IN happier times,
Toronto's garment dis-
trict was abuzz, with
Trotskyite debate and
the wrangling of trade
union leaders, laments
Naomi Klein in her
book, No Lago: Taking
Aim at the Brand Bullies.
Now, she says, the district’s
warchous coniy one
“remaining capitalist fune-
tion.” and that is to showcase
advertising billboards. .
Fron here on ing the book
is devoted to the machinations
of a capitalist cabal, intent on
colonizing the minds of con-
sumers by peddling larger-
than-life brands over and
above products; the kind of
brands that expand to rob
people of their “public and
personal spaces,” their culture,
’ their jobs, even their freedoms,
The lineup of culprits is
Jong: Microsofi, Nike and the
warlous “sneaker pimps.” Intel,
> The Gap, Tommy Hiltiger,
Calvin Klein, Apple, The Body
Shop, Starbucks and so on.
"A self-confessed “mall rat”
— which would explain her
 absession with the gimmicks
of marketing to the exclusion

of an understanding, of market.

: forees — Ms. Klein is also. _
Canada’s Saturday Nigist
Magasine’ 's editor-at-large and
a one-time columnist for Thr
Toronto Star, However, this
‘soundbite-rich monograph,

which has made her one of the -

leading young left commenta-
‘tors in North America, is more
conjecture than fact. Ms. Kiein
draws causal relationships
_ where none exist, and finds
culpability in the absence of
any ny Proof.

pre - inventory_

cominicnt

It sounds flaky, sae
explains, but the corporate
takeover really gained momen:
tun after a 1993 event known
in marketing circles as
“Marlboro Friday” Howas
then, ironically, that the brand-
ing of products scemed poised
for its demise: On that appar-
endy freful day, Phillip Morris
slashed its prices in response to
competition from “bargain
brands.” According to Ms.
Kicin’s subjective interpreta-
tion of market compeution, if
a brand like Marlboro was
“stooping to compete on the
basis of real value,” the public
mtst have catled the corporate

bluff and rejected the-cachet of

the name brand.

Alas, the brands revovered.
In their truest and inmost
advanced incarnation, they
have become “about corporate
transcendence.” Produers that
will flourish in the future are
increasingly presented as con-
cepts rather than as commodi-
ties. For the nest 446 pages,

the same savvy American con-
sumer whe forced Phillip
Mortis to fight harder for its
market share on “Marlbore
Friday” suddenly curns into a
helpless pawn of the marketing
moguis, Like a solemn cam:
missar, Ms. Kicin bolsters her
theme with scores of evaber-
ANT, Non inenntinating inter:
views with ad executives and
CEOs, which she portrays
sinister confessions, ‘The end-
less accounts of advertising
gimmicks are meant to expose
the malignant franchises that
devour focal shops, public
spaces and “host cultures.”

The tify jargon does
nothing to conceal that in real-
ity this is au unremarkable
selection trom the tolliens of
capitalist acts benveen consent:
ing adults,

Advertising has become
this sophisticated and, asa
result of the dizzving array of
choice in the marker, has shitt-
ed to selling lifestyles, attinides
and atmospheres, Long gone
are the days when advertisers
merely educated and informed
the few who could aford their
products. The plenty generat-
ed by mass production means
prodticers must labour to cap-
ture consumers’ attentions.
Corporations can no more be
demonized for their premo-
tional methods than lovers for
preparing candle-lir dinners as
preludes to seduction.

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Further, in ber discrete
demarcation berweea big and
small, focal and transnational
business, Ms. Klein ignores the
fact that consumer patronage
prows a spall business into &
farge one. ‘To her, consumers
are dim. ‘They buy products
they neither need ner want

when heir pur
ctory, they keep at
are so incompetent,
why allow thei to vote?

Ms. Klein desenibes the
horrors of the branded neigh-
hourhoods, schools and towns
-~ “public” areas that fall prey

te the lopos and brands of gor:

penations. This happeaed
because of tay base erosion,
tor which Ms. Klein blames
the Reagan, Thatcher and
Mautroney trinity, With big,
goud government U1 retreat,
big, bad business is forced to
pick up the shack. The fet that
MMs. Kicin’s monopoly public
schooling is producing ignora-
muses becomes the faule of
corporate cash infusions that
have allowed big business te
infiltrate canpuses. Mis. Klein
estends this seamless corporate
conspiracy to the co-opting of
the pharmaceutical industry,
the censorship of news, the

David Neel _

NATIVE JEWELLERY

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Friday. October 20, 2000 — North Sicre News — 7

upstaging of sports events and
the overthrowing of local
retailers by banded super:
stores, She descends into
obscurantion whea desenbing
the apocalypne branding of
lite: “Cross: prametional
brand- based experiences that
conmbine buving with elements
of media entertainment and
Professional sports to ereete an
integrated branded loop ..
using ever-expanding networks

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of brand evtensions (o spin a
self-sustaining lifestyle web.”
My. Klein rounds up dy
anointing these who vandalize
billboards as the leaders of the
New anti-comorate resistance
movement. Somehow
Klein, who despises the false-
ness of consumerism, has failed
to detect the poseur in these
self-styled “culture jammers
and anti-corporate campaign:
ers.” quome@attcaundauct

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