No Logo: Taking Aim at the Brand Bullies
by Naomi Klein
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Manufacturer: Picador
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 337
EAN: 9780312271923
ISBN: 0312271921
Label: Picador
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 490
Publication Date: 1999-12-01
Publisher: Picador
Studio: Picador
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Well thought out and provacative.
Comment: I found this to be somewhat of a depressing book. I never really understood the full concept and ramifications of "branding." What you may think is a tiring sequence of commercials and have a more nefarious background. Naomi Klein paints a rather bad image of the corporations on how they exploit third world nations to their own gain. Free Enterprise zones sounds really good but usually end up being a place where corporations can skirt laws about unionizing, worker safty, and the environment.
I remember reading the issues of the garmet industry 100 years ago and yet many of the same tactics are in play today. What is sad is the fact it can go on because the people wish to have their trinkets and cloths for the cheapest rate possible.
I thought was interesting is the effort of branding and I don't know if it was a factor but to develop and defend a brand; it would make sense to shed production to "free enterprise zones" to where you can reduce your labor costs to .23 an hour. The savings allows for further marketing efforts.
One thing that disappointed me was the truth of the efforts of the Kenyan marathon runners attempting cross country skiing. Rather then being people who thought "I would like to try this" it turns out to be nothing more then a marketing stunt by Nike.
Much of the book delves into Nike and Phil Knight. Basically he can be labeled as the poster child for sweat shops and branding.
A surprising revelation was Kathie Lee Gifford and her act of contrition over the fiasco of her clothing line using sweat shops. She actively tried to to change things while the saintly Michael Jordan simply shrugged and said his job was shooting hopes and not politics when confronted with Nike's actions.
I found the section about Shaq and Nike interesting. I remember when Shaq entered the scene and many thought he was the successor of Jordan for Nike. It turns out Shaq decided to develop his own brand and studied a little marketing and when Nike found he wasn't going to fall in line, they decided against him.
I have often heard and argument in defense of sweat shops. Basically, they improve peoples lives by giving them options they would not have. After reading Klein's descriptions of "free enterprise zones" I don't understand how indentured poverty is better then poverty.
The final chapter on culture jamming and the efforts of people to show the seedy sides of corporations was interesting and it gave a small sense of hope after reading the doom and gloom of the previous chapters. I used to think the WTO protesters were nothing more then anarchists who were just want to trash the area where ever they went. However, through Ms. Klein I have a different view point.
All too often the phrase of power and corruption comes into to play. When great money is at hand the "moral" system changes to suit the needs of money. Often you hear the free market argument of if you don't like what the company does, go to the competitor. The problem is they are doing the same thing. When Nike fell from grace, the competitors rose to take it's place in the same actions.
The chapter does make the case that the best way to make a company act in a "moral" standing they often like to portray is to bring attention and educate people to the ramifications of their purchases. It can be a powerful weapon as a quote in the book pointed out "It can take 100 years to build up a brand and 30 days to knock it down."
There are many defenders for corporations but people should think about a comment in the book where it was said Nike thinks you are worthy to purchase their shoes but you are not worthy to make them.
All in all this book is a "must read" no matter what side of the argument you stand. It is a well thought out and provocative to read.
Customer Rating:
Summary: I've got a different eye now
Comment: Great book,just loved how it made me see the things that were so much part of my life and that I wouldn't question.
Now my views are different, I catch the logos, I catch the subtle messages, I catch the hidden messages that drive me into the consumer that I am, and understand better why, how and who is behind all of it.
This book is well researched, and even if written almost ten years ago, not much has changed in the world of marketing and how we are tricked into buying the things we don't need from across the world.
A great read.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Interesting, but Klein has a poor understanding of causation
Comment: No Logo is a well researched book that documents many of the things that are wrong with our consumer culture. While "No Logo" is definatly worth your time Klein's argument has one reoccuring flaw. She draws links between different phenomenon without showing how they relate to each other.
According to Klein the switch from advertisements focused on quality to appeals to emotion made the brand more important than the product. In order to more effectivly manage the brand companies began outsourcing the task of actually creating the product, often overseas.
This is where Klein's argument comes apart due to causal relationships that are not satisfying. She blames the poor working conditions found in many third world factories on the culture of brand awareness itself. Rather than focusing on the very real economic and legal issues at play Klein chooses to focus on describing how people have attacked advertisements and other symbols.
