Brand From The Product example essay topic

Globalization has become one of the most important political and social dilemmas facing our world today. As people struggle to protect their identity, big businesses are creating a new culture for us. Through marketing, we are told how we should look, act and feel. For the most part we eat it up, without even thinking about it.

In her book No Logo, Naomi Klein attempts to explore the unsettling practices behind big business and the marketing based culture that has been designed for us. Klein assembles an impressive overview that explores the rise in power and wealth of multi-national corporations and the repercussions of their actions. The popularity of her text has helped raise awareness towards the ethics of some of the biggest companies in the world. Klein has broken her arguments into four sections.

The first of which, No Space, examines the omnipresence of the corporate image in today's society. The second, No Choice, explores the homogenizing of companies and their products and how the consumer is affected. The third section, No Jobs, looks at trends in the labor market, job security and the threat of globalization. The last section, aptly titled, No Logo, deals with activism and the necessary measures being taken against corporate rule.

In No Space, Klein investigates the bombardment of advertising we are facing in today's world. Advertisers have conquered the last of our untouchable space through advertising in schools and universities, nowhere seems sacred anymore. Companies had tried for years to advertise and sell their products in these spaces, knowing that these public institutions were flooded with the most appealing consumer groups, youth. Finally after years of budget cuts schools had no choice, and could no longer refuse the funding that these major companies offered. Klein argues that the marketing presence in schools goes beyond mere advertising.

"Having gained a foothold, the brand managers are now doing what they have done in music, sports and journalism outside the schools: trying to overwhelm their host, to grab the spotlight. They are fighting for their brands to become not the add-on but the subject of education, not an elective but the core curriculum". (P. 89) The companies opinion is that not only should the students be aware of their products, they should also be learning about their companies, thus in some respects putting the students to work for them. In exchange for learning materials such as computers and televisions, companies are guaranteed a mandatory audience and even marketing help from the target group. Popular fast food restaurants have found their way into school cafeterias, leaving the students with little or no choice but to consume their products while attending school. Klein points out in the second section, No Choice, that the brands desire to control the market share is through their product, or products.

The difference between many mass-produced goods is purely cosmetic. Branding offers an opportunity to create visual differences in similar products. Branding does not only occur with the manufacturing of a product, but also at the retail level. Thus, the goal is then to provide an experience for the consumer. "This assault on choice is taking place on several different fronts at once. It is happening structurally, with mergers, buyouts and corporate synergies.

It is happening locally, with a handful of super brands using their huge cash reserves to force out small and independent businesses. And it is happening on the legal front, with entertainment and consumer-goods companies using libel and trademark suits to hound anyone who puts an unwanted spin on a pop-cultural product. And so we live in a double world: carnival on the surface, consolidation underneath, where it counts". (P. 130) Large corporations are using their buying power to receive volume discounts, passing the savings on to the consumer. This strategy makes it hard for the consumer to refuse, at the same time making it next to impossible for small business to compete. The local economy is hurt and entrepreneurs are forced to work for the very companies that put them out of business. Employees then lose benefits as they are hired on as part-time and unskilled staff.

Large corporations are able to dictate the products they sell in their stores, if a certain item does not meet their approval, the supplier is found without an outlet. This mentality not only hurts the supplier, but the consumer is also affected. "Media and retail companies have inflated to such bloated proportions that simple decisions about what items to stock in a store or what type of cultural product to commission - decisions quite properly left to the discretion of business owners and culture makers - now have enormous consequences: those who make these choices have the power to re engineer the cultural landscape". (P. 165) These companies have created a market selling only what they want, limiting the consumer's options. This way of doing business ultimately limits the selection of products and the places to purchase them, manipulating the lifestyle present in the community. The ideas behind this monopolistic corporate rule are purely utopian, although they are doing their best to make this our reality.

The third section of Klein's book, No Jobs, focuses on the brand oriented company (BOC), and the shift of labor from our communities to cheap overseas labor. The main goal of the BOC is to separate the brand from the product. While merchandise comes and goes, the goal is that the brand will live on. Through this strategy, the brand is not reliant on the products they produce. Instead they sell a lifestyle, which can be obtained through the purchase of their wares. By removing themselves from the actual products they sell, the BOC's are distancing themselves from the responsibility in the manufacturing process.

No longer are these corporations concerned with such issues as providing job security for their workers or improving the local economy of the towns they inhabit. These concerns have taken a back seat to the number one goal, turning a profit and making the shareholders happy. In order to achieve this, many companies have looked elsewhere for cheap labor. There are many countries whose governments are willing to exploit there citizens by creating free-trade zones, allowing big business to set up shop in their country under appalling conditions, with the hopes of jump starting their own economies. "Many companies now bypass production completely.

Instead of making the products themselves, in their own factories, they "source" them, much as corporations in the natural-resource industries source uranium, copper, or logs. They close existing factories, shifting to contracted-out, mostly offshore, manufacturing. And as the old jobs fly offshore, something else is flying away with them: the old-fashioned idea that a manufacturer is responsible for its own workforce". (P. 197) These companies have come under fire lately, as the horrors of the 'sweatshop' have been exposed in the media. Workers are paid next to nothing and are forced to live in dangerous conditions, barely making enough money for food. As a means of still using this cheap labor, companies have distanced themselves from the manufacturing process. This is accomplished through the concept of 'contracting and sub-contracting agents' to deal with these levels of operation, thus the company name can escape any blame.

Another way of cutting costs and keeping profits high is by offering temp jobs in place of permanent positions. By contracting out work these companies not only pay for just what they need done, they also save on things like benefits and sick pay. With all of the money saved at the production level record amounts are being spent on advertising and shareholder dividends. In the final section, No Logo, Klein argues that the resistance towards major brands has resulted from an increased awareness of the negative effects these actions have had on ours, and third world countries. The business practices of these companies have sparked an increased anti-corporate attitude in today's society. Those who have lost their jobs due to cheap overseas labor have found themselves forced into one of the last sectors of non-skilled work available, the service industry, for minimum wage.

Not surprisingly, these workers have become resentful of their treatment and the treatment of others. The ways of protesting as described by Klein range from boycotting, culture jamming and adjusting to full scale organized demonstrations like those experienced in Seattle and Quebec. Klein assembles an impressive collection on the dark side of consumerism and capitalism. The main problem with Klein's text is the fact that she focuses the majority of the blame on the corporations. She has little to say about political policies or political solutions, providing no answers to issues like free trade and foreign labor laws. Our society is set up in such a way that it only makes sense for these companies to take advantage of such opportunities.

The actions taken in various forms of protest need to be directed at the government level. By targeting the businesses, they are forced to become more concerned with hiding their undesirable qualities and improving their image. As long as no laws are being broken and profits are up, it's going to take more than moral issues to change the face of business.