Essay #4 - Christina Kellmann - Localization or Americanization?

My research up until now has focused on the effects of Americanization on advertising in foreign countries. There is evidence to show that it does indeed have an impact on certain cultures, like Japan. But with the rise of localization and a changing sense of place, some nations are shifting away from globalization.

            Re-examining the definition of place is one way that we can show the relationship between globalization and localization. A place no longer has a single identity (Massey, 1993, p. 65). There can be an array of different cultures represented in one single area. ?If it is now recognized that people have multiple identities, then the same point can be made in relation to places? Along with this goes the notion that media corporations have overwhelmed nations to the point that they no longer have control over their own markets. This is true to an extent but it is not as extreme as it seems. Waisbord and Morris (2001) say, ?It would be unwarranted, however, to conclude that the state no longer matters? (p. ix) and then say, ?Also, there is insufficient evidence for asserting the death of the state, because the state remains under analyzed in the literature on media globalization? (p. ix). A place should include a ?consciousness of its links with the wider world, which integrates in a positive way the global and the local? (Massey, 1993, p. 66). So while globalization has some effect on the definition of place, a majority of the evidence shows that on a local level, the media have not completely taken over.

            What matters in terms of globalization and Americanization in foreign advertising is being sure that the target audience understands the message, and this helps lead to localization. The question is, ?How can we sell a standardized product to local and different consumers?? (Guidere, 2002, ¶ 2). One study in an Arabic-speaking country showed that advertisements had to not only be translated, but the sentence structure had to be changed into a way that was more commonly used in local advertisements to better get to the target audience (Shakir, 1995). Adapting to a local region?s ?place? is important because ?the relevance and the influence of the local culture are still very substantial in numerous countries around the globe? (Guidere, 2002, ¶ 9). Wiley (2006) found that ?the increasing enmeshment of Chile?s media system in global networks?did not obliterate either national media production or Chileans? preference for national programs? (p. 5). This actually strengthened the preference for national programming (Wiley, 2006). The research shows that there is a shift towards localization in many nations.

            The changing sense of place contributes to more nations becoming focused on localization, and in turn this makes media corporations have to adapt to their target audiences. This is not to say that globalization is not occurring, but it is occurring in a different way. Many cultures can still be represented in a certain place while maintaining a local structure.

Sources:

Guidere, M. (2002). The translation of advertisements: From adaptation to localization. Retrieved June 15, 2007 from http://www.translationdirectory.com/article60.htm.

Massey, D. (1993). ?Power-geometry and a Progressive Sense of Place.? Ch. 4. in Bird, John, et al. (editors), Mapping the Futures: Local Cultures, Global Change. London: Routledge. Pp.59-69.

Shakir, A. (1995). The translation of advertisements: Registeral and schematic constraints. Meta. Pp. 62-72. Online: http://www.erudit.org/revue/meta/1995/v40/n1/004123ar.pdf

Waisbord, Silvio, and Morris, Nancy (2001). Introduction: Rethinking media globalization and state power. In Silvio Waisbord and Nancy Morris (editors), Media and Globalization: Why the State Matters. Lanham, MD; Boulder, CO; New York, NY; and Oxford, UK: Rowman and Littlefield. Pp. vii-xvi.

Wiley, S. B. C. (in press). Transnation: Globalization and the reorganization of Chilean television in the early 1990s. Forthcoming in the Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media.

Posted at 09:28AM Jun 15, 2007 by KELLMANN, CHRISTINA in General  |  Comments[2]