While individuals should be encouraged to be active in righting wrongs Klein's idea of constructive actions are laughable at best. Drawing mustaches on advertisements or bloacking traffic with impromptu street parties do nothing to help the plight of workers in the third world. Klein's prescriptions for change are perfect for those who want to feel as if they are making a difference without making actual sacrifices.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Confessions of a No Logo Survivor
Comment: In mid-nineteenth century England, poet William Blake indignantly portrayed poor children sneaking a peek from the windows of the factories where they slaved fifteen hours a day, to watch the rich and beautiful cavort in the meadows with their hounds and horses. In the United States of the 1920's, Socialists reveled in contrasting the plight of the downtrodden workers with the opulence of the Robber Barons who lived off their labor. Today, to someone sensitive to the plight of the world's poor, little could be more repugnant than the contrast between the vulgar consumerism of the masses in the advanced capitalist economies and the lowly condition of the destitute third world workers who sew their clothes and craft their sports gear.
Naomi Klein is a prominent spokesperson for those disgusted with this contrast between rich masses in the developed countries and poor masses in the backward countries, the former benefitting obscenely from the low wages and poor working conditions of the latter who work sweatshops on their behalf. Klein wrote in a period when Nike, Wal-Mart, and other mega-corporations were under severe attack for oppressing their domestic and foreign workers. She and fellow activists had hoped this anti-corporate upsurge might turn into a full-fledged revolt that would dramatically improve the lot of low wage workers around the world.
In the second edition of No Logo, which appeared in 2002, she notes that "These struggles may seem slight in retrospect, but you can hardly blame us media merchants for believing that we were engaged in a crucial battle on behalf of oppressed people everywhere: every step we took sparked a new wave of apocalyptic panic from our conservative foes." (p. 110) This movement has now subsided, and much of No Logo is an analysis of what went wrong.
Klein's main argument is that modern advertising is so powerful that it is capable of co-opting the anti-corporate movement and turning the aspirations of its supporters to it own advantage.
"Our sworn enemies in the `mainstream'---to us a giant monolithic blob outside of our known university-affiliated enclaves--didn't fear and loathe us, but actual thought we were sort of interesting. Once we'd embarked on a search for new wells of cutting-edge imagery, our insistence on extreme sexual and racial identities make for great brand-content and niche- marketing strategies. (p. 111) Culture jamming, the attack on corporate logos in massive demonstrations of disaffected youth, enjoyed a vigorous presence in this period, Klein notes (p. 287), but its major themes were quickly adopted by the advertisers to sell more stuff. (p. 297). Nothing, it would seem, can dent the sophisticated façade of the taste-makers.
Naomi Klein is a fine writer with a real social conscience. While she wears this conscience on her sleeve, she never lapses into a strident or sanctimonious style. She hasn't a clue to the real nature of the phenomena with which she is dealing, however. Her major thesis lacks even prima facie plausibility.
This thesis starts with the important insight that the success of the modern consumer goods corporation depends on its brand name reputation and sales, and hence can leave the actual production of consumer goods to a myriad of out-sourced factories and workshops. "Successful corporations," Klein writes, "must primarily produce brands, as opposed to products." (p. 3) The reason such firms as Nike and Wal-Mart locate production in low-wage third-world sites is, to quote: "When the actual manufacturing process is so devalued, it stands to reason that the people doing the work of production are likely to be treated like detritus---the stuff left behind." (p. 197)
There is little plausibility to this argument. Is it not reasonable that in earlier times firms produced goods in the home country because they had great regard for their workers. They did so because home-country workers provided lower unit labor costs. Contemporary firms locate internationally when they think they can make higher profits that way, not when they lose respect and regard for their domestic work force. Moreover, aside from a fringe of activists, consumers are generally not willing to pay significantly higher prices for goods in order to benefit third world factory workers. This is not because people are selfish, but rather because the low-wage workers who produce their clothes and shoes have little impact on the daily lives of consumers, and only the most concentrated political agitation can raise this impact, and then only for a short period of time.
