magazine has issued an alert: ``Calling all coffee-making cuties!'' to
pose nude for an upcoming issue featuring the ``Women of Starbucks.''
With the application process already percolating, the chain of more
than 6,200 coffee shops worldwide, is anything but thrilled with the
cattle call by the adult magazine to its coffee-making employees, known
as baristas. The company on Thursday offered a frosty statement:
``Starbucks Coffee Company is aware that Playboy Enterprises has issued
a call for entries for a 'Women of Starbucks' section in a future
magazine. Starbucks is not affiliated with this project and does not endorse it. All further inquiries should be directed to the contact at Playboy, Theresa Hennessey.''
Hennessey, at Playboy Enterprises Inc.'s Chicago headquarters, said
the magazine was already getting a lot submissions for the issue.
``Starbucks is such a big part of American pop culture, and Playboy is always trying to stay on top of the latest trend
so it seemed like a natural fit, especially with all the beautiful
women there,'' she said. Hennessey said that while Playboy had not
approached Starbucks beforehand, it was sensitive to copyright and
trademark issues. ``However we use or title the piece, we'll be using it within the boundaries of fair use of trademark law.
By saying 'Women of Starbucks,' that's using it an a descriptive manner
within the boundaries of fair use,'' she said. ``If the girls want to
submit their photos and want to do something in their off time, they
should be able to do that.''
In recent years, Playboy has scored big with other corporate-themed
pictorials such as ``The Women of Enron,'' as well as 7-Eleven.
MediaChannel.org
