I had been wanting to read this book for years and perhaps, having read it 13 years after it was published, I felt that most of the facts that Klein cites are common knowledge nowadays.

However, the book provides an insider's perspective into what must have been hellish years for the world's most powerful corporations.

Moreover, Klein's exploration of the evolution of the brand concept was probably the most interesting element throughout the books: branding surrounds us all, but understanding how branding and advertisement have become focal issues in the strategies of some of these corporations, relegating production and workforce to the background, explains many of the developments in the global market.

This book would require an updated edition, or perhaps even a follow-up, because my perception is that branding is slowly receding back into the active hands of corporate superpowers who are progressively colonising the life-force of social ideals (I am specifically thinking of Big Organic in the United States, for example).

All in all, a must read for anyone interested in the disproportionate power and influence of corporate power.

I read Klein's No Logo at a perfect time. I was studying for my uni finals and I didn't feel like fiction since this was a buzz book, I decided to read it and see what the hype was about.

Klein's treatise of the branding of culture is still apt for our consumer obsessed times. Today we still see subliminal ads in films, experience numerous sponsor related events and children are still being exploited in sweatshops. Klein's anger at the way logos brainwash us comes through.

Although I have given this book five stars, it does have a weak point. Klein builds her arguments well but then in the last chapter, which consists of solutions she loses it. Her ways of remedying logo brainwashing consists of defacing ads. So reverting to childish antics is a way to make people aware of how logos poison us? It's quite dodgy but if ignore this silly chapter you have a powerful book on contemporary culture.

Ten years ago, Naomi Klein's No Logo was a virtual fashion accessory for a certain generation. Everywhere you went, hip earnest types could be seen reading it - on the train, on holiday, even in Starbucks sipping on a latte (with obligatory sprinkling of irony). Being neither hip nor earnest myself, I managed to miss out on this achingly cool phenomenon, and only picked up a copy to read earlier this year. The good news is that if you're coming to No Logo a decade or so after the party ended, be assured that it is still very much an essential read. Not so much 'out of date' as 'of its time' - but all the more interesting for it.

Most people today will already be aware that corporations and exploitation go together like burgers and fries. That if we scratched the surface of some of our most successful brands - Nike, Levi's, Disney - we would find something noticeably different from the clean, wholesome image adorning our billboards and magazines. What Klein has done is force our gaze into this hidden world - of sweatshops, child labour and corporate censorship - to remove any doubt about the full extent of the price being paid for our brand-filled lifestyles. It's a price that ranges from troubling (the creeping corporate colonisation of academia) to horrifying (the appalling conditions at Cavite where workers slave over products destined for western malls).

Infuriating and depressing it may be, No Logo is also a book that revels in the sheer tie-dyed trendiness of standing up to the machine; of anticorporate activism, of culture jamming, lobbying and reclaiming the streets. Indeed it is Klein's unbounded optimism - in a continually thriving underground movement, independent media, spontaneous street parties and protests - that forms a key part of the book's appeal. Surprisingly objective and able to analyse her own prejudices, this is more even-handed than you might expect. She predicts and acknowledges the cynicism, but refuses to let it dampen her spirit.

A few inaccuracies in Klein's data don't alter the fact that this is an important and well-argued book. At 500 pages, it's possibly a little bloated, but there's no denying the strength of material here to inform as well as outrage. I certainly didn't know anything about export processing zones before reading this book. Nor did I know much about anticorporate activism beyond the media portrayal of unwashed students and anarchist yobs. More than anything, Klein deserves credit for bringing the experiences of previously invisible foreign workers and the other darker sides of corporatism to our attention. Don't let the book's age put you off - the themes are still relevant, no matter how many 'corporate responsibility' statements have since cropped up on the big brand websites. As an extra, this 10th anniversary edition includes a new introduction by the author, offering some post 9/11, financial meltdown, Brand Obama context.

