WHO? WHAT? WHEN? WHERE? WHY? HOW?
Perhaps this will help. And perhaps it won't.

Q. What is the point of doing Slumber Inc. It seems like it's just a waste of time and money.
A. Well, there's definitely a point to Slumber Inc. (see manifesto). And as far as it being a waste of time and money, I don't consider it a waste of either even though money is the biggest factor most of the time.

Q. If you are "against" all of these things then why are you acting like you are for them in the ads?
A. The actual methodology behind Slumber Inc. is somewhat of a reverse psychology or subliminal enlightenment, as I like to call it. Instead of explicitly telling people the message I want to convey, I ‘encode’ the message in an overly inflated sarcastic antithesis of what I’m actually trying to get across (see Slumber Inc.'s mission statement). When people figure things out for themselves, they appreciate and retain it a lot better than if someone had just told them. When someone tells you should do something or gives you advice, you are less likely to listen as a result of ego. But when you just open the door to introspection for someone, instead of throwing them through it, they are much more likely to have real interest and desire for realization. That is the idea behind the tone and appearance of the campaign. From the manifesto:

Slumber Inc. is meant to be a contradiction. It utilizes the very elements it is meant to oppose. The entity itself is merely a fabrication. Whatever "Slumber Inc." says, the opposite is what is truly being insinuated. Slumber Inc. is supposed to come off as the corporation that has finally crossed all lines and taken everything to the utmost extreme. It's a metaphor for not only corporations and their advertisements, but of pop culture and/or anything that is constantly and consistently trying to reshape one's perception of life and one's self. Slumber Inc. wants you to stay asleep, but the purpose of the campaign is to wake you up.

It’s there to prompt people to say "hey, something is not right here" thereby hopefully beginning a chain reaction of mental questioning to get them to realize the true nature of the issues (or targets as I call them) being put forth.

Q. Why do some of the ads look believable and some are obviously a joke?
A. Well, the level of obviousness depends partly on the reader's level of perception. In terms of how obvious the sarcasm and targets are, some ads are intended to be more blatant and absurd than others. Other campaigns, like the rave and fashion campaigns, are intended to show the ridiculousness of a scene or counterculture by explicitly illuminating already existent cliché's. While there is somewhat of a ‘social statement’ in these two campaigns, the main point of them is to take the people who solely exist in these various "scenes" and burst their bubble.

Q. Why do you think that you're better than everyone else? Who are you to judge?
A. I've occasionally received this criticism from people. First of all, I don't think I'm better than everyone else; I know I'm not better than everyone else. Slumber Inc. is not a self-righteous attempt on my part to let everyone know "how bad they suck". The fact that some people see it that way shows that they are completely missing the point of the entire campaign. It's not saying the targets are "bad" or "wrong" in and of themselves; it's saying the mindset and the subconscious shaping of ideals that are imposed from the targets should be questioned and recognized. For example, people haven't always equated the beauty of a woman with the size of her breasts, yet something in the culture has cultivated the belief that big breasts are a major, if not the only, constituent of female beauty. Many of the people who feel this way don't even stop to ask themselves "Why do I feel this way?". Slumber Inc. is judging manipulated perceptions and motives for desire; not people.
Many of the ideas for Slumber Inc. 'targets' I came up with by looking at myself. There have been moments earlier in my own life when I've been "guilty" of many of the same things that I'm addressing with the campaign. So let it be known that I don't embark on such endeavors like Slumber Inc. without some sense of humility. It seems much of this type of criticism stems from the type of people who don't like being called out on the very things they don't want said.

Q. Slumber Inc. is like the Andre the Giant thing right?
A. Ah, wrong. Although I respect what Shepard Fairey has done with his Giant campaign, I can't say that Slumber Inc. has any similarity. Slumber Inc. started as a concept and was built upon from there. The GIANT campaign, it seems to me, started as an experiment, or even as a joke, that had meaning and concept applied to it later on. Also his goals and mine are a lot different. My goals lie more in the affect Slumber Inc. has on changing someone's perception about themselves and where their ideals and desires fundamentally come from. I think Shepard's campaign is more geared towards a more pure visual art aspect while mine is more about waking people up to the everyday brainwashing they unknowingly experience. The only similarity he and I share is in our method of distribution and application of the different media. We both do posters and we both do stickers, but so do hundreds of other people.

Q. What does SLEEP mean?
A. SLEEP is the one word slogan that I came up with for Slumber Inc. I wanted something that would be simple, yet strangely menacing and creepy at the same time. Before Slumber Inc. ever came about I used to speak among friends about people being 'asleep'. What I meant was that there seem to be a large number of people who go through life completely oblivious, whether ignorant or aware of the fact, to who or what is shaping their constituents of happy fulfilled existence. They don't go deeper into themselves or what's around them, but instead go through life doing, liking, and living the way something or someone tells them to. It seems that some of these people are somewhat aware of this fact, but would rather stay asleep then have to deal with things like objectivity and introspection. I begrudgingly use the film "The Matrix" as an analogy of what I mean because I think that it is probably the most accessible known example to compare. If you've seen the film then you'll know that people plugged into the matrix are oblivious to the fact and some that have been unplugged want to go back. Being "asleep" is somewhat the same thing. It's about not being able to deal with a more fundamental sense of reality and unknowingly letting something else shape your "self" as well as your perception of it. With all of that said, you can see why SLEEP is Slumber Inc.'s slogan. The entity 'Slumber Inc.' can only function successfully with existence of people like the ones described above. Attention deficit drones who want there ideals, desires, and lifestyle spoon fed to them by pop culture, whether they are consciously or unconsciously aware of this is irrelevant. So, naturally Slumber Inc. wants them to stay 'asleep'. Think of Slumber Inc. as a conspiring evil mother cooing her children back to sleep. That's what sleep means.

Q. Why an ape in a suit holding a plug as the logo? And why is everything black and white?
A. The logo is loaded with all sorts of iconography. I never like forcing interpretations of my work, be it Slumber Inc. related or my paintings, but I will say that the ape in the suit is meant to symbolize 'the powers that be' who are responsible for the majority of what is deemed as 'pop culture'. Media CEOs, ad giants, business men (and women) MTV, whatever. He's an ape because the methodology Slumber Inc. uses to employ their message is lowest common denominator theory and very simian in nature, thus, being an ape helps Slumber Inc. better identify with their target audience. The intent in using the plug, the UPC code, and the suit I think are obvious. As far as the campaign being black and white, that is about to change. The basic design of Slumber Inc. related materials, such as posters and stickers, will remain black and white. The black and white aesthetics are analogous to the black and white mentality Slumber Inc. wants you to have. Something is either right or wrong, cool or uncool, black or white. No gray area or room for nonlinear thinking if you will. This type of mentality is deeply ingrained in much of Western culture; that is to say the perception of a dualistic reality is deeply ingrained.

Q. Are you strictly an art propagandist and is this your art?
A. Actually I'm a painter and have been for quite a while. The Slumber Inc. campaign is kind of a proactive off shoot of my studio work. It's more of an immediate effect type of art that I can't get on a large scale with my paintings. The sheer quantity and distribution of Slumber Inc. materials offers a lot more exposure for the messages being conveyed. Also, my paintings are not as socially charged as my Slumber Inc. work. Click here if you want to see some images.


If there is a question you have that is not covered in the FAQ then please send it to me and I'll attempt to answer it.
voice@slumberinc.com