Guy Debord was a French Marxist theorist, philosopher, filmmaker, and critic of work. He is best known for his 1967 work, The Society of the Spectacle, which conceptualized the sociopolitical notion of the 'spectacle'.

Debord was a member of the Letterist International, founded a Letterist faction, and was a founding member of the Situationist International. He also briefly associated with Socialisme ou Barbarie.

His theories focused on the spiritually debilitating modernization of the private and public spheres of everyday life by economic forces during the post-WWII modernization of Europe, highlighting alienation caused by the 'spectacle' - 'a social relation between people that is mediated by images'.