The Fast Lane

Call it what you may, but ever since I was a child I’ve always loved going to the super market with my mom. There was something about going thru lanes filled with stacks of differently wrapped products which I had to choose from that I just seemed to blissfully enjoy. Shopping at the grocery has become more interesting and varied in the past decade because of the growing competition happening between merchandisers, producers, and importers. If before there only use to be three brands of canned sardines, now there are several. The growing number of choices being offered in the retail sector is brought about by the ever so changing needs and wants of consumers. As consumers are exposed to different things around the world because of globalization, they begin to alter their demands.

As like what was discussed previously in class, I believe that industries and consumers can react to globalization in one of two ways - they can either respond thru appropriation or symbolic distancing. In appropriation, industries “glocalize” products; they mix a global product with the local flavour (e.g. McDonalds). With symbolic distancing, individuals can distinguish what is purely local from what is foreign influenced (e.g. Mang Inasal).

Asides from foreign and local food chains as a good example, I believe that the alternative concepts of appropriation and symbolic distancing are very prevalent when you walk along the lanes of a supermarket. Below are a few pictures of products that can be seen in the groceries which are both local and glocal.

Local Products:

Glocal Products:

Although there is still a large portion of consumers that prefer local products, over glocalized ones , the numbers aren’t far off. Due to globalization, heavy advertising, and the media, glocalized products are slowly winning the hearts of consumers. Product exposure to the rest of the world via various forms of media mediums has greatly affected the needs and wants of consumers. People have broadened their line of site and have come to shape their wants to become more specific throughout time.  Globalization in a way, has created more wants, and thus it is turning the countries it has touched into consumerist nations. We all know what wanting too much means, it can result to over spending and over spending can lead to bankruptcy.

I can keep going on and on trying to explain what over spending can lead to and what comes after that, but I feel like I’d already be blabbing. To cut the long story short, products are only created out of need. At the end of the day I believe that it is up to every individual to decide whether they want to fulfill their wants or ignore them. If people weren’t spending on products, then none of them would be made. Production is a cause of consumption and vice versa. It’s a never ending cycle of supply and demand.

I suggest that before you take an item out of the rack while you go thru the lanes of a supermarket, you must always ask yourself one thing, “Do I need this?”, if not, then why get it?

The Force

If you’ve ever seen a Star Wars movie, you’re sure likely to know what The Force is. I’m not surprised that there is a long description posted on Wikipedia about George Lucas’ the Force. According to Wikipedia the Force is “is a binding, metaphysical and ubiquitous power in the fictional universe of the Star Wars galaxy”. It is this invisible and intangible force that gives power to famous jedi’s such as Yoda, Obi Wan, and Luke Skywalker. It’s enables them to move objects without actually touching them, it makes them do bad ass stunts that not even gymnasts can do, it’s what allows them to influence the thoughts of people, etc.

Although the Force is a fictitious power that was created within the mind of George Lucas, I’d like to think –no matter how funny or weird it may sound- that the media possess the power of the Force. The media, especially advertisers in particular, have a way of getting under the skin of people. So many receivers of media do not realize it, but most of what they do and what they want are driven and created by what media presents to them. One good example to prove that the media does posses the power of the Force is the change in media landscape that Baran mentions – hyper commercialism.

According to Baran, hyper commercialism is “combining media content (e.g. TV shows) and advertising content (e.g. Coca Cola Products)”. One very popular form of hyper commercialism is product placement. More often than not, we always see branded products on our favorite TV shows, movies, and sports teams. American Idol has AT&T and Coca Cola; Gossip Girl has Channel, Harry Winston, and Louboutins; The Office has HP; James Bond has Aston Martin and Omega; Breakfast at Tiffany’s has...  Well... Tiffany’s; the Chelsea Football team has Samsung; local basketball teams are named after companies. I can go on and on but I think you’ve already got the point that product placement is very evident in all types of media both locally and globally (print, radio, TV, film, and new media).

Is the presence of these products in media a coincidence? Or are they really there to influence and induce receivers to purchase and consume? This indirect way of advertising has definitely affected society so much. The media and advertisers jedi mind tricks enable consumers to spend on their products and stay loyal to their brands. The force within media is definitely very strong. And even if we forgo the advertising aspect of media, it is still a very powerful entity because it can affect and shape the way people think by the information it feeds them. One good example would be the Philippine bishops and their SUV’s. Is this glamorized news? Is this really the MOST important issue of the day? Or is it something media just wants us to pay particular attention to? Again, the force of media is at work.

I’d like to share a vehicle TV commercial with you. Asides from it being kinda cute, I thought it combined the discussions regarding Baran’s changes in media landscape with my blog entry and the documentary “Consuming Kids”. For me, the commercial highlights three of the landscapes Baran mentios: rapid globalization, increased audience fragmentation, and hyper commercialism. I say that all three of these are present in the commercial becauseit is an international brand that is not only marketing itself to adults but also to children.

