Rating: 
Summary: Love it!
Review: This book was recommended to me by a fellow volunteer this summer. I was a little skeptical reading it - I'm a business student and I didn't want to read the book, change my mind, and be stuck in a career I ended up hating. But, reading this book, if anything, has made me a more consciencious businesswoman. It makes me want to get out into the business world and be honest and hardworking. It's an eye-openning book that covers the last 20 years of marketing and major business events.
Rating: 
Summary: Desperately Looking for Reasons to Hate Capitalism?
Review: Ms. Klein must be one of the great minds of our time. After all, only she has the clairvoyance to see through swooshes and golden arches, while the masses are helpless against the deceptive powers of huge multinational corporations. Please, give me a break. Rather then briefly go through the long list of faults in Ms. Klein's book, I think it would be better to elaborate on just a couple of the book's issues.One of the facts that Ms. Klein sites repeatedly to show the power of corporations is that out of the 100 largest economies, 51 are corporations and 49 are nations. Believe that? Did you also know that out of the 100 largest apples, 51 are oranges? To come up with her bogus figure Ms. Klein compares company sales to GDP. Unlike GDP, corporate sales figures are not a value-added measure. The picture is much different, when you actually compare figures that are comparable. The value-added of the 50 largest corporations are only 4.5% of the 50 largest nations (Legrain, 2002). Worst of all, Ms. Klein is far to intelligent accidentally make such a juvenile error. The only conclusion I can draw is that she knowingly uses ridiculous figures like these because she recognizes that her target audience doesn't know any better. If you weren't able to pick up on this obvious inaccuracy, then there's no way you could discern the more subtle faults of logic in Ms. Klein's eloquent prose.
I also want to comment on the huge, greedy corporations exploiting workers in third world countries. Let's say there's a Nike factory in some third world country whose workers are being paid what we would consider some pittance. Ms. Klein would have us believe that these workers are being exploited (as would all you anti-globalization people). However, she forgets the most obvious fact. These workers have these jobs because there aren't any better available. Do you think that if the factory were to shut down, magically better jobs would appear, schools for poor children would open, and their poverty would be alleviated? Do you think these poor people are so incredibly stupid, that they do not realize they could live prosperous lives if only they stopped working for Nike? Of course not, because no such opportunities exist. But Nike is a rich corporation. Surely, they can afford to pay more to these people. Indeed, they can afford it, but alas, in the evil capitalist system companies make goods as cheaply as they can to maximize profits. I have a solution though! If you want to help poor people then you should take responsibility for it yourself. You send money to charity. Better yet, buy Nike shoes, provide these people with a better job then they would otherwise have, and send money to charity. Of course, most convincing of all is the fact that eventually these poor people get better and better jobs all with the help of globalization. Don't believe me? Ask the Taiwanese, Japanese, Chinese, people of Hong Kong, or South Koreans. Actually, you might get a more definitive answer if you asked the North Koreans; or asked the Chinese whether life was better or worse before their government began opening up trade. If you were one of those people who thought this book was eye opening, then I would implore you to read an introductory economics text or take an economics course in college. That experience should prove to be much more eye opening. It's not coincidence, nor conspiracy, that the vast majority of top economics professors and academics overwhelmingly support free trade and globalization.
Rating: 
Summary: Ideology as fashion
Review: Irritatingly anecdotal and blithely schematic, Klein's casually researched litany of apparent bombshells on global capitalism boils down to little more than a string of obvious facts for anyone with a modicum of economic sense: unregulated markets tend towards monopoly; producers minimize labour costs to maximize profit; advertisers devise increasingly insidious means of promoting products. Really?! You don't say! Ironically, Klein is most interesting when unconvincingly defending her generation's past inaction on globalization along the lines of, "Sorry, but we were busy decrying other things." A legitimate point and a surprising confession, but it's also a telling one: what 'thing' will it be next year? In America's repetitive cycle of issue activism, when anti-globalization's gloss inevitably fades Asian wage slaves and their heartless masters will no doubt be quickly forgotten like so many Ethiopian famine victims or battered baby seals. Klein's rousing call to arms might be significant if it actually changed consumer behaviour - if it not only gave us pause the next time we slipped on a pair of Nikes or strolled into Starbucks, but actually curtailed the purchase. But it won't do that, for the simple reason that the almost hysterical enthusiasm with which this book has been received (check the reviews) is fueled by precisely the same kind of mania, the same kind of look-at-me populist grandstanding, that has us wearing sports shoes as fashion items and drinking bad coffee in the first place: we somehow think it's cool.
