Chapter 2 Summary

In the second chapter of “No Logo”, Naomi Klein concentrates on the further branding of the world. She explains how companies start to target younger and younger children to make them brand conscious as of a very young age. She gives the example of a toddler wearing a tiny Nike shoes with a relatively big Nike sign on them, although they can’t even walk yet. But that is not everything, companies start to expand beyond advertising for clothes and start sponsoring events and culture. It becomes every advertiser’s main aim to not sponsor culture but be culture. Besides that they start to connect celebrities with brands and TV shows with brands, which makes it impossible for anybody to think of the one thing without thinking of the other. The book gives the example of Bo Jackson the first athlete to play basketball and baseball, Nike used him for their advertising campaigns and welded the two together for life. This creates a sponsored life for everybody. As this trend starts to establish itself more and more companies start to donate money to public events, making it seem like they are generous, when in reality all they really want is a place where they can advertise their product at that particular event. Brands start to become 3D and expand beyond their products. Now people don’t just go to the body shop or to star bucks because their products are good, but because the stores, which are everywhere, smell good and sell a particular lifestyle. This development makes it hard to distinguish the world of advertising and the world behind advertising.