Naomi Klein
On Fire
The (Burning) Case for a Green New Deal
- Special Announcements:
- *Naomi's new book On Fire: The (Burning) Case for a Green New Deal will be released in the US, UK and Canada on September 17, 2019.
- * Naomi has been appointed the Inaugural Gloria Steinem Chair for Media, Culture and Feminist Studies at Rutgers University (New Brunswick, NJ)
- * The Battle for Paradise: Puerto Rico Takes on the Disaster Capitalists is available in bookstores and to order now
- * PARA LA EDICIÓN ESPAÑOL
- * All royalties from the sale of The Battle for Paradise in English and Spanish go directly to JunteGente, a gathering of Puerto Rican organizations resisting disaster capitalism and advancing a fair and healthy recovery for their island. For more information, visit juntegente.org.
Frequently Asked Questions About No Logo
Has No Logo become a logo and a brand? Isn't that hypocritical?
No Logo has a logo. Is that hypocritical? No.
Naomi criticized branding in No Logo: Taking Aim at the Brand Bullies not because there's anything intrinsically wrong with logos, but because brands are developed—and their logos are designed—to market products that are produced through the exploitation and impoverishment of workers and communities in the poorest parts of the world. No Logo condemned the cynicism and dishonesty of companies that get wealthy by branding the commodities they market as representative of values like freedom or youthfulness—values that are starkly contradicted by the lived experience of the workers who produce the stuff they sell. When CEOs turn enormous profits by branding a running shoe to represent 'freedom' while they have that same shoe manufactured by 16-year-old women behind the fences and guarded gates of an Export Processing Zone—well, that's hypocritical.
That said, No Logo has become a brand, kind of in spite of itself. We have heard that companies around the world have used the phrase to market everything from cell phones to olive oil to t-shirts.
That No Logo (the logo) is being used to sell sweatshop products like cell phones or t-shirts is certainly deeply offensive (as are all instances of exploitation). But it isn't hypocritical, at least not on Naomi's part. Naomi Klein and her company Klein Lewis Productions Ltd. do not endorse any of these products, nor do they have any association with these product companies, nor do they profit from the use of the phrase "No Logo" when it is used to sell anything other than Naomi's books.
Why is No Logo copyrighted? Why isn't it available on-line for free?
Most of No Logo is posted in various forms for free downloading online however we can't link to those sites from here or we'd get in trouble with Naomi's publishers (try Google). We are looking into getting the entire book on this website soon. Why the mixed messages? When Naomi first negotiated and signed book contracts for No Logo in 1996, online publishing wasn't where it is at now. She also found that publishers were unwilling to contribute to the extensive research process required to write the book—five years of investigation and international travel—unless the material was copyrighted. Much has changed since then: all the material in Naomi's new book, Fences and Windows, is online on this website, and we are looking at ways to publish future books as "copyleft."
Has "NoLogo" been trademarked? Can I use the NoLogo logo on my sail-boat, t-shirt, skateboard or stickers?
There seems to be much creative interest in using the phrase "No Logo". To all those requesting permission to use the phrase:
In brief: we cannot grant permission to use "No Logo", we don't own it (so go crazy!) The more lengthy disclaimer: Naomi Klein and her company Klein Lewis Productions Ltd. have never trademarked the phrase "No Logo." However, companies in various countries have taken the phrase and used the success of Naomi book No Logo: Taking Aim at the Brand Bullies to try to sell various products (from digital cell phone displays to olive oil).
Naomi Klein and Klein Lewis Productions Ltd. do not endorse any of these products, nor do they have any association with these product companies, nor do they receive any money from the use of the phrase "No Logo" when it is used to sell anything other than Naomi Klein's books.
Thanks for your interest!
The FAQ was prepared by Andréa Schmidt
No Logo has a logo. Is that hypocritical? No.
Naomi criticized branding in No Logo: Taking Aim at the Brand Bullies not because there's anything intrinsically wrong with logos, but because brands are developed—and their logos are designed—to market products that are produced through the exploitation and impoverishment of workers and communities in the poorest parts of the world. No Logo condemned the cynicism and dishonesty of companies that get wealthy by branding the commodities they market as representative of values like freedom or youthfulness—values that are starkly contradicted by the lived experience of the workers who produce the stuff they sell. When CEOs turn enormous profits by branding a running shoe to represent 'freedom' while they have that same shoe manufactured by 16-year-old women behind the fences and guarded gates of an Export Processing Zone—well, that's hypocritical.
That said, No Logo has become a brand, kind of in spite of itself. We have heard that companies around the world have used the phrase to market everything from cell phones to olive oil to t-shirts.
That No Logo (the logo) is being used to sell sweatshop products like cell phones or t-shirts is certainly deeply offensive (as are all instances of exploitation). But it isn't hypocritical, at least not on Naomi's part. Naomi Klein and her company Klein Lewis Productions Ltd. do not endorse any of these products, nor do they have any association with these product companies, nor do they profit from the use of the phrase "No Logo" when it is used to sell anything other than Naomi's books.
Most of No Logo is posted in various forms for free downloading online however we can't link to those sites from here or we'd get in trouble with Naomi's publishers (try Google). We are looking into getting the entire book on this website soon. Why the mixed messages? When Naomi first negotiated and signed book contracts for No Logo in 1996, online publishing wasn't where it is at now. She also found that publishers were unwilling to contribute to the extensive research process required to write the book—five years of investigation and international travel—unless the material was copyrighted. Much has changed since then: all the material in Naomi's new book, Fences and Windows, is online on this website, and we are looking at ways to publish future books as "copyleft."
There seems to be much creative interest in using the phrase "No Logo". To all those requesting permission to use the phrase:
In brief: we cannot grant permission to use "No Logo", we don't own it (so go crazy!) The more lengthy disclaimer: Naomi Klein and her company Klein Lewis Productions Ltd. have never trademarked the phrase "No Logo." However, companies in various countries have taken the phrase and used the success of Naomi book No Logo: Taking Aim at the Brand Bullies to try to sell various products (from digital cell phone displays to olive oil).
Naomi Klein and Klein Lewis Productions Ltd. do not endorse any of these products, nor do they have any association with these product companies, nor do they receive any money from the use of the phrase "No Logo" when it is used to sell anything other than Naomi Klein's books.
Thanks for your interest!
The FAQ was prepared by Andréa Schmidt
