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.

The Truck

The Truck The truck by "Matchbox" is blue and yellow and it has a big McDonald's poster on its side. This truck is a good example of how big companies work together to advertise and promote each others images through their products. This way every person that buys this truck will be forced to look at the golden arches and then might be inspired to go and have a burger at McDonald's. With this advertising strategy these two mayor companies target their demographic very successfully. They are aware of the fact that mostly young children will purchase this truck and are more likely to be influenced, through their lack of critical thinking, by the McDonald's logo on their toy truck. Not only will these kids then ask or even nag their parents to take them to McDonald's but the logo will also subconsciencely be branded into their memory, making them faithful customers. When this truck hit the stores McDonald's and Matchbox probably had a contract that McDonald's would sell Matchbox cars in their Happy Meals, if they could print their logo on the side of the new truck. This way a win win situation is created. Both companies make huge profits from this little strategy and everybody is happy.