Naomi Klein- No Logo

Today I read some chunks out of the 'No Logo' book by Naomi Klein. The book touched on the topics regarding ethical Graphic Design and branding strategies/manipulation which I found really interesting to read about. Naomi Klein is an award-winning journalist, syndicated columnist, documentary filmmaker and author of the international bestsellers No Logo: Taking Aim at the Brand Bullies, The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism and This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. the Climate.

Furthermore, whilst I was reading, I made some notes on points that I found interesting:

• Bigger companies often just aim to seduce and manipulate customers into purchasing their products, even though the quality of the product may not work as well as something that may cost a lot less. 

• The high impacts that 'super' brands have on broader society- aggressive commercial marketing and branding strategies can lead to massive consequences.  She mentions that often these bigger brands are not a reflection of quality, but instead a reflection of what the marketing department wants it to stand for. 

• The topics that she mentions has strong links to how social status and class plays a big role in the brands that people use and purchase, in order to help them fit into specific social groups and maintain a higher status. 

• In her book she mentions how much impact specific brands that were considered ‘on trend’ or ‘high-end’ had on her school life and teenage years  at the time ‘She describes the appropriation of youth and "indie" culture (the "hunting of cool”)

• She talks about the fact that the brands people wore when she was in her teens, played a huge part in how ‘cool’ they were seen, she mentions that cool is “riddled with self-doubt” 

• Owning a product from a certain brand makes you look a certain way or fit into a certain high social group is also related to peer pressure, which is projected onto a person by people that they associate themselves with, as well as people and social groups that they aspire to be like and look like. Peer pressure is a high marketing tool, this relates back to the ethics of consumerism within Graphic Design.

• Additionally, one of the sections in the book “No Space” looks at the history of brands, which are now mega-corporations, such as Nike. This section focuses on the argument that brands are no longer about the product being put out into the world, but the competition of who has the strongest brand identity.