A fantastically well researched account of the evolution of the corporate ideas which seem to permeate our existence. Klein's arguments are piercing in their clarity. If nothing else, she constantly begs us to consider the horrific human cost of our brand-saturated existence. "a delusion that lasts for decades is not a delusion. It's an institution." I think Bruce Sterling said that, seems pretty apt for this book.

No Logo had a profound impact on my worldview when I first read it ten years ago. Then I went to University and took economics courses taught by Indian professors who genuinely believed globalization is a "rising tide that lifts all boats" rather than a "race to the bottom." Their compassion and concern for their homeland was genuine and they would get choked up when talking about farmers who committed suicide after going broke. I didn't really know what to think after that, they didn't fit my preconceived notion about neo-liberal economists.

One of their major critiques of No Logo is that the slave wages paid by US multi-nationals were a raise compared to what domestic firms paid. I think that omission is worthy of criticism. One professor said he met a Pakistani orphan that couldn't understand why western activists wanted to deprive him of the "best job he ever had" sewing soccer balls. When activists successfully shut down that industry in Pakistan it wasn't like there was a school waiting to enroll him.

I've come around and I think those defenses of capitalism are pretty lame. No Logo is a nostalgic snapshot of a time when it was cool to give a shit about third world working conditions and intrusive advertising. The economic rise of China and India and apathetic hipsterism have made those issues seem tired. But as I re-read the 10th anniversary edition that I got for Christmas, I see ominous foreshadowing about conditions today. Eliminating all those manufacturing jobs in the US is a factor in its current high unemployment. Companies who took advantage of Haitian labor without paying living wages or taxes are indirectly responsible for the carnage of the earthquake. There are Mexican women being brutally murdered near maquiladoras. The gap between the rich and poor isn't getting any smaller--anywhere. Companies passing the blame buck to sub contractors hasn't stopped, people have just stopped caring.

Yeah it's a little dated, even Klein talks about how she's moved on in the updated introduction. But I think it is one of the most important books of the 90s and will be a historical treasure.

definitely some good information, but something about the books style turns me off. i feel a little preached to, or manipulated. I guess my recent-college-student self wants more of an attempt to appear objective. objectivity may be an illusion, but it is one of my personal favorites.

3.5

Some good analysis of globalized industry and brands but also very 90s. Not necessarily the books fault, but that made ot less effective for me, reading in 2024

This was a very interesting read. If I was more in agreement with the author's position (or if she had been able to convince me of more of her arguments) it might've ben a five-star review, but I found so many flaws in her reasoning, it's an appreciative three out of five.

Klein writes intelligently about anti-corporate feelings and actions, focussing on various aspects of the 'threat' of big corporations as she sees them, and also discussing how others with her views on these big businesses have shown their feelings and taken action.

The book was thorough and well-researched, and intelligently written. Some of the book was more convincing and agreeable than others - the importance of basic labour laws ensuring the health and safety of workers, the danger of political influence where large corporations are concerned. Some of the book I wasn't very swayed by, however, and I thought some of the promotion of vandalism and vigilantism to be irresponsible.

I guess my problems lay with Klein not answering some of the things I was more worried about. Large corporations were painted as inherently evil when this is clearly not the case - they are just successful businesses producing options and employment and economic benefits. It seems very easy to target big names when essentially they are just the result of some firms doing better than others in a capitalist economy. I'd personally prefer schools be given branded computers and equipment by corporations than not have it at all, and there was a pointless repetition of the difference between what a Filipino seamstress earns, and what Nike sells shoes for - two completely different costs of living. Likewise comparing powerful corporations with democracies and saying "Shouldn't the former be accountable in exactly the same way?". No - because they aren't elected representatives.

