I found many issues in Naomi Klein’s “No Logo” worth getting upset about. In fact, every chapter made me want to sharpie my own culture-war zine dedicated to smashing the brand-based corporations. One theme that really stuck with me, though, was the branding of revolution. I believe this stuck out to me because I feel like I am in a constant struggle not to fall for these branded revolutions that end up being nothing more than a rallying cry to buy more sweaters. I kept thinking of Urban Outfitters, the hip clothing store that rides on the Do-It-Yourself clothing craze. Their clothes are meant to look like they were ripped apart, sown back together and painted on by someone really cool. I noticed recently that they actually sell books on how to make your own clothes inside the store. For a while I really liked this store because I liked what I thought it stood for: the absolute originality of identity you can achieve by making your own clothing. I have come to realize that they are actually doing the opposite, by mass producing originality all over the USA.

In the first part of the book she talks about how brands realized that they needed to seem subversive to become “cool.” Hence Che Guvera soda pop and Keroac in Gap jean adds. The most immediate point she made, I felt, was that this “subversive coolness” was in essence an attempt to identify with black culture. Corporations, she argues, seem to be on a quest to quench white-suburban America’s thirst for inner city grunge and grime in individually wrapped packages. She sites the origins of jazz, blues, rock and roll, and rap as examples of black-American cool.

Klien also explores attempts to take back space by “culture jammers.” These people use the add campaigns themselves to change the messages brands send out to consumers. She demonstrated how important a brand’s culture and the “happy feelings” an advertisement tries to portray to the success of the brand. For example, when brands try to associate themselves with family and fun during christmas, that way people feel that the brand is a necessary ritual of the holidays, much like a Christmas tree. “Culture Jammers” try to instead associate brands with negative images using their own style of advertisement. They may do this guerilla style, taking to the billboards with spray paint, or in a more organized way like Ad Busters magazine.

In the last part of Klien’s book, she discusses how student activists on college campuses use the sponsorships as a way to strike back at invasive branding of their schools. Students used grass roots organizing on many college campuses to block deals with companies like Pepsi and Nike to bring attention to their global policies and exploitative activities. Students use their position as the target market to swing at brands they do not particularly want covering their college campuses.