Naomi Klein is an award winning journalist and writes a column for 'The Daily Globe and Mail', Canada's national newspaper. She has been hailed as a 'young and funky heiress' to Noam Chomsky. The focus of this book is the growing anti-corporate mood and attitude that has swelled into a movement worldwide.

The book talks about how brands have permeated all aspects of life in America and Europe including public spaces such as schools, colleges, community centres and city councils. It gives out a clarion call to 'reclaim' public space for 'community' rather than 'brand expansion' purposes.

The book is a collection of first hand reports and accounts of meetings with activists of anti-corporate campaigns. These have been woven together and classified under 4 sections - 'No Space', 'No Choice', 'No Jobs' and 'No Logo'. In an introduction to the book Klein says that 'it is an attempt to analyse and document forces opposing corporate rule and to lay out the particular set of cultural and economic conditions that make the emergence of that opposition inevitable.' This she has succeeded in doing. The book has been meticulously researched and contains in depth analysis. It gives a different perspective on branding, marketing, work and consumption.

We live in an age where 'production' as an activity has lost its value. "Producing" is no longer important - what is important is the activity of "image building" or "image creation". Marketing has boiled down to a set of activities that help people to create and "consume" images. In that sense consumption is also not of an object or product per se (such as coffee or burgers or shoes) but of an image which is associated with the product. Since 'production' as an activity has lost value; organizations are unwilling to invest in people and factories preferring instead to invest in brand building and expansion. Gone is the former notion of lifelong, full time employment. Most jobs are being created in the services sector not in manufacturing. Also most jobs are part time or contractual in nature and some can even be termed as 'hobby jobs' - performed more for fun and leisure than to earn a livelihood. Just as production has got devalued, the act of 'consumption' has gained credence, to the extent that notions of well-being and a sense of belonging are often linked to the act of consuming something.

The first section 'No space' talks about the surrender of culture and education to brands and marketing. Klein talks about how logos (which were initially introduced to distinguish between mass produced, homogenous goods) are the new 'stars' - the products that carry them are secondary and incidental. For instance logos on T-shirts now a days are so big that the T-shirt itself is a mere carrier for the logo (e.g. Benetton and Tommy Hilfiger). All over America and Europe, brands are usurping cultural events through sponsorship. They are swallowing music, movies and sports. They are encroaching into academic programmes of schools and colleges and also their cafeteria. MNCs are usurping serious social movements to create an identity for their brands. (E.g. Benetton - racial discrimination, Body Shop - Violence against women, Virgin - Gay and lesbian rights). In the bargain, these movements are often trivialized. Moreover, because big brands sell the same things in the same way all over the world, it is leading to what Klein calls 'a market masala - candy coated multi-culturalism in a packaging that creates homogeneity'. The author makes a case for reclaiming public space from these brands.

The second section 'No Choice' talks about the role of mergers, franchising and synergistic operations in reducing choices for consumers. Super stores are killing small entrepreneurs and reducing choice. Large retailers are resorting to 'corporate censorship' and narrowing choice. For instance, Wal-Mart arbitrarily decides that some magazines are not for 'family viewing' and takes them off the shelves. This censorship takes new forms because of mergers. For instance, since Disney has merged with ABC, ABC cannot run investigative stories on Disney. Disney also owns Miramax so that Miramax can no longer produce movies that can 'hurt' Disney's image.

The third section 'No jobs' talks about how First World jobs are outsourced, off shored and subcontracted from the Third World countries. Not only that, these jobs pays appallingly low wages that are not even enough to provide for the basic needs of food, clothing and shelter. The section chronicles the rise of sweatshops in Indonesia, Philippines, China, Mexico Pakistan and other parts of the developing world. In developed countries too things have taken a turn for the worse as temporary contracts and part time work are replacing full time secure employment. Today's companies see themselves as 'wealth creators' not 'job creators'. But all of this is leading to a breakdown in the relationship between organizations and their work force, with employees no longer experiencing a sense of identification with their work or the organization they work for.

The UNCTAD report of 1997 mentions that 'Rising inequalities pose a serious threat of a political backlash against globalization, one that is likely to come from the North as well as from the South…' Workplace transience is eroding people's faith in organizations and they are slowly but surely hitting back. The last section 'No Logo' tracks this rage and suspicion that is swelling into a backlash against corporates. It talks about how billboards with brand names and logos are being hijacked and messages altered; how advertisements are being parodied to alter content and meaning. She chronicles the rise of a new movement called 'Reclaim the Streets' which hijacks busy streets and intersections and even stretches of highways for spontaneous gatherings. Across the world, but more so in the developed world, environment, labour and human rights activists are shifting focus from monitoring governments to monitoring corporations. Today's anti-corporate activists are not just trade union members but also college students and even parents of school children. They are all technology and media savvy like never before. They employ all the tricks in the book that expert marketers employ. Moreover, the Internet for them is working as a powerful tool for communication, information dissemination and coordinated effort. They have realized that MNCs have a weak spot - their 'brand' and its image. And they are exploiting this to put pressure. A large number of city councils schools and colleges in USA have entered into 'selective purchasing agreements' to keep out manufacturers with sweatshop or human rights violation records.

Not surprisingly, most of the activist organizations are a part of the developed world. At the risk of sounding cynical one can argue that these are nothing but 'clubs' created by individuals whose main agenda is to associate with each other - the cause they fight for is secondary and incidental.

The obvious question that comes to the mind is - what next? Klein of course makes it very clear at the beginning of the book that she means to only document the forces opposing corporate rule. But one wonders where all the activism is leading. Very often MNCs resort to the tactic of tokenism to appease activists. Many have formulated elaborate 'codes of conduct'. But in the absence of a proper system of enforcement, one doubts the extent to which they are adhered.

If we look at the Indian context of branding and marketing, work and consumption; there is still a lot of 'unmarketed space'. But slowly, branding and marketing are catching up. Ganesh Mandals and Dandiya gatherings thrive on sponsorship. Bacardi and Smirnoff concerts/nites are on the rise. Logos have become larger and larger even at the prestigious Sawai Gandharva Music Festival. The 'mall' culture is gaining credence in India and here the logo looms large. Some high profile restaurants and banks are donning a new avatar as connoisseurs and purveyors of art.

Freedom of choice is a relative thing in India where there are widespread disparities in income. So superstores and malls are burgeoning but the kirana shops have not got wiped out. There are big MNC brands for those higher up in the income ladder and local, regional or 'economy' brands for those lower down in the income ladder. In India we have not yet reached the brand fatigue that Klein talks about.

As far as jobs are concerned, India has been at the receiving end for all the jobs that have taken flight from First World countries. A large number of white-collar jobs have been created in the IT and ITES sector, banking and retail. In a country where unemployment amongst the educated is rampant, this has been a bonanza. At this point people are just happy they have a job, however transient.

Anti corporate activism has yet to take centre stage in India. Activists are busy fighting the government and its laws and powerful groups drawn along caste and community lines to really bother with corporates.

Yet, Klein's book gives a refreshingly new perspective and throws light on the social impact of branding and marketing activities. It's a welcome change from all the serious and popular business literature that speaks in laudatory terms of all branding and marketing efforts by corporates. The book is also immensely readable because of Klein's style of writing that is youthful, direct and conversational. Her writing is as powerful as the advertisements of the companies she frequently rips apart throughout her book.

-Giribala Dewasthale
June 2005.