Information is becoming much easier to spread and gain. As a result of having a well informed audience, the market becomes more segmented because people are able to better indentify their wants and needs. But even though consumers may already know what they want, there is still a variety of brands to choose from. Because of this, hyper commercialism comes into play.

The Force within media is becoming stronger and stronger every day. Recievers of information must be cautious of the mind tricks that the media can play on them.

Pursuing Happiness

We touched on the subject of power during our previous week in class. It was then further explained this week and I think it’s something I would like to write about in this blog entry.

Power according to Thompson is the “ability to act in pursuit of one’s aims and interests”. According to Thompson there are four kinds of power: Economic, Political, Coercive, and Symbolic. In order for people to possess any one of these powers, he/she must have the ample amount of resources to produce the outcome which they want. To gain economic power one must have money, to gain political power one must have a community to regulate, to gain coercive power one must have the objects used to inflict force, and to gain symbolic power one must have access to the right information. Once a person has gained any of these powers, he/she can use them to attain the end which he/she desires. But just like sir Beaver pointed out, if one side has power it is only evident that the opposite side will have none. His point is completely true and for some odd reason it reminded me of the movie “Pursuit of Happyness” starring Will Smith.

Basically, the movie is about Will Smith and his struggle to make it big in the financial world. He plays a poor yet smart and hardworking individual who does his best to support his only child. The struggles and scenarios that Will Smith goes thru during the movie somehow manifests the types of power Thompson described in his book. In the movie, Thompson’s teachings are highlighted by the lack of power that the main character has. In the movie, the main character was broke, therefore giving him no economic power to purchase. He was also left by his wife, which also shows the lack of political power he possessed to hold his family together. He was kicked out of his apartment and had his car towed; which showed how he lacked coercive power and how such powers were used against him.

Despite the lack of economic, political, and coercive power, the character of Will Smith was able to make up for all of this by possessing symbolic power thru his knowledge. Because Will Smith’s character was smart, talented, and hard working he was chosen to work in the brokerage firm that he interned for. The knowledge (his resource) which he acquired throughout his internship gave him the symbolic power that allowed him to achieve his goal of being accepted into the firm.

I’m not completely sure if my comparison of the movie Pursuit of Happyness would hit smack on with Thompson’s theories. Compared to the examples and scenarios given on his book, I’d like to look at mine as perhaps a small scale version of it.

To cut straight to the point, these powers that Thompson presents to us are prevalent in society today. Some people are blessed with it while others are not. In fact, in present day Philippines, the distribution of power has already turned out to be lopped sided. There are a certain number of firms or people that hold too much power that they abuse the privilege of having it. A good example of this could actually be the media conglomerations. If news is delivered by a monopolized industry, one cannot be sure if the information being reported is biased or the most relevant topic of the day. Therefore, in both the media world and the real world I think it is important to find a balance of power. As Utopian as this may sound - I think that if power was equally distributed between all people and all industries, society would flourish and progress. Everyone would have an equal chance at pursuing their goals and achieving their dreams.

Sharing is Caring

Communication. It’s one word, but it holds numerous meanings. One of the definitions of communication which struck me the most in class was “communication is not just transferring, it is sharing.” Despite all the typologies and academic disciplines of communication that were presented in class, it was this simple yet striking phrase that caught my attention and left an imprint on me. I suppose it was the word “sharing” that pulled me in. Much like the word “communication”, the word “sharing” is a deep well filled with many definitions and meanings. It also got me thinking that the actions that these two words pertain to are very much interdependent to one another. A person cannot share without communicating in as much as a person cannot communicate without sharing. I believe one action comes with the other whether we may realize it or not.

I also found the “sharing” definition of communication the most interesting one because it also made me realize just how important the act of communicating really is. Just like one of my classmates said, “It’s (communicating) something we do so often and yet we take it for granted because it has always been there” We do not realize it, but communication plays such a major role in everyone’s life. It forms the base of our relationships with others, its helps us find ourselves, it enables commerce and trade to take place, it aids in governing the state, etc.

I cannot even begin to imagine a world without any form of communication (group, interpersonal, or even intrapersonal). Eliminating this could not only be the downfall of society but it could also be the ruin of the entire world. Man is a social being, and as a result of this he needs others to survive. I believe that communication is a tool that aids in helping man survive the test of time. It is thru communicating and sharing that man is able to pass down, develop, and impart in others the knowledge which he himself possess and has acquired from his ancestors. It’s true that communication is not merely transferring information from one person to another; because the essence of transferring is that the information leaves the recipient and is given to the receiver. Communication is sharing because the recipient imparts in another the knowledge or information which he has without actually “transferring” it. When I talk to a friend regarding particular memories I’ve had, I do not just transfer the memory to my friend and forget about it afterwards. The memory which I only once knew about becomes a memory which me and my friend now “share”.

I guess both in the real world and in the world of communication, sharing is caring if the object and information that is being shared is done out of good moral value.