Magazine Issue 5&6 - Winter 1997
DIY Research: Corporate Watching from the inside...

A Corporate Watcher who is interested in exposing the mis-deeds of a company can spend hours in libraries poring over industry journals - or she can bite the bullet, land a job there and infiltrate.

When Zoe Broughton wanted to know more about what was going on behind the walls at Huntingdon Life Sciences - the largest animal laboratory in Europe - her first move was to apply for a job there.

“First of all I went in for an interview - I did quite a bit of training for that beforehand, with complete mock run-ups with somebody who’d already worked inside there so they knew what sort of questions I’d be asked.” She also had to rehearse what sort of person she would pose as being and memorise reasons why she was suitable for a job as a lab technician.

If you plan to film inside a company, it makes sense to spend several days working before taking in your equipment. Surprises - such as being expected to change in a communal changing room - could mean a sudden end to your disguise.

Hiring film equipment can be costly - in Zoe’s case Channel 4, who were backing her efforts, were spending £80 a day hiring the hidden camera from an ordinary camera hire company. But there’s plenty of choice: “There’s a huge range of undercover equipment available which is getting smaller all the time as it’s going digital and which can be concealed in all sorts of places.”

So what’s it like to operate a hidden camera? “Although it was small, it was still the size of a normal camcorder - but this was broken into several blocks of pieces which were then strapped to my body under my clothes,” reports Zoe. “There was also the whole problem of the fact that you’re not looking through the viewfinder as you would with a normal camcorder so you’re basically filming without seeing what you’re actually filming. So, in my first few days of filming the footage was completely on angles and all sorts of things and I had to learn to stand in very weird positions in order to get the angles correct.”

So far so daring. But what would happen if you did get found out prematurely? In Zoe’s case she had the protection of Channel 4’s lawyers and had gone through the ‘public interest’ procedures in order to get the go-ahead from the Independent Television Commission . If you don’t have this kind of backing you could find yourself in more trouble. But a good rule to follow is to try not to break the law by removing any property from the company - instead you can film sensitive documents, write information on scraps of paper or even on yourself for later use.

Another good piece of advice is not to get caught up in telling huge webs of lies. The closer you are to the truth, the easier it is to speak convincingly to your workmates or to your boss. Says Zoe: “In my first few days everyone was very friendly and helpful, and they wanted to know all sorts of things about me - like where I’d been living, what job I’d been doing before, did I have a boyfriend, and if you start trying to answer those questions on that sort of friendly level then you have to remember every single lie you say, so that when they then question you about things in the future all your stories match up.”

How you deal with this depends on how comfortable you feel and your personality. But in Zoe’s case “fairly early on, I became sort of a shy hermit, and read books and magazines in the corner during tea breaks, so as not to have to communicate with them on a sort of friendly social basis. I also did this as I felt betraying them on a work level was very different to betraying somebody who you’ve built up a friendship with.”

The level of secrecy you’ll have to adopt outside of work will be difficult too - it is not advisable to tell anyone except those who absolutely need to know what you are doing. Says Zoe: “One thing that’s very frustrating was that throughout the whole time I couldn’t tell anybody what I was doing - so basically I left home for ten weeks and nobody knew what I was off doing. And that was very difficult because I was basically missing for all that period of time. It was also very difficult afterwards because I’d been through quite a lot psychologically and I only had 3 or 4 people that I could talk to about it [until the film was shown].”
But if you infiltrate successfully, the results can blow a company sky high. Zoe Broughton gathered footage which showed beagles being mishandled and beaten by technicians, laboratory test results being faked and the appalling living conditions suffered by the dogs in the ‘care’ of Huntingdon Life Sciences.
Finally, always remember during your investigation to think strategically. Where is a company most vulnerable? “Many of the large companies that were investing their work in HLS withdrew it because I was able to prove that their tests weren’t valid. So it’s worth actually thinking how the company could most be affected, and how it works financially,” says Zoe.

