week 12 naomi klein, no logo

G205 Week 12 - The Corporation and Capitalism

Naomi Klein, No Logo

Bose and Lyons, Klein, and The Corporation discussion continued What role do corporations play in your life? What kind of person is the corporation, according to the filmmakers and writers? Do you agree/disagree?

ReviewWrite down your name on a piece of paper that you will turn in. What are the privileges of corporate personhood (there are four)?

Review, Privileges of Corporate Personhood Corporations are distinct legal entities, which exist separate from shareholders as shareholders have limited liability. Corporations can engage in civil litigation. Corporations can own property (called islanding in transnational real estate interactions, Bose and Lyons). Corporations are immortal. The corporation is a natural person, but not an embodied person.

Chapter 16

NAOMI KLEIN, NO LOGO: NO SPACE, NO CHOICE, NO JOBS

Review of de Certeau (Klein, 1st page)Strategies of Producers Dominant Class or Elite(1) (2) The "proper" is a triumph of place over time. It is also a mastery of places through sight. The division of space makes possible a panoptic practice proceeding from a place whence the eye can transform foreign forces into objects that can be observed and measured, and thus control and "include" them within its scope of vision. To be able to see (far into the distance) is also to be able to predict, to run ahead of time by reading a space. The power of knowledge is the ability to transform the uncertainties of history into readable spaces.

(3)

Tactics of Users of Products Minoritized position, but the majority of people procedures that gain validity in relation to the pertinence they lend to time--to the circumstances which the precise instant of an intervention transforms into a favorable situation, to the rapidity of the movements that change the organization of a space, to the relations among successive moments in an action, to the possible intersections of durations and heterogeneous rhythms, etc.(38)

No Logo, Discussion Questions How is the McDonald s case study differ from the Nike and Shell cases? What is it about the contemporary marketing logic of the big brands that eliminates consumer choice? What other kinds of choice does the enactment of this logic eliminate? How do identity, ideas, ideals, and lifestyle play into today s corporate marketing strategies? And how does this represent a shift from the past? What is a brand? Is there a difference between logos and brands? Why do you feel some people like to buy brand-name rather than generic products? Do you ever buy products based on their brand? Why? Do you ever choose not to buy a product because of its brand name? Why?

No Logo, Discussion Questions Klein talks about how the traditional relationship between products and brands has been turned upside down. She says there has been a shift from companies seeing their primary role as producing products and branding them with a corporate identity, to producing brands first. What does she mean by this? What examples does she use? Can you think of examples of your own behavior? How has the Internet benefitted activists? How has the Internet changed Corporate behavior?

Nike Ad Nike vice president Charles Denson denied the ad could be construed as advocating violence towards women . . . "We have a history of making controversial ads, and we certainly have succeeded in that," he said, adding that Ms Hamilton had enjoyed filming the commercial. -BBC News

McDonald s Leaflet in the Libel Case http://www.mcspotlight.org/campaigns/translations/trans_uk .html

More examples of the privileges of Corporate Personhood In 2008 South Korea, via Daewoo Logistics, bought up half the arable land of Madagascar, or 1.3 million hectares, thereby outsourcing a Korean geography too cramped to feed its native population. It did so to the great displeasure of Madagascans, 70 percent of whom live below the poverty line. With $50 billion, you could buy the Amazon, declared Swedishborn billionaire Johan Eliasch, at that time environmental consultant to UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown . . . Similarly, on northern Argentina this time: A hectare of land is worth barely more than a hamburger! (Madonna was last week s example.)

What kind of citizens are corporations? Has the past two weeks of reading modified how you think about citizenship? Why or Why not? Rethinking Peiss .Consumer citizenship ???? Returning to a previous question about Subjectivity or Selfhood/Citizenship How are subjectivity and citizenship intrinsic to each other (not separable)? How do we understand economics as a gendering or gendered process? Are corporate bodies gendered?

Rethinking Consumer CitizenshipConsumerWhat is a consumer? noun 1. a person or thing that consumes. 2. Economics . a person or organization that uses a commodity or service. 3. Ecology . an organism, usually an animal, that feeds on plants or other animals. To consume: verb (used with object) 1. to destroy or expend by use; use up. 2. to eat or drink up; devour. 3. to destroy, as by decomposition or burning: Fire consumed the forest. 4. to spend (money, time, etc.) wastefully. 5. to absorb; engross: consumed with curiosity. verb (used without object) 6. to undergo destruction; waste away. 7. to use or use up consumer goods.

Citizenship/CitizenCitizenship a native or naturalized member of a state or other political community the status of a citizen with rights and duties conduct as a citizen; "award for good citizenship" Citizen A person that is a legally recognized as a member of a state, with associated rights and obligations;

A member of a state that is not a monarchy; used as antonym to subject; A person that is a legally recognized resident of a city or town; A resident of any particular place to which the subject; a native or naturalized member of a state or other political community

Adbusters and CultureJamming What does it say about democracy and the political power of the people if corporations have such immense power to transform even the most threatening challenges to their supremacy into a marketing pitch for their brand? http://www.adbusters.org/spoofadsMarathon Gas Station, corner of Country Club and S. Walnut, April 2, 2011, photo by COTW http://www.marathon.com/ How is Marathon branding their corporation as globally conscious global oil corporation?