Re: <nettime> No Logo is a good Logo

[Harald Staun <staun@subroutine.de>]

cpaul schrieb:

> > Any newspaper editor who has the courage to publish an article
> > about _No Logo_ should be praised for doing so.
>
> An article was published about Naomi and No Logo here in the
> Saturday Sydney Morning Herald last week.

There've been about a dozen articles about no logo, e.g. in The Guardian -
from a review to an interview and a large feature article - so i'm sure
there is no deficit of public attention towards the book (even in
Starbuck's, people read The Guardian from time to time).

That people might read the book at Starbuck's coffee tables as well, is no
accusation one can confront Klein with; it is one of the key problems the
book deals with. That brands, like capitalism as a whole, have been
embracing criticism, subversion etc. for a long time, is something the
author is fully aware of. no logo is not a book about boycott, but about
the possibilities of criticism and counter-activism in a time where the
market has found ways to sell criticism and counter-activism as
commodities (i remember a booth at a festival in munich last year which
was selling 'esoteric supplies', and only my stong believe that i would
get mine satisfied for free by television saved me from buying a little
bit of new and improved enlightenment there). So, the most important
question that arrises from the content of the book and the discussion
about its style alike is, in a nutshell, if brands should be countered on
grey paper or in a trendy outfit. Should we try to destroy or copy them?
Should we compete and beat them or boycott and bring to their knees? Is it
the only strategy left to build better brands, oris this a road to, well,
not the same shit in different packages, but to different packages with a
different shit, i.e. can criticism become a brand or does it fail at
exactly that moment it receives and is perceived as a label and becomes a
commodity?

Harald







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