Awards
Winner of Canada's National Business Book Award, 2001
Synopses & Reviews
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 marketingand 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 toewitness todays schoolbooks, superstores, sporting arenas, and brand-name synergya 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 McDonalds 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
Naomi Klein, born in Montreal in 1970, is an award-winning journalist. She writes a weekly column in The Globe and Mail, Canada's national newspaper, and is also a frequent columnist for the British Guardian. For the past five years, Klein has traveled throughout North America, Asia, and Europe, tracking the rise of anti-corporate activism. She often serves as a media commentator and has guest-lectured at Harvard, Yale, and New York University. She lives in Toronto. For more information, please visit her website at www.nologo.org.
No Logo employs journalistic savvy and personal testament to detail the insidious practices and far-reaching effects of corporate marketingand the powerful potential of a growing activist sect that is already changing 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 toewitness todays schoolbooks, superstores, sporting arenas, and brand-name synergya 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 McDonalds 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").
As Klein notes in her Introduction: "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." Thus 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
"No Logo has been a pedagogical godsend. I used it to illustrate contemporary applications of complex cultural theories in an introductory social science sequence. It worked so beautifully, word about the book spread across campus, and other students were begging to read it in their sections of the course."Bruce Novak, Division of Social Sciences, The University of Chicago
"A complete, user-friendly handbook on the negative effects that '90s überbrand marketing has had on culture, work, and consumer choice . . . An encyclopedic compilation of the decade's fringe and mainstream anti-corporate actions and mind-sets."The Village Voice
"Energetic and optimistic, Ms. Klein incarnates [her] generation's invention of the North American left."The New York Times
"The Das Kapital of the growing anti-corporate movement . . . A riveting, conscientious piece of journalism and a strident call to arms. Packed with enlightening statistics and extraordinary anecdotal evidence, No Logo is fluent, undogmatically alive to its contradictions and omission and positively seethes with intelligent anger."The Observer (London)
"No Logo should be read by anyone who thinks that the Seattle demonstrations were an aberration."The Economist
"A brilliant account of how Nike, Starbucks, McDonalds etc. branded the industralised world, and how the most exciting strand of radical politics is now bound up with resisting their kulturkampf . . . Fantastic and inspiring."The Times Literary Supplement
"Klein is a sharp cultural critic and a flawless storyteller. Her analysis is thorough and thoroughly engaging."Newsweek.com
“No Logo is an attractive sprawl of a book describing a vast confederacy of activist groups with a common interest in reining in the power of lawyering, marketing, and advertising to manipulate our desires.”The Boston Globe
"Klein is a gifted writer; her paragraphs can be as seductive as the ad campaigns she dissects."The New York Times Book Review
"Just when you thought multi-nationals and crazed consumerism were too big to fight, along comes Naomi Klein with facts, spirit, and news of successful fighters already out there. No Logo is an invigorating call to arms for everybody who wants to save money, justice, or the universe."Gloria Steinem
"Naomi Klein's trenchant book is the perfect introduction to and explanation of those stunning events [in Seattle] . . . This book is the very essence of cool."The Toronto Globe and Mail
"To understand how branding drives the global market, you couldn't ask for a better guide than Naomi Klein."Toronto Star
"A dense, fact-filled publication that makes plain the jargon spouted by all who put profit before basic human needs . . . [A wor
Review
"No Logo is emblematic of our day...and a handbook for activists of all ages." Jodi Molen, The Progressive
Review
"Klein's dense, fact-heavy book is compelling, enlightening, damning, and a surprisingly good read." Nathan Rabin, The Onion A.V. Club
Review
"[B]y the end of the first chapter you'll be en route to the nearest McDonalds with a crate of Molotov cocktails....[No Logo] is likely to disturb even the most hardened of cynics....[A] powerful read Chomsky without the paranoia and, if you have even the slightest interest in popular culture, it's an essential one." Gary Marshall, Spike Magazine
Review
"Klein is a sharp cultural critic, and a flawless storyteller. Her analysis is thorough and thoroughly engaging." Newsweek.com
Review
"What corporations fear most are consumers who ask questions. Naomi Klein offers us the arguments with which to take on the superbrands." Billy Bragg
Review
"No Logo has been a word-of-mouth sensation, giving voice to a generation of people under thirty who have never related to politics until now. The band Radiohead were so inspired by No Logo that they have banned corporate advertising from their British tour, deeming all venues 'logo free.'...Naomi Klein might just be helping re-invent politics for a new generation." Katharine Viner, The Guardian
Synopsis
There's a bad mood rising against the corporate brands.
