The television "uncommercial", and its equivalent in the printed media, the "subvertisement" is fast becoming one of North America's most admired art forms.

One "subvertisement" shows a bald man watching television. The camera pans to reveal a universal bar code stamped on the nape of his neck. "Your living room is the factory," says a voice. "The product being manufactured is you."

Their strategy is to meet the enemy on its own turf. They take space on billboards, in magazine ad slots and on commercial television — they even distribute T-shirts — to plant critical messages in the style of the targeted offenders…

Such forms of "subvertising," as jammer ally Mark Dery tags them, have surfaced in numerous cities, from Los Angeles to Portland, Me.