It is also doubtlessly true that even a sustained effort to raise the wages of sweatshop workers would have little effect on the rate of poverty in third-world countries. More effective by far would be by the World Trade Organization succeeding in lowering tariff barriers against the import of third-world agricultural products, and by socially progressive groups and governments subsidizing third-world movements for democracy, representative government, civil liberties, the right to unionize. Klein correctly notes in regard to her study of the struggle of Philippine workers: "Because the Workers' Assistance Center's chief mission is to empower workers to stand up for their rights, WAC organizers don't much like the idea of Westerners sweeping into the zone brandishing codes of conduct, with teams of well-meaning monitors trailing behind." (p. 439).
Like many progressive supporters of the third world poor, Klein's instincts are anti-globalization and even anti-market. Commenting on a picture of economist Milton Friedman being assaulted by pie-wielding demonstrators, Klein identifies Friedman as "architect of the global corporate takeover," and asserts that he is getting "his just deserts." (260) Friedman's strident free-market rhetoric is of course quite over the top, but in fact, third world countries that have attempted to compete in the world market place rather than shelter themselves from it have done quite well, and the recipes of Klein et al. are, conversely, doomed to impotence and failure. The idea of offering sweatshop workers decent wages is a wonderful one, but suggesting that this might be a way to improve the lot of the poor in the world economy is ludicrous. Perhaps a country with mountainous oil revenues can play at sounding anti-capitalist (e.g., contemporary Venezuela), but the future of prosperity in virtually all poor countries depends on developing markets and state institutions that support markets in a synergistic and democratic manner. It is up to us to help them attain this, rather than feeling good about ourselves because we pay an extra few cents for "fair trade certified" coffee beans.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Amazing book with a lot of things to do with globalization
Comment: This book is extremely useful and important and has a lot of thing to do with society.
|
|
|
Editorial Reviews:
|
Customer Rating:
Summary: Well thought out and provacative.
Comment: I found this to be somewhat of a depressing book. I never really understood the full concept and ramifications of "branding." What you may think is a tiring sequence of commercials and have a more nefarious background. Naomi Klein paints a rather bad image of the corporations on how they exploit third world nations to their own gain. Free Enterprise zones sounds really good but usually end up being a place where corporations can skirt laws about unionizing, worker safty, and the environment.
I remember reading the issues of the garmet industry 100 years ago and yet many of the same tactics are in play today. What is sad is the fact it can go on because the people wish to have their trinkets and cloths for the cheapest rate possible.
I thought was interesting is the effort of branding and I don't know if it was a factor but to develop and defend a brand; it would make sense to shed production to "free enterprise zones" to where you can reduce your labor costs to .23 an hour. The savings allows for further marketing efforts.
One thing that disappointed me was the truth of the efforts of the Kenyan marathon runners attempting cross country skiing. Rather then being people who thought "I would like to try this" it turns out to be nothing more then a marketing stunt by Nike.
Much of the book delves into Nike and Phil Knight. Basically he can be labeled as the poster child for sweat shops and branding.
A surprising revelation was Kathie Lee Gifford and her act of contrition over the fiasco of her clothing line using sweat shops. She actively tried to to change things while the saintly Michael Jordan simply shrugged and said his job was shooting hopes and not politics when confronted with Nike's actions.
I found the section about Shaq and Nike interesting. I remember when Shaq entered the scene and many thought he was the successor of Jordan for Nike. It turns out Shaq decided to develop his own brand and studied a little marketing and when Nike found he wasn't going to fall in line, they decided against him.
I have often heard and argument in defense of sweat shops. Basically, they improve peoples lives by giving them options they would not have. After reading Klein's descriptions of "free enterprise zones" I don't understand how indentured poverty is better then poverty.
The final chapter on culture jamming and the efforts of people to show the seedy sides of corporations was interesting and it gave a small sense of hope after reading the doom and gloom of the previous chapters. I used to think the WTO protesters were nothing more then anarchists who were just want to trash the area where ever they went. However, through Ms. Klein I have a different view point.
All too often the phrase of power and corruption comes into to play. When great money is at hand the "moral" system changes to suit the needs of money. Often you hear the free market argument of if you don't like what the company does, go to the competitor. The problem is they are doing the same thing. When Nike fell from grace, the competitors rose to take it's place in the same actions.
The chapter does make the case that the best way to make a company act in a "moral" standing they often like to portray is to bring attention and educate people to the ramifications of their purchases. It can be a powerful weapon as a quote in the book pointed out "It can take 100 years to build up a brand and 30 days to knock it down."