No Logo is the warning on the label.
Once a poster boy for the new economy, Bill Gates has become global whipping boy. Nike's swoosh the marketing success of the nineties is now equated with sweatshop labour, and teenage MacDonald's workers are joining the Teamsters. What is going on? No Logo, an incisive and insightful report from the frontlines of mounting backlash against multinational corporations, explains why some of the most revered brands in the world are finding themselves on the wrong end of a bottle of spray paint, a computer hack, or an international anti-corporate campaign.
No Logo uncovers a betrayal of the central promises of the information age: choice, interactivity, and increased freedom. And as job security disappears, the respectful reverence which corporations enjoyed as engines of the economy is also dissipating as is their protection from worker and citizen rage.
Equal parts cultural analysis, political manifesto, mall-rat memoir, and journalistic exposé, No Logo is the first book to put the new resistance into pop-historical and clear economic perspective. Naomi Klein tells a story of rebellion and self-determination in the face of our new branded world.
Synopsis
In a world in which all that is "alternative" is sold as soon as it appears, where any innovation or subversion is promptly adopted by faceless corporations, a new generation is beginning to fight consumerism with its own best weapons. With compelling accounts of the corporate invasion of our daily lives, and the growing backlash against it, No Logo is equal parts cultural analysis, mall-rat memoir, political manifesto, and journalistic expose.
Synopsis
As global corporations compete for the loyal hearts, minds, and bodies of consumers who not only buy their products but willingly advertise them from head to toe, from schoolbooks to sporting arenas, a new generation is beginning to fight consumerism with its own best weapons. At once infuriating, provocative, and inspiring, No Logo uncovers the insidious practices and effects of corporate marketing--and the powerful potential of a growing activist movement that is changing the face of the 21st century.
Synopsis
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 todays 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 McDonalds 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
Synopsis
NO LOGO was an international bestseller and "a movement bible" (The New York Times). Naomi Klein's second book, The Shock Doctrine, was hailed as a "master narrative of our time," and has over a million copies in print worldwide. In the last decade, No Logo has become an international phenomenon and a cultural manifesto for the critics of unfettered capitalism worldwide. As America faces a second economic depression, Klein's analysis of our corporate and branded world is as timely and powerful as ever. Equal parts cultural analysis, political manifesto, mall-rat memoir, and journalistic exposé, No Logo is the first book to put the new resistance into pop-historical and clear economic perspective. Naomi Klein tells a story of rebellion and self-determination in the face of our new branded world.
About the Author
Naomi Klein, born in Montreal in 1970, is an award-winning journalist. She writes a weekly column in The Globe and Mail, Canada's national newspaper, and is also a frequent columnist for the British Guardian. For the past five years, Klein has traveled throughout North America, Asia, and Europe, tracking the rise of anti-corporate activism. She is a frequent media commentator and has guest-lectured at Harvard, Yale, and New York University. She lives in Toronto.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction: A Web of Brands
1 New Branded World 2
2 The Brand Expands: How the Logo Grabbed Center Stage 27
3 Alt.Everything: The Youth Market and the Marketing of Cool 63
4 The Branding of Learning: Ads in Schools and Universities 87
5 Patriarchy Gets Funky: The Triumph of Identity Marketing 107
6 Brand Bombing: Franchises in the Age of the Superbrand 129
7 Mergers and Synergy: The Creation of Commercial Utopias 143
8 Corporate Censorship: Barricading the Branded Village 165
9 The Discarded Factory: Degraded Production in the Age of the Superbrand 195
10 Threats and Temps: From Working for Nothing to "Free Agent Nation" 231
11 Breeding Disloyalty: What Goes Around, Comes Around 259
12 Culture Jamming: Ads Under Attack 279
13 Reclaim the Streets 311
14 Bad Mood Rising: The New Anticorporate Activism 325
15 The Brand Boomerang: The Tactics of Brand-Based Campaigns 345
16 A Tale of Three Logos: The Swoosh, the Shell and the Arches 365
17 Local Foreign Policy: Students and Communities Join the Fray 397
18 Beyond the Brand: The Limits of Brand-Based Politics 421
Conclusion: Consumerism Versus Citizenship: The Fight for the Global Common 439
Afterword: The Years on the Streets: Moving through the Symbols 447
Notes 459
Appendix 483
Reading List 491
Photo Credits 494
Index 495