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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.
Your discussion of glocalization and appropriation reminded me of the "Got Milk?" slogan with the infamous milk mustache. Alaska Milk had an advertisement with Sharon Cuneta as the endorser. The ad imitated the famous “Got Milk?” campaign from America, but it did not make use of the tagline. Instead, it featured a picture of her sporting a milk mustache, and had the words: “Sharon Cuneta Megastar” written on the upper left hand corner. It showed her smiling with a breakfast of bagels, butter, and of course milk against a haze of blue in the background. This was quite a while back, but it's another example of how foreign ideas and imagery are sometimes incorporated in a local setting.
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ReplyDeleteThis isn't really related to the lecture, but I was struck by your point regarding FHM as something that can elevate the act of 'sexy posing' to a more sophisticated, even 'upper class', level. It's interesting to see how Western models of media seem to make something that used to be crass and 'low-class' more socially acceptable and legitimate. Compare, for instance, the models in FHM, with those who appear in 'smut' magazines being sold in bus stations and jeepney terminals (do we still have those around?). Both feature half-nude models scantily clad in lingerie, but in entirely different contexts.
ReplyDeleteEvidence of cultural imperialism, perhaps? (or, in more accessible terms, the so-called 'colonial mentality')