I just found it all a bit 'off target' in places. It didn't make me angry because I could see past it, but I thought the left-wing leanings all a bit 'right on'. It seemed a little wrong for the Canadian author to criticise the capitalist system that has befitted her and so many like her - idealistic and questionably motivated. I don't disagree that there are a lot of aspects she mentions which really need to change (so that profit doesn't completely overpower morality) but there is a part of me which assumes that consumers will vote with their cash and choose not to patronise certain businesses, which'll hit profits and force change via evolution. There seemed a lot of this book which came over as suggesting big businesses have money to advertise and market themselves, and the poor consumer somehow has no free will at all to resist.

Знаете ли, че Nike примерно, всъщност не произвежда маратонки и дрехи? Те просто поръчват изработката на външни фирми и се занимават само с рекламата – тяхната единствена дейност е да градят имидж на запетайката в логото си…

„Без лого“ е много добър учебник, който изследва пазарното и рекламно поведение на големите компании (основно за облекло), които градят дейността си основно около създаването на имидж и привлекателност на своето лого – защото когато съвременният потребител купува дрехи, той търси по-скоро определен имидж и послание, които тези дрехи носят, отколкото нещо друго.

Описани и анализирани са много рекламни кампании на най-големите компании – конкретни неща и примери, които няма да намерите в нито една друга книга за маркетинг – рекламиране на концерти, концепции на плакати, промоционални стратегии, териториално позициониране на реклами…

Единственото странно нещо в книгата е, че тя всъщност изобщо не е замислена като маркетингов учебник, а като антикапиталистическа пропаганда – видите ли, колко са коварни лошите компании, че действат така. Но политическите пристрастия на авторката едва ли касаят непредубеденият читател, а и не влияят на качествата на дацената ценна информация.

I want to be a culture jammer!!! Interesting how the internet and social media have changed corporate marketing over the past 20 years, but the phenomenon has stayed the same. Taking a big fat shit on the lawn of Nike World Headquarters, might delete later!

While reading, I could split the book into two parts: the first one, which describes how the brands became the center of today's marketing and capitalism, how they entered the our public and private lifes and what werethe main consequences of the change of thinking of MNC's, and the second one, which provides the thoughts on the such anti-corporational movement. Whereas the first part delivers at almost all aspects of my liking, the second one is quite sloppy and way too negative to be enjoyed, i.e. the negative tone is exaggerated with respect to the problems identified.

Klein outlines a painful issue, which may not be as obvious for us as the consumers, therefore the book is highly recommended for both, people, who consider themselves as socially responsible, and for the other one, who do not practice that consciously.

Book is not just well researched - it provides millions of facts, cases and other examples regarding the issue of branding (and the consequences thereof - no choice for customers, no places untouched, limited number of jobs in the developed world due to transfer of capital/outsourcing to the developing world). I would just keep my expectations in check as the second part of the book did not deliver (at least for me) as much as Shock Doctrine.

This is one of those books – like Infinite Jest or Manufacturing Consent that I would've been much better off reading when it came out, or when I was in my 20s. (Whichever was earlier.)

Reading it today, I can only think that my mind would've been blown a lot more comprehensively if I'd encountered the ideas within before precision-strike ads and 'unbranded' clothing were such a part of daily life.

The book is important, still, as it provides a good overview of why capitalism is shithouse, in ways the regular schlub can understand because it's presented through the lens of sneaker consumption. Certainly, it remains a fairly effective prompt to consider one's own purchasing decisions – to think about the provenance of the shirt on your back or the shoes on your feet, and the fact that it was possibly (or likely) made my someone close to childhood for cents an hour.

That's not the only thing in here, but for my money it's the most important. There's a lot of information about the rise of the brand (as opposed to the product) but it reads almost as quaint these days – in the 20 years since publication, the world has come to be run by brands and logos to the point that it's pretty difficult to imagine the world without their insidious reach.

In the end, this is an easy-reading trawl through capitalism by paths economic, sociological and philosophical (to an extent). It provokes thought still, even though you probably take a lot of the stuff in here for granted these days. As I say, I should've read it long ago, but it still has some thoughtful rewards for the curious reader.