Rating: 
Summary: Eye opening book
Review: This book exposes the world of corporate branding. It really opened my eyes to the domainating power that these large corporations have over the world. My only complaint about this book, is it could be a little long winded at times. It held my attention, but it is just so long! It felt like I was holding a text book in my lap! Over all I recommend it. It is packed full of lots of information that is all backed up by facts. My favorite part of the book is how it all seems to tie in with the WTO and NAFTA. If you are interested in learning why so many people are against these organizations this is a good book to start with.
Rating:
Summary: Idealism in all its problematic glory
Review: Naomi Klein's well-meaning, well-researched overview of corporate control reads well enough but follows the usual trappings of idealistic academic research. The system is flawed but her call to action is never fully realized outside of a Romantic notion that Marcos-like figures will rage against their respective machines. Branding spans across all aspects of life from art to religion to sex and books like Klein's help to bring to light the trappings of seductive market campaigns. Klein, however fails to show an economic model, contemporary or otherwise that is neither corrupt nor flawed. The book fails to feature any realistic goals about re-shaping culture that circumvent violence, destruction, and inevitably useless juvenile antics. (WTO Seattle riots were a long-deflated 'victory' for whom? The powers that be who can now easily justify 'protest zones' or the well-meaning far left activists who feel they have won some sort of battle?) A lofty goal such as this needs research like hers but with more consise arguements.
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Summary: A Study in Co-optation--Among Other Things
Review: ... What does this have to do with No Logo? One important topic that Naomi Klein discusses is co-optation: how Gap mimics the rebels with "Revolution" scrawled on the darkened windows of a storefront, how corporations distance themselves from their contractors who pay less-than-living wages to sweatshop workers in the Philippines or Haiti, how Kathie Lee goes on a televised crying jag over sweatshops that made her dresses. She shows further the ways in which corporations try to co-opt antiglobalizaton movements--Nike, for instance, offers Ralph Nader $25,000 to hold up a shoe and declare "Another shameless attempt by Nike to sell shoes." (Declining this kind offer, Nader comments, "Look at the gall of these guys.") Klein reports similar corporate attempts to co-opt her services as a consultant. In a way, though, this book is a paradox. As Klein notes herself, the publisher is a Murdoch subsidiary, and she has been, among other things, the recipient of Canada's National Business Book Award, and a regular journalist for the Globe and Mail, that solid conservative mainstay of Canadian newspapers. As she also states, No Logo will not start a revolution, nor will all the culture jamming and reclaim-the-street parties she meticulously describes. And this is what concerns me. Thousands will read No Logo, or Maude Barlow's Global Showdown, or Mike Moore's Stupid White Men, and be lulled into believing that, with all that criticism out there, the world will somehow be freed from corporate domination of the world. Don't count on it. It's the perfect way for the frustrated to blow off steam. ... Co-optation ruled then; it rules now.
