Jobjacking

Jobjacking

Jobjacking is a fun way insert a fun kind of madness into spaces where a certain way of acting or thinking is dominant and to mess with roles within a company, around consumption habits, or in any number of fun situations. Jobjacking can be done in real physical places, or in the “reality” of a fake website, press releases, and interviews.

You know those people asking you to sample some product for X, Y, or Z reasons?  Why not become one?  Some stores have a protocol for giving out samples, and some stores do not.  Pick a product, make a fake "Demo Specialist" card for Company X, and either show up with the product or grab some off the shelf (you may need to pay for it). You could have some pre-printed media (like a brochure displaying the information about Company X that you'd like to highlight), a small folding table, maybe a uniform, and a confident attitude. You can breeze in and set up your table as if it’s your job, or you can ask for a manager and set up your table, then begin to inform the public about your product.

Suppose you dressed up in Wal-Mart gear and spoke to shoppers around the store about your store’s horrible health care and low wages. You might even share the photos of factories in China depicting the store’s working conditions. It’s worth noting that Wal-Mart is notoriously protective of their stores; they won’t even let painter Brendan O’Connell, who creates impressionistic paintings of Wal-Mart shelves, work openly in the store. So you might get thrown out of the store - in any case, you’ll want to plant a friend in the store to film the whole episode. “Imposter Wal-Mart worker thrown out for talking about labor conditions” could be a catchy story.

Comedians and artists have often used this sort of tactic in their work (it’s called acting). Activists can take a page out of their book by staging actions that are photogenic, funny, and well-documented. If your action is light-hearted and fun, you might not get thrown out of the store! Document it well, and share it widely online.

Take a look at Improv Everywhere’s action when people dressed like Best Buy Employees and helped people around in the stores. This kind of action requires lots of people and perhaps some rehearsal, but it can be a lot of fun. Just make sure your action has a clear point, and that you're ready to publicize it in the media—like when these folks did a whole musical number in a Target.

You can also jobjack in the digital world rather than the real world by creating a website or a press release. For instance, Company X has given a position to someone ridiculous! Such as: a kid becomes a train conductor, or a 14-year-old becomes cop for a day. You can publicize this fantastic story through a video news release  or a website.