I want to put before the topic that might seem so subtle to you that you may not have noticed it, but if you ever get to travel outside the country, I want you to be on the look-out for it.

When we think of imperialism, we usually think of more powerful countries taking over weaker countries and exploiting their resources.  It has been that way probably since even before Columbus, but they just called it feudalism back then.

The concept of cultural imperialism has been linked since the 1980s to globalization when Harvard business professor Theodore Levitt stated that “the world’s needs and desires have been irrevocably homogenized” 2.  In essence, because of the reach of some dominant American corporations, people from around the world were able to buy and want the same kinds of products and Coke, Pepsi, McDonald’s, Hollywood, Nike, and the Gap could cater to those needs.   And this was being realized back in the 1980s.

In 1999, in Seattle, the World Trade Organization held its annual conference there but was greeted with some of the most violent, chaotic street protests ever seen in the United States.  Many of the 50-100,000 protesters were protesting the inherent unfairness of free trade agreements between the U.S. and other countries and what those agreements would do to the indigenous workers.  Were these workers being subjected to slave labor conditions?  Were children under 10 working?

  

Pics of the WTO protests in Seattle, 1999.

 

 

 

 

 

In 2000, Naomi Klein published a book called No Logo that examined the pervasive marketing of brands and how companies like Nike, Starbucks and others were reinventing themselves as companies who didn’t make stuff anymore but marketing ideas.  Nike could outsource the making of its shoes and become “the idea of transcendence through sports” while Starbucks was the “idea of community” (Klein).  After listening to Howard Schulz’s biography Forward  on CD, (CEO of Starbucks), I can tell you that concept is EXACTLY what they’ve been trying to sell for the past decade.

Klein also discusses how stealth marketing has been done inside of schools (a cultural imperialism at home, if you will) with pop machines, computers, fast-food restaurants in school cafeterias, athletic gear on school sports uniforms, Gatorade all over the place, to getting kids and schools to promote a product like Coke in order to win $500 (Klein 87-95).  Why do schools allow this?  Because many schools are chronically underfunded and have to find money wherever they can.  Companies pay schools for the insertion of their logos all over school grounds.  Cell phone companies pay for the towers at Falcon Field.  And none of this counts any of the self-promotion that kids do on their own when they wear A&F or Aeropostale or even Old Navy clothing with the logos blazing right back at ya.  Kids are walking billboards, willing participants in promoting their favorite brands.  You would think that the companies might give you a discount when you buy the sweatshirts / t-shirts that have logos on them b/c you’re doing them a favor.

In 2004, a magazine called The Humanist sponsored an essay contest for high schoolers and a 17 year old named Julia Galeota won with her entry “Cultural Imperialism: An American Tradition” 2.  In it, she discussed how American corporations aren’t really tailoring their brands to fit other countries; what they are really doing is swapping out American faces for local actors – “insert indigenous celebrities or trends to present the facade of a customized advertisement” 2.  For instance, MTV has been located in 45 different countries.  A 1996 survey showed that 85% of middle class teens in those 45 countries indicated that they watched MTV every day, with “manufactured stars singing in English to appeal to American popular tastes” 2.

Galeota also discusses the pervasive use of satellite TV news.  When countries allow their citizens to import news like CNN (150 million households in 212 countries), they are importing American values, politics, and stories of “our economic and military superiority” 2.

Questions (do both): 

1. Can there be an up-side to cultural imperialism?  If so, what is it and why?  If not, why not?

2. How do you think other countries can preserve their own culture and identity without being overwhelmed by the American consumer tsunami (metaphor, work with me, o.k.?)?

Due Tuesday, February 7 by class time. 

300 words total when you are finished.  Minimum word count, of course.

 

 Sources:

1. https://wikis.nyu.edu/ek6/modernamerica/index.php/Imperialism/CulturalImperialism

2. http://www.thehumanist.org/humanist/articles/essay3mayjune04.pdf

3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_imperialism

4.Klein, Naomi. No Logo: No Space, No Choice, No Jobs. New York: Picador, 2010. Print.

5.http://www.utexas.edu/courses/kincaid/AI/readings/Cultural%20Imperialism.pdf