SUBVERTISER: mocking ads through mobile phones

Abstract

As advertisements on posters in the street get more and more aggressive, our basic cognitive defense -aimed at not perceiving those messages- is not enough. One advanced defensive technique is based on transforming the perceived message into something different from what was originally meant in the message. The demo is based on an application for smartphones that creatively modifies the linguistic expression in a virtual copy of a poster. The mobile system is inspired by the counter-cultural art practice of "subvertising", and aims at experiencing aesthetic pleasure that relaxes the cognitive tension of the user.