Rating:  Summary: You'll never look at a can of Pepsi the same way again... Review: In No Logo, Klein tidily dissects her exploration of the abuses of corporations who have foregone products in favor of brands into four sections: no space, no choice, no jobs, and finally--you guessed it--no logo. The first three sections give us ample evidence why we have every right to be sick and tired of being marketed to and what the consequences of it have been for us: instrusive advertising we can't even escape from in public restrooms, branded schools and universities where kids are forced to watch commercials on [TV] and athletes are forced to be moving billboards for [shoe company], the loss of local businesses as mega-corporations like [national video chain] and [national retailer] take over, the loss of some of our freedom as corporations begin to dictate what we can and can't view, read or hear, and finally, the loss of jobs as companies abandon US workers in pursuit of sweatshop labor. Make no mistake: this book will make you mad, and by section four, in which Klein proposes solutions, you'll be more than ready to entertain her ideas. This is a really good introductory text if you're interested in the down-side of globalization and want a good overview of the causes and conditions as well as what can be done. Klein's book is well researched, organized and presented and she makes her points without being overly pedantic. My only complaint about this book is that certain parts of it are very long-winded and could have easily been clipped from the text without losing anything, particularly Klein's exhaustive examination of sweatshops. Good if you don't mind skimming or skipping long passages....
Rating:  Summary: Unfortunately not...Not this one...Unfortunately... Review: As I found quotations from this book and plenty references thereto in many articles and works of my favourite writers, my expectations could be hardly higher when I opened it and started to read it. Couple of hundred pages later I felt little bit misled by another advertising campaign, the machinery so heavily criticised by Ms. Klein. While attacking the product propaganda and the dictate of the marketing departments over the content and product producers, she learned some tricks. The cover of the book is just cute (you all know this word itself and cute things sell well in shopping malls), then the fact that she shortened her name (it just looks better, has completely different usage ratio in electronic media and the magic of Ronald Reagan name - surname consonance applies, right?) and finally maybe sometimes unscrupulous parasitism on McDonald trademark (and easy-picking of the same target, with weak, very weak justification for pointing the finger on this company too often) in visual material the book features. So, the packaging is great and all subliminal messages are delivered to the customer on a tested silver of plate, it works perfectly, but then the content is unfortunately of poor quality. No Logo is like any other logo, just the flashy life style symbol with the very little behind it. First, Ms. Klein did very poor research. We learn she was on one or two study tours and she lives her life in capitalism which (probably) gives her enough competence in the matter, so no need for time-consuming collection of facts and figures with higher information value. Second, her book just gives impression she keeps describing two or three anti-McDonald campaigns and anti-consumerism fight highlights and that is all - I felt like she recycles herself and her ideas in every 50 pages, which itself is quite typical for modern marketing and post-modern art, by the way. Third, she is discovering the charted parts of the globe and gives very few hints how to change the world and the way it works. I know we shall think and do it for ourselves, but it would be nice to see that she can see some light at the end of a tunnel after all that paper used for printing of her opus anti-magnum. To sum it up, this book is sui generis light non-fiction for the environment and anti-global fighters travelling from Berlin to Genova for another street fight against police = G8 and the rich of the world. By the time they will reach the spot, they will be done with the book and equipped with new intellectual ammo. In no need to re-read it, they throw the book into the dustbin to free their hands to carry stones for trashing the Benetton shop-windows there. To sum it up for good, this book is unfortunately not a good pick for those who think twice (not globally) before acting locally. Unfortunately...
Rating:  Summary: An Important Treatise Review: I believe the most important thing about this book, is that it does not simply rehash the "brands are evil" sort of anti-corporate dirt that has already received attention in recent publications. 'No Logo' does not, as is suggested in a review below, merely outline how scary and powerful the multinational corporations are. Rather, Klein's 'No Logo' takes this sort of discourse one step further, by outlining the wider democratic implications of globalisation. This also allows Klein to avoid a sense of futility in her descriptions of corporate earth - her humourous and incisive tone inspires the reader to become active, which I feel is particularly important in this critical economic crossroads, rather than pessimistic or suicidal. 'No Logo' is infinitely readable, entertaining and inspiring. It's one of those books that would, I feel, make the world a better place if everyone read it. That's my current mission, anyhow - it will be the default birthday present of the majority of my friends for the next year, at least.
Rating:  Summary: Can we live without slavery? Review: The arguments that are used today to defend economic abuse on entire countries remind me of arguments that were used to defend slavery. Hey! the cotton industry was doing great after all! NO LOGO made me reflect on the fact that choosing what to buy is a political statement today. I would also recommend "The Open Veins of Latin America" by Eduardo Galeano: I read it in the early eighties, but from what I remember, its core is timeless. I also think that time will show both books are fair... pretty fair.
