THE POWER OF GLOCALIZATION

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THE POWER OF "GLOCALIZATION"
     We cannot help but agree with how the alternative concept of appropriation radically changes the mind set of a certain group by "GLOCALIZING"  a certain product, meaning, bringing in foreign items from West to East, and in the process, letting the people consume the product which leads to eventually changing their traditional mind set because of the idea of "GLOCALIZATION".
     Being in the eastern part of the globe, we frequently emulate what the people in the western side are doing and that is because they already positioned themselves as the experts, thus, we have left no choice but to adapt the foreign symbols they established.
     FHM magazine was cited as an example in the last lecture that we had in sir Beav's class. This particular brand is widely popular in the West as a sexy men's magazine, showing a lot of skin, narrating wild sexy stories and even soliciting wild sexy pictures from the readers.
     Back in the Philippines, we used to have a mind set where narration of sexy stories in print were actually forbidden and considered as "low class", where posing seductively wearing almost nothing and having it printed and circulated publicly discriminates us in a group and where we feel humiliated when we have our own real sexy stories publicized.
     But with the "GLOCALIZATION" of FHM magazine, there was a sudden change of mind set and notion that the publication of sexy stories and showing a lot of skin among women are not actually bad and considered as "low class" if these are all in the pages of FHM mag.
     In fact, most of the peple believe that you have already reach a certain standard if you happen to be at the pages of FHM Magazine.
     This is a real and perfect example where "GLOCALIZATION", as one of the alternative concepts in advertising, affects the traditional mind set of a society. 
  

COMMERCIALISM VERSUS CREATIVE JUICES…

COMMERCIALISM VERSUS CREATIVE JUICES…

   Let’s talk about hyper-commercialism as one of the changes in media landscape.

   As sir Beav pointed out in his last lecture, hyper-commercialism is the combination of the media content and advertising messages. It can also mean as an aggressive advertising or using every space available as a medium for advertisement.

    But in the local filmdom, there is also a kind of hyper-commercialism which is now the usual practice in mainstream movies and indie films which is, of course, being tolerated by the producers ( more product appearance means the continuous ringing of the producer’s cash machine), but most of the time, it is not in line with the creative juices of the director and the scriptwriter. 

    Most of the movie goers notice this kind of advertising scheme and this is the ultimate example of hyper-commercialism in the local film industry.

    Take this movie for example.

     In one of the scenes of a Kris Aquino movie, have you noticed the location held at Goldilocks resto while she’s pulling all the mamons and ensaymadas for pasalubong? And the height of this kind of hyper-commercialism is the “Goldilocks pasalubong” magic words which were relentlessly inserted in her dialogue, thus, ruining the supposed-to-be melodramatic, tear jerking scene.

     Remember, Krissy is an endorser of the said resto.

     How about a Sharon Cuneta film when she served a glass of Nido to her kid in one of the scenes while discussing the importance of drinking milk before going to sleep?

     Yap, what the Megastar was saying in her dialogue may be true but the movie is not about the importance of milk. Remember, moviegoers are watching movies primarily to be entertained and not to be informed.

     Now, do you really think that these kinds of scenes are part of the movie? Nope, they are not.

     I remember when I had the chance to interview the critically acclaimed director Joel Lamangan about this matter and he was indeed saddened by this particular kind of advertising.

    For one, it is very tough to argue with the producer against inserting this kind of advertisement even if it is not in the script because this is one way of getting back the financier’s investment while messing up the creativity of the director but usually, it is the producer who usually wins the argument against the creative side.

     According to Direk Joel, considering the continuous slump in the movie industry, they have no choice but to compromise with the producer and the advertiser even if it is against their will. Direk Joel reasoned out that they also need to understand the need of the producer to earn and the need to produce more films to bring back the glory days of the local cinema.

     Now the question is, until when are we going to tolerate hyper-commercialism in the movies at the expense of the ingenuity and the inventiveness of the production side?

  

    

POWER IN COMMUNICATION…AMAZING!

  

     I ran in a little bit late for Sir Beaver’s class last Tuesday and while I was catching my breath from taking three steps at a time in the stairway going to the third floor, I was struck and got immediately interested with the initial discussion.

     I knew  from the start that it was a jump-off from last week’s discussion regarding Thompson’s various type of power.

     Sir Beaver was already discussing the third and the fourth type of power but of course, I gathered my notes and browsed to catch up with the first and second type of power so I could follow.

      Being in the mainstream media from the start of my working profession, I have already realized how vast the power of communication is and it is very interesting to think that we really need to communicate in order for us to perpetuate the various type of power, as per Thompson.

     Focusing on the Coercive type of power, we cannot help but give US army as perfect example because we always have the instant notion that American forces are one of the bests if not the supreme all over the world.

    Now, here is the question that I want to raise. Why most of us perceive the belief that Western armed forces are formidable and unbeatable?

   This impression is the product of long term stratcom plan to perpetuate their coercive power in the international circle.

    Communication experts use worldwide television and print to drumbeat America’s latest and high tech military gadgets, thus, intimidating other aggressive nation. Also, we should take note that in increasing differences among nations, US military force will always be in the middle of the conflict but communicators always make it to a point that in giving out photo releases, we can see that they are well equipped and are always ready whenever they are needed.

     This image using communication and media definitely perpetuate coercive power that the US forces want to project.

      Remember how US forces shot and eventually killed the elusive Osama Bin Laden after years of running after him?

      Communication experts carefully gave out releases and statements from the US military officials capitalizing on how the special squad systematically planned the whole thing, thus, recognizing US military power as one of the best.