– Melissa Aronczyk, Sarah Banet-Weiser, John Corner, Gabriele Cosentino, Arlene Davila, Waddick Doyle, Mary Ebeling, Jonathan Gray, Miriam Greenberg, Alison Hearn, Graham Knight, Hongmei Li, Celia Lury, Liz Moor, Jefferson Pooley, Devon Powers, Marita Sturken
An academic cultural studies anthology on branding and its miscreants. I first sought out this book seeking other recourse from Naomi Klein's No Logo, hoping for a more grounded basis for the study and criticism of branding. Sadly, however interesting it was, I ended up leaving with more questions than answers.
Given the wide berth that corporate branding now covers, it's too hard to tell exactly where it is effects can be seen. This anthology covers a lot of ground, and despite its highly critical lens, it is difficult to say what this terse volume wishes to talk about exactly. Is it corporate power? Is it consumerist socialization? Is it the reach of the public relations industry? It is difficult to know exactly what and where the crux of the matter lies, and this very terse and didactic volume doesn't pinpoint anything specifically.
