Society of the Spectacle-Guy Debord/Brandscaping

The spectacle is the inverted image of society in which relations between commodities have supplanted relations between people, in which passive identification with the spectacle supplants genuine activity. "The spectacle is not a collection of images," Debord writes. "rather, it is a social relationship between people that is mediated by images."^[11]

In his analysis of the spectacular society, Debord notes that quality of life is impoverished, with such lack of authenticity, human perceptions are affected, and there's also a degradation of knowledge, with the hindering of critical thought.^[25] Debord analyzes the use of knowledge to assuage reality: the spectacle obfuscates the past, imploding it with the future into an undifferentiated mass, a type of never ending present; in this way the spectacle prevents individuals from realizing that the society of spectacle is only a moment in history (time), one that can be overturned through revolution.^[26][27]
Debord's aim and proposal, is "to wake up the spectator who has been drugged by spectacular images," "through radical action in the form of the construction of situations," "situations that bring a revolutionary reordering of life, politics, and art". In the situationist view, situations are actively created moments characterized by "a sense of self-consciousness of existence within a particular environment or ambience".^[28]

BRANDSCAPING
http://www.brandedcities.com/about.html

Born out the Times Square experience, Clear Channel Branded Cities is a spectacular media, activation and sponsorship out-of-home advertising company. Branded Cities is a joint venture of Clear Channel Outdoor and Ellman Media, Inc. Branded Cities specializes in the use of “Brandscaping,” which is the alignment of brand experiences with people’s lives.
Brandscaping combines spectacular, bright lights style outdoor signage and advertising with presence based components such as branded entitlements (plazas and public spaces), sponsor-based entertainment, product purchase integration and naming rights opportunities.
Brandscaping allows brands to be experienced multi-dimensionally in a controlled environment and reaches leisure consumers, residents, local businesses, sports fans, and corporate customers.

Television

A common misconception is that "the society of the spectacle" refers explicitly to-->mass accumulation of images-->result of the capitalist mode of production-->rationalized for the purpose of profit. What it really refers to is the social relation that is mediated by the images that are mass produced by television and newspaper|printed news. People watch television as an existential escape from life, but they also rely on it for news, didactic life lessons, and examples of the norms of values of society. When these ideas are controlled by political interests in the case of censorship and corporate interests in the case of advertisement, the results can be dangerous. The creation of false realities is one result. One defense of the spectacle is that there needs to be existential escapes available to people in order for them to enjoy life. The main situationist critique is that the spectacle, because it is produced for profit and for political purposes is a corruptive force and is certainly not art, which should be an actual expression of emotion, is an existential release of higher value, offers greater personal connection, creates situations of charity and altruism, and is of more direct value. Many of the situationists considered themselves to be artists.