There are many defenders for corporations but people should think about a comment in the book where it was said Nike thinks you are worthy to purchase their shoes but you are not worthy to make them.
All in all this book is a "must read" no matter what side of the argument you stand. It is a well thought out and provocative to read.
Customer Rating:
Summary: I've got a different eye now
Comment: Great book,just loved how it made me see the things that were so much part of my life and that I wouldn't question.
Now my views are different, I catch the logos, I catch the subtle messages, I catch the hidden messages that drive me into the consumer that I am, and understand better why, how and who is behind all of it.
This book is well researched, and even if written almost ten years ago, not much has changed in the world of marketing and how we are tricked into buying the things we don't need from across the world.
A great read.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Interesting, but Klein has a poor understanding of causation
Comment: No Logo is a well researched book that documents many of the things that are wrong with our consumer culture. While "No Logo" is definatly worth your time Klein's argument has one reoccuring flaw. She draws links between different phenomenon without showing how they relate to each other.
According to Klein the switch from advertisements focused on quality to appeals to emotion made the brand more important than the product. In order to more effectivly manage the brand companies began outsourcing the task of actually creating the product, often overseas.
This is where Klein's argument comes apart due to causal relationships that are not satisfying. She blames the poor working conditions found in many third world factories on the culture of brand awareness itself. Rather than focusing on the very real economic and legal issues at play Klein chooses to focus on describing how people have attacked advertisements and other symbols.
While individuals should be encouraged to be active in righting wrongs Klein's idea of constructive actions are laughable at best. Drawing mustaches on advertisements or bloacking traffic with impromptu street parties do nothing to help the plight of workers in the third world. Klein's prescriptions for change are perfect for those who want to feel as if they are making a difference without making actual sacrifices.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Confessions of a No Logo Survivor
Comment: In mid-nineteenth century England, poet William Blake indignantly portrayed poor children sneaking a peek from the windows of the factories where they slaved fifteen hours a day, to watch the rich and beautiful cavort in the meadows with their hounds and horses. In the United States of the 1920's, Socialists reveled in contrasting the plight of the downtrodden workers with the opulence of the Robber Barons who lived off their labor. Today, to someone sensitive to the plight of the world's poor, little could be more repugnant than the contrast between the vulgar consumerism of the masses in the advanced capitalist economies and the lowly condition of the destitute third world workers who sew their clothes and craft their sports gear.
Naomi Klein is a prominent spokesperson for those disgusted with this contrast between rich masses in the developed countries and poor masses in the backward countries, the former benefitting obscenely from the low wages and poor working conditions of the latter who work sweatshops on their behalf. Klein wrote in a period when Nike, Wal-Mart, and other mega-corporations were under severe attack for oppressing their domestic and foreign workers. She and fellow activists had hoped this anti-corporate upsurge might turn into a full-fledged revolt that would dramatically improve the lot of low wage workers around the world.
In the second edition of No Logo, which appeared in 2002, she notes that "These struggles may seem slight in retrospect, but you can hardly blame us media merchants for believing that we were engaged in a crucial battle on behalf of oppressed people everywhere: every step we took sparked a new wave of apocalyptic panic from our conservative foes." (p. 110) This movement has now subsided, and much of No Logo is an analysis of what went wrong.
Klein's main argument is that modern advertising is so powerful that it is capable of co-opting the anti-corporate movement and turning the aspirations of its supporters to it own advantage.
"Our sworn enemies in the `mainstream'---to us a giant monolithic blob outside of our known university-affiliated enclaves--didn't fear and loathe us, but actual thought we were sort of interesting. Once we'd embarked on a search for new wells of cutting-edge imagery, our insistence on extreme sexual and racial identities make for great brand-content and niche- marketing strategies. (p. 111) Culture jamming, the attack on corporate logos in massive demonstrations of disaffected youth, enjoyed a vigorous presence in this period, Klein notes (p. 287), but its major themes were quickly adopted by the advertisers to sell more stuff. (p. 297). Nothing, it would seem, can dent the sophisticated façade of the taste-makers.
Naomi Klein is a fine writer with a real social conscience. While she wears this conscience on her sleeve, she never lapses into a strident or sanctimonious style. She hasn't a clue to the real nature of the phenomena with which she is dealing, however. Her major thesis lacks even prima facie plausibility.