Rating:  Summary: No logo...no time Review: If until now you have been in the dark that corporations are big bad bastards who do horrible things and care primarily about profit rather than people...this is the book for you. For someone who has a clue and knows how bad corporations are, you might find this book a just a tad bit overdone and even a little patronizing. I rated this at 3 stars because it is a good introductory "wake-up" book, but not a great one if you are familliar with this subject. Too many times I found this book rambling and repetitive. Being in market research (terrible I know), there was little shock value in SURPRISE! corporations actually do pull demographics from magazine surveys, SHOCK! ad agencies try to market to those specific demographic targets and OH MY GOD! there are people out there who's job it is to seek out what is cool in teens. At many points I felt talked down to, as if she has never purchased anything manufactured by a big corporation, but everyone else has willingly perpetuated the state of big business today. While many of her examples were compelling and interesting, her viewpoints more often than not became extremely long winded and tiresome. More succinct writing could have made a clearer and stronger point in many cases. Limiting her focus of what she wanted to attack also could have made her point much more defined-those 450 odd pages could have been SIGNIFICANTLY reduced. Also, some of the examples of big bad business were just bizarre, and hindered her arguments rather than support them (the evils of people ordering things over the internet, for example). I had started reading Fast Food Nation before this (reading No Logo for work), and picked up reading it again. Even though the focus of FFN is based in fast food obviously, it is far better researched, written, and disturbing in terms of what corporations have done to this country and the world. I would recommend reading that instead.
Rating:  Summary: amazing! Review: this book is just great! it's a wake up call for everyone to think twice before they buy anything! IT EXPLAINS WHY THE PROTESTERS LIKE MYSELF VOTED FOR THE GREEN PARTY TICKET FOR PRESIDENT AND BRILLANTLY PROTEST AGAINST THE WTO, THE WORLD BANK, NAFTA ETC. IF YOU WANT TO KNOW WHY AL GORE LOST THE PRESIDENTAL ELECTION AND WANT TO CHANGE YOUR WORLD FOR THE BETTER READ THIS BOOK , ANY OF RALPH NADER BOOKS,OR ANY OF WINONA LA DUKE'S BOOKS. THEY WILL EDUCATE YOU AND SO MUCH MORE!
Rating:  Summary: Good book ! but ... Review: Naomi writed a good books, the point o view is central focused on the new passage from the quality and function era to the "logo" era : Did you ever see Benetton talk about the quality of their products ? .... But this point of view is a effects of a more global revolution. Many good autors have writed about it, I suggest the read of : "The mcdonalization of society". Finally : Good book, good introduction.
Rating:  Summary: A Must-Read Review: For someone already interested in consumer culture and its potentially corrupting influence, I was naturally entranced by this book. Given that she was preaching to the converted, I found this book spellbinding and a page turner. She offers multiple compelling arguments in a level-headed, structured text which flies in the face of critics of consumer culture as being knee-jerk and unintelligent. What I particularly liked is the way that she gently pointed out inherent paradoxes in her argument. Doing so by no means served to undermine her thesis. Rather, it demonstrated her grasp of complex consumer issues and her recognition that no one political philosophy can completely air-tight
Rating:  Summary: utter watered down nonsense Review: wow i just finished reading no logo and i can now say that it was ... the biggest, most over hyped, contrived piece of (stuff) i have ever had the misfortune to read. at parts it was mind numbing and others just watered down regurgitation of what many others have said better! she became exactly what she set out to ridicule. she was manipulated and over hyped by her publishers. there are far superior books available and even better essays on the web... i suggest you save the money on the book and invest it on call cost to download the aformentioned essays.
Rating:  Summary: Accurate, Observable Review: Often, it is those who disagree with the anti-corporate politics that quickly dismiss arguments like Klein's as purveying "liberal guilt". I believe that her book clearly provides a framework to think about relevant social issues that anyone can observe, nowhere mentioning guilt, so much as giving thought to the matter given certain evidence. Klein's position is clear, and her arguments are persuasive, but more to the point they are helpful in making sense of the world we live in. In my reading of the book, I have found that her opinion is not that we should all stop buying stuff, nor that we should feel guilty, nor that we should hate corporations. It is the culture that we are ALL encouraging despite depression and divorce rates going up, and the quality and quantity of public spaces and discourse going down. As a teacher, I see the hazardous and destructive qualities of our multi-national defined culture everyday with my teenage students. I see that their lives are increasingly defined in reference to the primary cultural sources that they have: the TELEVISION, and the INTERNET. Many of the parents spend most of their time working in low-paying, low-benefit jobs with long hours. The parents, and the community work so much, having time to develop a coherent local culture is challenging. Thus, the kids participate in the most engaging and exciting culture they are being offered. The brand's purpose, though is not to uplift their opinions of themselves, but to highlight their what they aren't, what they lack, and then sell the brand's wares with the promise that with this brand's products come the style and confidence seen in their advertising. What is ironic is that the critical framework Klein lays out explains many of the cultural phenomena that many "conservative" thinkers criticize in popular culture: violence, greed, and the sexualization of young adolescents in mass media publication. All of these things can be explained through the framework of advertising at any cost, branding as a no-holds-barred method of develiping culture. Just watch the young people, who are after all the target audience of much of this global ad-based cultural shift, and decide for yourself if the global brand-culture in its current form is doing more good than harm. "No Logo" is a clear and definitive critique of the loss of public power. It is useful in its explanation of how the manufacture of culture operates now, how it got to be this way, and how it affects societies at the local level. That it explains activism to curb the one-sided exchange of ideas is certainly useful, but for many, I believe it may be mostly a way to become more aware of how for-profit culture affects us all.
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