MDSC62H3 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: North American Free Trade Agreement, Naomi Klein, No Logo
Document Summary
The globalization of communications technologies since 2000 has meant that within global image flows there is an increased circulation of concepts, ideas, politics, and images. It also, somewhat contradictorily, has helped to foster the growth of multinational corporations and the expansion of influence of powerful nations. These transnational cultural flows are paradoxical: a homogenization of culture vs. diversification, hybridity, and new global audiences. Cultural imperialism refers to how an ideology, a politics, or a way of life is exported to other territories through the export of cultural products. Branding: beginning in the 1990s, branding began to overtake advertising. Branding is not about a particular product (eg. a latte), but about how a company name becomes associated with a lifestyle. In no logo, naomi klein describes branding as being a strategy in which brands are cultural accessories and lifestyle philosophers. Logos: as visual texts, logos are easily read for shared meanings across culture, class, and geography.