Guerrilla communication and communication guerrilla refer to an attempt to provoke subversive effects through interventions in the process of communication.

It can be distinguished from other classes of political action because it is not based on the critique of the dominant discourses but in the interpretation of the signs in a different way. Its main goal is to make a critical non-questioning of the existing, for reasons ranging from political activism to marketing. In terms of marketing, journalist Warren Berger explains unconventional guerrilla-style advertising as "something that lurks all around, hits us where we live, and invariably takes us by surprise".

Forms

One form of guerrilla communication is the creation of a ritual via participative public spectacle to disrupt or protest a public event or to shift the perspectives of passers-by. Such spectacles often take the form of street and guerrilla theater. Another way to create such spectacle is via tactical frivolity.

Pie-throwing as performance art is a form of guerrilla communication. Other forms of guerrilla communication include adbusting, graffiti, hacktivism (notably cybersquatting), and reclaiming.

An example of guerrilla communication are the demonstrations taking place since 15 May 2011 in Spain and cities in other countries, such as London, Berlin or Paris. These demonstrations, organized through the Internet, are trying to create awareness among the population about other ways to manage governments, using the motto "Real Democracy NOW!"

Main methods of action

Generally, the techniques and methods used are guided by two principles: distanciation and over-identification.

Distanciation is based on subtle modifications in the regular representation, which lights new aspects of the representation and produces by displacement, new meanings unforecast. It consists on taking images, ideas and forms to change the communication process or its usual presentation to create confusion and reconsideration about each own cultural grammar. The new elements in the communication process create perturbations, which are effective to offer a critic vision to general public in front of the traditional point of view. The goal of this method is to create distance in front the existing to gain a new perspective. For example, in the mid-1990s the ad agency Crispin Porter + Bogusky employed distanciation in order to raise support for a local homeless shelter.

  • Republicart.net: afrikagruppe "All or None? Multiple Names, Imaginary Persons, Collective Myths"
  • Handbook Of The Communication Guerilla
  • The Guerrilla Marketing Handbook
  • What about communication guerrilla?
  • Media hijack
  • Memefest, international festival of radical communication
  • autonome a.f.r.i.k.a.-gruppe: "Communication guerrilla - Transversality in everyday life?"
  • autonome a.f.r.i.k.a.-gruppe, Luther Blissettt and Sonja Brünzels, "Communication guerrilla - a message out of the deeper German backwood" / Version 2.0 (all rights dispersed)