No Logo: No Space, No Choice, No Jobs
by Naomi Klein
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Book Summary Information
Author: Naomi KleinEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2002-04-06
ISBN: 0312421435
Number of pages: 528
Publisher: Picador
Book Reviews of No Logo: No Space, No Choice, No Jobs
Book Review: A must read...
Summary: 5 Stars
I live in the suburbs of a former steel mill town whose mills are now defunct. At one time we boasted the highest unemployment rate in the state, the highest murder rate per capita and were named number four in George magazine's most corrupt towns list. But we are creating jobs...Wal Mart, Sam's Club, Taco Bell, one chain store after another. My town is a prime example of the new economy - service, part-time and temp work with little room for advancement and little hope.
Why? We do not make anything anymore in the U.S. and it is indicative of much of Europe as many of these jobs, as we all know, are going to other parts of the world where "production zones" are being created, hovels where corporations are free from much of the government restraint that would normally accompany their move to another country. But these zones are being created for companies to bring their manufacturing needs to and are thus given a high degree of autonomy, almost mini countries in and of themselves. Workers are underpaid, working conditions seems to be reminiscent of servitude and corporation are reaping huge profits at the expense of jobs. We know the story.
The reality, however, is that just by buying clothes from someone who does not employ workers at slave wage we are not helping the problem. The way to solve the problem is to pay these people a living wage, not merely buying some other brand of clothing. Ms. Klein's breakdown on the issue is nothing short of revelatory.
This book dives deep into this new economy, tracing the origins and development and explosive growth of the ubiquitous "brand" and the corporations behind them. Perhaps most symbolically it is Phil Knight and Nike who represent the modern day company's realization that it is more profitable not to manufacture anything but to merely market product ultimately made by someone else. Manufacturing it out; branding is in.
The book was not so much a manifesto nor a one-way attack on this whole process. It does provide some glimpses from the other side but her positioning of the quotes from the other side merely highlights the absurdity of their statements thus definitely revealing where she stands on the issue. At times it sounds like a far-left ranting of doom and gloom but she builds the case quite thoroughly.
But as the book develops it provides the realization that it is easy to point the finger and cast blame but the problem lies much deeper than this. This is a rallying cry, a gathering of facts and of hope of a growing awareness, disillusionment and proactivity in regards to these developments. It is not too late - yet. Ms. Klein gives stories and tales of culture jamming, of individuals who have taken on the giants and have had great successes in revealing the trickery, manipulation and profiteering of the companies to which so many bow down in allegiance.
I have known many of these things or have noticed the disturbing trends, not only of these brands but of those who buy them. We, the consumer, are as much to blame. If we did not purchase these things, these companies would not continue to market them. Take action, get information, get knowledge and do something about it. While not necessarily a how-to book it is one that will inform you, enlighten you, even enrage you and help you to look at branding and the homogeneity ("uniform diversity" in corporate speak) that is much of the modern world.
Most refreshing was her inclusion toward the end of views from those who live in the areas where these factories are located who are seeking to change the people who work in these factories to take up the intiative on their own without the inclusion, or intrusion, of Americans and Europeans who, though they may mean well, may actually hinder the process leading to another form of dependence on those from the West. Contrary to the belief in the West that we are saviours of the world, those in the world labeled "third" are doing it for themselves. We just don't hear their voice amidst the self-congratulation of the promotion and celebrity happy Western media.
I recommend this for anyone who cares about where we are headed and who misses the days when we had choices and a world free of commercials inundating us in every nook and cranny of our lives.
I would also recommend Fast Food Nation and the documentary The Corporation (in which Ms. Klein is interviewed) to further add insight and detail to the depths of the issue.
Summary of No Logo: No Space, No Choice, No Jobs
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
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
We live in an era where image is nearly everything, where the proliferation of brand-name culture has created, to take one hyperbolic example from Naomi Klein's No Logo, "walking, talking, life-sized Tommy [Hilfiger] dolls, mummified in fully branded Tommy worlds." Brand identities are even flourishing online, she notes--and for some retailers, perhaps best of all online: "Liberated from the real-world burdens of stores and product manufacturing, these brands are free to soar, less as the disseminators of goods or services than as collective hallucinations."
In No Logo, Klein patiently demonstrates, step by step, how brands have become ubiquitous, not just in media and on the street but increasingly in the schools as well. (The controversy over advertiser-sponsored Channel One may be old hat, but many readers will be surprised to learn about ads in school lavatories and exclusive concessions in school cafeterias.) The global companies claim to support diversity, but their version of "corporate multiculturalism" is merely intended to create more buying options for consumers. When Klein talks about how easy it is for retailers like Wal-Mart and Blockbuster to "censor" the contents of videotapes and albums, she also considers the role corporate conglomeration plays in the process. How much would one expect Paramount Pictures, for example, to protest against Blockbuster's policies, given that they're both divisions of Viacom?
Klein also looks at the workers who keep these companies running, most of whom never share in any of the great rewards. The president of Borders, when asked whether the bookstore chain could pay its clerks a "living wage," wrote that "while the concept is romantically appealing, it ignores the practicalities and realities of our business environment." Those clerks should probably just be grateful they're not stuck in an Asian sweatshop, making pennies an hour to produce Nike sneakers or other must-have fashion items. Klein also discusses at some length the tactic of hiring "permatemps" who can do most of the work and receive few, if any, benefits like health care, paid vacations, or stock options. While many workers are glad to be part of the "Free Agent Nation," observers note that, particularly in the high-tech industry, such policies make it increasingly difficult to organize workers and advocate for change.
But resistance is growing, and the backlash against the brands has set in. Street-level education programs have taught kids in the inner cities, for example, not only about Nike's abusive labor practices but about the astronomical markup in their prices. Boycotts have commenced: as one urban teen put it, "Nike, we made you. We can break you." But there's more to the revolution, as Klein optimistically recounts: "Ethical shareholders, culture jammers, street reclaimers, McUnion organizers, human-rights hacktivists, school-logo fighters and Internet corporate watchdogs are at the early stages of demanding a citizen-centered alternative to the international rule of the brands ... as global, and as capable of coordinated action, as the multinational corporations it seeks to subvert." No Logo is a comprehensive account of what the global economy has wrought and the actions taking place to thwart it. --Ron Hogan
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