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.
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?
To answer your question, I say simply because I want to. Haha! Like you, I love going to the supermarket. Back when I was 'independently' living in Baguio as a student, doing the groceries was like a form of de-stressing whenever what we call hellweek arrives. Of course before I go, I had already prepared a list of the stuff that I need. But whenever I'm in the supermarket, I always find myself grabbing this and that stuff, too. It's more of satisfying my wants. I chose not to restrict myself with just what I need. And of course, it helped that I have extra money for those wants. I guess it'll be very difficult to control and not overspend if one has money to spend. I dunno. I'm a self-confessed overspender at times, I guess.
TumugonBurahin"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."
TumugonBurahinThis is an odd (probably even farfetched) example but I don't know if you remember the time when everyone was wearing bow headbands a la Blair Waldorf. It was around the time when Gossip Girl, the TV show, was becoming popular and I knew people who would hoard bow headbands in different colors. Personally, I hated the trend because I had been wearing these headbands before Gossip Girl and I couldn't wear them anymore because everyone else was wearing them. Haha!
Anyway, the point is: because of globalization, the trend was brought here, Filipino manufacturers were able to create cheap versions of the trend, and people wanted them - in different colors, sizes, and what have you. Because manufacturers were able to translate the trend into something Filipino consumers could afford, they were able to satisfy a want that started as something aspirational - that is, to be at par with a wealthy and fashionable character as Blair Waldorf. And I think that all of this is applicable with other fashion trends that arrive here in the Philippines as well. :)
I agree with Sheila that right now, it’s more of a matter of wanting something over needing something. It's a trait we can't just take away from people, and it's something we can just impose on them to stop doing.
TumugonBurahinI'd just like to quote this: "Globalization in a way, has created more wants, and thus it is turning the countries it has touched into consumerist nations." One more example I could give is the advent of piracy. Due to globalization, we get to be exposed to different forms of media all around the globe. And what if we want something and our local channels can't give it? Yay to torrent downloads/Quiapo. :)
Cool article btw, Sam! :)
"If people weren’t spending on products, then none of them would be made. Production is a cause of consumption and vice versa." I sometimes wonder which direction is more true in today's society -- is it that production leads to consumption or consumption leads to production. The obvious answer would be the latter, but a lot of companies operate on the principle of creating or bringing in a new product and then figuring out a way to package and present it to the consumers such that they would want it enough to spend on it. So it's like creating the illusion of need around a certain product - and of course there is a certain amount of strategic manipulation involved in this process. And I think that with globalization the scale of the marketplace has just increased tenfold and now with so many players, there is an even deeper urgency to differentiate your products and emphasize their relevance to the consumer. But I think it also comes full circle, because with this abundance of choices, the consumers tends to become tougher critics and the power also tends to shift in their favor, because it is their wants and needs that now dictate the trends in the market, and not the other way around anymore.
TumugonBurahinGlocalization occurs when localization and globalization collide. Despite the difference between the two, there were able to mesh together or a sense of locality is created top-down as Rebekah Richards (2010) puts it.
TumugonBurahinYou're right. Even we cannot separate ourselves for our culture, somehow the other nations are able to 'adapt to certain degree' their own products here through careful strategic planning and execution (the use of advertising or integrating products in a localized way).
Take for instance KFC. An American Brand glocalized to certain degree in order for us Filipinos to appreciate such product (i.e. the use of rice or Filipinos as managers for instance) making it one of the most iconic brands nowadays in the Philippines (Thanks to BTV's NBA, another glocalized TV station/ program, btw). To conclude the statement, glocalization helps consumers understand these product in a local sense.
-MJ Ramos
Fr. edward
TumugonBurahinI think, it is a good reflection question, as you said 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?
I still remember, when my sister went to the supermarket or mall, I knew that she would like to stay longer over there. When she got home, I know surely that her car filled with groceries. I always ask her, why do you like to shopping? She answered briefly, that is my hobby ...
But become a difficult for us, how can we divided between desire and need when we going to the supermarket or mall?
Good, practical reflection on the impact of globalization to consumerist lifestyles. It's fascinating to see how all these core issues come together in shaping the way humans think and interact.
TumugonBurahin