This thesis starts with the important insight that the success of the modern consumer goods corporation depends on its brand name reputation and sales, and hence can leave the actual production of consumer goods to a myriad of out-sourced factories and workshops. "Successful corporations," Klein writes, "must primarily produce brands, as opposed to products." (p. 3) The reason such firms as Nike and Wal-Mart locate production in low-wage third-world sites is, to quote: "When the actual manufacturing process is so devalued, it stands to reason that the people doing the work of production are likely to be treated like detritus---the stuff left behind." (p. 197)
There is little plausibility to this argument. Is it not reasonable that in earlier times firms produced goods in the home country because they had great regard for their workers. They did so because home-country workers provided lower unit labor costs. Contemporary firms locate internationally when they think they can make higher profits that way, not when they lose respect and regard for their domestic work force. Moreover, aside from a fringe of activists, consumers are generally not willing to pay significantly higher prices for goods in order to benefit third world factory workers. This is not because people are selfish, but rather because the low-wage workers who produce their clothes and shoes have little impact on the daily lives of consumers, and only the most concentrated political agitation can raise this impact, and then only for a short period of time.
It is also doubtlessly true that even a sustained effort to raise the wages of sweatshop workers would have little effect on the rate of poverty in third-world countries. More effective by far would be by the World Trade Organization succeeding in lowering tariff barriers against the import of third-world agricultural products, and by socially progressive groups and governments subsidizing third-world movements for democracy, representative government, civil liberties, the right to unionize. Klein correctly notes in regard to her study of the struggle of Philippine workers: "Because the Workers' Assistance Center's chief mission is to empower workers to stand up for their rights, WAC organizers don't much like the idea of Westerners sweeping into the zone brandishing codes of conduct, with teams of well-meaning monitors trailing behind." (p. 439).
Like many progressive supporters of the third world poor, Klein's instincts are anti-globalization and even anti-market. Commenting on a picture of economist Milton Friedman being assaulted by pie-wielding demonstrators, Klein identifies Friedman as "architect of the global corporate takeover," and asserts that he is getting "his just deserts." (260) Friedman's strident free-market rhetoric is of course quite over the top, but in fact, third world countries that have attempted to compete in the world market place rather than shelter themselves from it have done quite well, and the recipes of Klein et al. are, conversely, doomed to impotence and failure. The idea of offering sweatshop workers decent wages is a wonderful one, but suggesting that this might be a way to improve the lot of the poor in the world economy is ludicrous. Perhaps a country with mountainous oil revenues can play at sounding anti-capitalist (e.g., contemporary Venezuela), but the future of prosperity in virtually all poor countries depends on developing markets and state institutions that support markets in a synergistic and democratic manner. It is up to us to help them attain this, rather than feeling good about ourselves because we pay an extra few cents for "fair trade certified" coffee beans.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Amazing book with a lot of things to do with globalization
Comment: This book is extremely useful and important and has a lot of thing to do with society.
With a new Afterword to the 2002 edition. No Logo employs journalistic savvy and personal testament to detail the insidious practices and far-reaching effects of corporate marketing—and the powerful potential of a growing activist sect that will surely alter the course of the 21st century. First published before the World Trade Organization protests in Seattle, this is an infuriating, inspiring, and altogether pioneering work of cultural criticism that investigates money, marketing, and the anti-corporate movement.
As global corporations compete for the hearts and wallets of consumers who not only buy their products but willingly advertise them from head to toe—witness today’s schoolbooks, superstores, sporting arenas, and brand-name synergy—a new generation has begun to battle consumerism with its own best weapons. In this provocative, well-written study, a front-line report on that battle, we learn how the Nike swoosh has changed from an athletic status-symbol to a metaphor for sweatshop labor, how teenaged McDonald’s workers are risking their jobs to join the Teamsters, and how “culture jammers” utilize spray paint, computer-hacking acumen, and anti-propagandist wordplay to undercut the slogans and meanings of billboard ads (as in “Joe Chemo” for “Joe Camel”).
No Logo will challenge and enlighten students of sociology, economics, popular culture, international affairs, and marketing.
“This book is not another account of the power of the select group of corporate Goliaths that have gathered to form our de facto global government. Rather, it is an attempt to analyze and document the forces opposing corporate rule, and to lay out the particular set of cultural and economic conditions that made the emergence of that opposition inevitable.”—Naomi Klein, from her Introduction
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