Rating:
Summary: This book should rock your world
Review: I've noticed from comments about this book that a number of people are prepared to dismiss it as an attack against capitalism. Many others become overly focused on her accounts and descriptions of subversive responses to multinational corporations like culture jamming. I personally believe that anyone who is interested in how our economic system affects our democratic society (regardless of your political values) will find this book illuminating. Klein uses a TON of facts, anecdotes, documented trends, onsite interviews, industry reports, and quotes from prominent people in the business world to weave a compelling narrative about the branding process and what it does to society locally and globally. In the first section, Klein talks about how modern multinationals are trying to create brand images that are larger than products, investing millions of dollars on everything from simple advertising to sponsored events, to the creation of entire branded towns. Next she covers the business practices of many popular brands and shows how deregulation combined with anti-competitive tactics have squeezed small to medium companies out of markets. She highlights two strategies that have similar objectives: the practice of consolodating into what she calls "big boxes"--Super Wal-Marts, monster Targets, etc. The other tactic, clustering, is when a company like Starbucks opens up so many outlets that they actually compete with each other. While they lose a little money, they effectively squeeze out any competition. This is followed up by two very compelling and related topics--a discussion of how brand marketing has truly intruded on our public spaces and our private psyches, and an explanation of how the outsourcing of labor to overseas markets has given the companies the financial resources to invest in improving the prestige of their logo at the expense of workers (and sometimes human) rights around the world. She describes working conditions in the Philippines and China that should get you hopping mad--especially when she makes it clear that these same corporate practices are beginning to manifest themselves here in N. America, albeit in mutated form. The shift to sub-standard wages and temp hours in the US and Canada is not coincidental, and she makes astute observations that show the relationship between the CEO who gets a multimillion dollar bonus for laying off thousands of workers. Her description of the different forms of popular resistance that are rising to meet this invasion by the brands is interesting, but almost beside the point. The most important aspect of this book is that it rephrases the old debates about laissez-faire vs. regulated capitalism. Time and time again, she shows how these large corporations develop income streams and amass wealth AT THE EXPENSE OF EVERYONE AND EVERYTHING ELSE. The business practices used in many cases would have been considered illegal at other times in this country's history, and in many cases, should at least be considered unethical now. McDonald's, Starbucks, Wal-Mart, the Gap, Nike, and others are NOT creating useful jobs, are NOT improving the US's image internationally, and are NOT promoting positive values in our youth culture. In short, they are not adding any value, at the same time that they are exacting a tremendous cost from us and our environment. Are we heading towards a future like the ones depicted in "Blade Runner", "Rollerball", or "Alien", where corporations make all of the important decisions, and where it becomes difficult for regular people to live decent lives? Klein makes a pretty convincing case that we need to take action now--otherwise, it may one day become impossible to wake up and smell the coffee without buying name brand from someone else.
Rating:
Summary: naomi klein is my hero
Review: She spoke at my college last year and her words were filled with such passion and such honesty that I had to read this book. Its amazing.
Rating:
Summary: A Woman of Conscience and Intellect
Review: Naomi Klein possesses enough creativity and brain power to be earning a large salary contributing to the mania she has thankfully chosen instead to decry -- the advertising generation where logos are supreme and catchy phrases and images are perpetually advanced so that consumers will hopefully, through a rote process, toe the mark and make the purchases which make such campaigns lucrative. The Canadian Klein wastes no time, focusing on the heart of the matter. Directly at the heart is the popularity of a word and concept sweeping certain elements of corporate America, that of the permatemp. What can be better than making overworked people logging long hours at small pay scales temporary rather than permanent workers? The Wal-Mart folks fired up all cylinders and proceeded full speed ahead! The era of the temporary worker has arrived, uncluttering all kinds of potentially messy details such as employee benefits. Health care? Sick leave? Remember, you're a temp and what is so nice is there is no meddlesome union standing in the way. Now we have a direct one-on-one "bargaining position." Guess who has top standing? Americans have never been as overweight as they are today, and here the logo culture has played a major role. The corporate sponsors have not only indoctrinated adults, they are working franctically on the younger generation. They have marched into the schools and replaced all that presumably wimpish fare such as fruit juices and salads with the really hip and macho food and drink. Let's pony up with more soft drinks and hamburgers, then wonder why the kiddies' arteries are hardening. Hopefully there are those who will pay heed to the message of Naomi Klein before it is too late. The alternative is a nation of overworked people with hardened arteries and virtually empty pocketbooks as the designer suit brigade chalks up ever increasing profits.
Rating:
Summary: breaking down the wall
Review: This book is a must read for those of you (us),who know full well that the corporation has taking over our lives. The brand bullies infiltrate the mind. making us believe we need their clothes/cologne, to live the "lifestyle." Join me in turning your back on these "brand bullies" and think for yourself. this book is just the first brick taken from the wall that has kept us prisoner for way too long. Easy to read, funny at times Klien tells it like it is
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