How much is that doggy in the window ? Answer: £80 million!
When the programme ‘It’s a dog’s life’ was screened on Channel 4 in the summer, the phone lines into the Home Office were jammed with callers demanding to know why their animal inspectors had not enforced dog care guidelines. Three people were sacked by HLS, two of whom were later arrested and pleaded guilty to cruelty to animals under the 1918 Animals Act. The company’s share prices plummeted from 129 to 56 pence after the screening, and major clients took their business elsewhere after the results of their test projects were shown to be invalid. In total Zoe’s work may have cost HLS £80 million - and at least £1 million was spent on an advertising campaign to counter the bad publicity the company was receiving.

Although Huntingdon Life Sciences was let off the hook by the Home Office and has not had its license revoked, conditions for the dogs in its laboratories have improved. No longer forced to sleep amongst their own excrement on cold concrete floors, the beagles at least now have raised wooden platforms to lie on. It’s not much, but it helps.

Public Service Announcements issued by the Subvertising Standards Authority!
The Subvertising Standards Authority is a term referring to concerned citizens who believe in the subverting of advertising, exposing corporate greenwash and undermining government propaganda. Undermine the Underminers!

Subvertising has been practised across the world as a hobby, an artform and as a campaigning tool for centuries. The “writing on the wall” can help people to communicate to each other. Society is under the spell of endless brain-numbing messages. Humorous and apt counter-messages can snap us out of our apathetic life-styles. Subvertising is also a tool for campaigners to reach the minds of the public. Corporations use a wide range of media channels to promote consumption. They spend millions to promote their over-packaged garbage. At little cost we can steal the limelight and scupper their efforts. Most forms of communication are monopolized by big business with little room for feedback. We need to reclaim these techniques of persuasion, and develop new channels to begin to redress the balance. Subvertising exposes the social and ecological malpractices of multinationals and government. Subvertising draws the consumer away from the unquestioning acceptance of corporate dominance towards a more critical, responsible and sustainable way of life.

When Britannia waives the rules
And virtue is a patient.
Subgovern the vertment
And line between the reeds.

Materials ?
Stickers, flyers, leaflets, handouts, chalks, stencils, spraycans, newspapers, flyposters, billboards, banners, costumes, pavement drawings, cartoons, props, letters, reports, video, radio, television, internet, poetry, song, jokes, theatre, music and the spoken word, busstops, phones, vehicles, toilets, pavements and walls.
Wherever possible we use skip-tat, recycling and reusing materials. Eco friendly glue, paint and other materials are available from The Green Shop, Bisley, Stroud, Glos. GL6 7BX. (01452-770629) or your local green craftshop.

Inspirators ?
Adbusters magazine (1243 West 7th Avenue, Vancouver, BC V6H 1B7, Canada) Corporate Watch Magazine (01865-791391), Do or Die (c/o Prior House, 6 Tilbury Place, Brighton, BN2 2GY), Earth First! Action Update (PO box 9656, London, N4 4JY), Enough (One World Centre, 6 Mount Street,Manchester M2 5NS), Ethical Consumer Magazine (0161-2262929), McLibel support campaign (0171-7131269) Platform (0171-4035896), Reclaim the Streets (0171-2814621), SchNews weekly newssheet (01273-685913), Squall magazine (0171-5611204), UK Subs! (0161 2244846), Undercurrents (01865-203663) and the thousands of inspirators active already.

Do It Yourself ?
If you haven’t yet experienced the pleasures of culture-jamming, you could start by photocopying and using the opposite page of stickers. They are designed to fit 99mm by 68mm labels. If you have any ideas that would work in other towns, send us a letter, photo or copy and we’ll distribute it to other subvertists.
We’ve managed to blag a regular Subvertisers page in the lovely Corporate Watch, so send us your stuff! We are also looking for the best place to set up a web-site - a subvertisers gallery. Any ideas?
p/o Box E, 111 Magdalen Road, Oxford, OX4 1RQ.
Tel / Fax : 01865 437461. vernify@patrol.i-way.co.uk