No Logo

In Chapter 16, Klein provides three examples of recent anticorporate initiatives that have been particularly effective at taming their targets. As the chapter title hints, these campaigns involve Nike, Royal Dutch/Shell, and McDonald’s. Moreover, each of these cases corresponds to one of the first three parts of the book.

The first case study, involving Nike, pertains to “No Jobs” (365-79). Klein focuses on the role of Nike as an outsourcer of cheap, sweatshop labor in the developing world. She cites a number of actions—from coordinated demonstrations on International Nike Day of Action to sponsorship refusals from concerned schools and communities—as examples of rising anti-Nike sentiment.

Klein’s primary focus in the case study is a campaign conducted by social worker Mike Gitelson of the Edenwald-Gun Hill Neighborhood Center in the Bronx, New York City. Noting the strong cache of Nike among young people in communities of color, Klein describes how Gitelson convinced kids to oppose Nike by explaining the stark difference between the cost of production for a typical sneaker and its retail price. The economics behind Nike led to a highly publicized demonstration outside its flagship store in Manhattan. “”One 13-year-old involved says, “Nike, we made you. We can break you” (374).