No Logo

According to Klein, brand management and marketing are becoming the focus of companies in North America. Numerous corporations are finding ways to save money on production to in turn, spend money establishing their brand identity and launching ad campaigns. Companies are now outsourcing their production to third party contractors to reduce the price of labor. North American companies have closed almost all of their factories. “The reason for this shift is simple: building a superbrand is an extraordinarily costly project, needing constant managing, tending and replenishing.” By outsourcing their production, the companies are creating and controlling their demand by exhausting their energy on marketing strategies. The more money they can spend on advertising their brand, the more their product will be in demand by the public. Companies are also spending a lot of time establishing their brand as a lifestyle choice. For example, Nike and Adidas are not only a shoes and clothing companies, but they are considered the choice of athletes. They are promoting a type of lifestyle.

There is great disconnection between the product and its means of production. Since companies are outsourcing to third party contractors they are no longer concerned about the means of production or the working conditions in their factories. It almost becomes a human rights issue when dealing with working conditions overseas. However, the big North American companies naively defend their outsourcing decisions by saying that they do not employ people from places like Haiti…the contractors do. The companies are turning a blind eye to what is going on in their factories overseas so that they are not liable for anything that happens. Ken Green a Disney spokesperson asks, “With the newsprint you use, do you have any idea of the labour conditions involved to produce it?” The answer to that would probably be no. However at least with a newspaper the public is buying it for the material printed on it which is produced in the United States. So at least some of the labor conditions are overseen by U.S. companies. Although big corporations are outsourcing to contractors, they still have a way to keep in contact with the contractors and follow up on working conditions. Instead, they choose again to defend their decision with a comment about newsprint that doesn’t even equate to what they are doing.

Something that is very interesting from Klein’s article is that company logos are no longer displayed across their factories. The reason? Because there are none left in the United States! They especially don’t want their company logo plastered on a factory in China because they want to keep their means of production a secret. This may be because they are embarrassed of their outsourcing decisions, or they are too busy building such a strong reputation and brand name in the United States that they don’t want to taint their brand by admitting that Haitians and Chinese actually make their product. When was the last time you saw “MADE IN THE USA”?