matt king on 13 Nov 2000 18:40:33 -0000


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[Nettime-bold] No Logo is a good Logo


Naomi (Calvin) Klein's book "No Logo",
is being promoted rather heavily here in the UK,
 and perhaps globally. Her anti corporate capitalist
stance is something I have strong sympathies with.
 
However I feel that the promotion of her work in the
 media has been given a one-dimensional branding
all of its own. It seems that this book with its large
 flat coffee table form will become another piece of
 christmas present gloss that is talked about rather
than read (I probably wont read it).
It is somehow aesthetically pleasing that this "young, intelligent woman", has written this and not some left wing old fashioned rabble rouser. It is easier to be on her side because there is a definite slick noughties modern branding behind all this.
Obviously there is no point publishing something that no one is aware of, but is it the issue that people like or the sound of the words "No Logo" and "Naomi Klein" tripping off their tongues, letting others know that they are down with the latest compassionate consumer zeitgeist. This is what I fear. I fear that it is the Starbucks goers that will be buying the book. 
I would prefer it if this book was published as more of a pulp popular train station/airport book rather than a glossy Waterstones coffee table. For its the hussle of the rush hour and the high street, where we
feel we are being unwillingly bounced into being consumers of the corporates. Reading that book while in the midst of the dirt of working/commuting would I imagine be a striking experience, rather than in whatever peace and escape the home provides. I'd rather see someone reading that on the tube than see it lying dead and unread on a glass coffee table.
(apologies for saying coffee table too often) 
----{MATTY THE KINGSTER}----