Media versus globalisation and localisation

Research on the influence of global media on the culture of several Asian countries (Hong Kong, Taiwan, The Philippines, India, Japan, China) in recent years has shown that domestic cultural products enjoy a competitive edge over imports (Ito, 1990; Leung and Chan, 1997; Hagiwara et al, 1999). The same is true for the Latin World (see Sinclair, 2000a+b). Local productions with their familiar language and cultural context have the advantage of cultural proximity (Straubhaar, 1991, 2000). Ratings have also shown that the majority of the top twenty television programmes in seven Asian countries were locally produced (Wang, 1993). It has been argued that the importance accorded to foreign media regarding their influence on local culture is overstated (Lee, 2000) and that protectionist measures are no longer relevant in the present global marketplace.

Another study on Taiwan’s youth television viewing behaviour has shown that whether an increase in foreign programmes results in increased viewing depends on program genre and content proximity, including cultural proximity (Su and Chen, 2000). But reality bites. Media protection remains an enduring subject in policy discourse, especially in countries that are experiencing what is to them asymmetrical cultural flow (Grainger, 1998). Cultural products are value-laden and ideological and governments are not without their rights in adopting suitable communication policies. The local media industry is hampered by a lack of capital, talent and up-to-date facilities (Wang, Ku and Liu, 2000).

Supportive protectionism, in particular, aims to promote a national cultural industry through government sponsorship and subsidies. It frees the domestic industry from market dictates and enables the domestic cultural industry to survive foreign competition (Chan, 2000). A vote for supportive protectionism, according to Chan, presupposes that the mass do not have a good sense of cultural judgement, seeks to protect home media industries, protect cultural integrity and established interests, and maintain social harmony and stability. Protectionism may be a tool employed by ruling elites who feel that Western culture is often instrumental in giving rise to social fragmentation and individualism in society. In this age of modern communication technology and interdependency, a protectionist however requires much subtlety. It is no longer possible to be heavy handed and seek to entirely alienate foreign cultural products.

A small nation without a strong media industry is the most vulnerable due to the lack of economies of scale and technological resources. A competitive national environment is crucial for the international competitive success (Porter, 1990). A phased approach to opening markets is the preferred option, thus allowing local players to grow and develop the power to face up to foreign competition. Protectionism however must be ‘limited in duration’ and supported by all required resources and production factors.

Globalisation, localisation or something else?

While the meaning of globalisation remains ambiguous, ‘media globalisation’ or ‘global media’ have quickly become clichés in communications studies. Two questions can be raised about the use of such terms, however. First, what is meant by a globalise communications industry, and secondly, can we assume that a genuine globalisation of the industry has already taken place? More precisely, what is the direction of changes that we can observe now-globalisation, localisation, or something else? All too frequently when the term ‘global’ is used in conjunction with the communications media or industry, it refers primarily to the extent of coverage, with the popularity of satellite television and computer networks serving as evidence of the globalisation of communications.

Indeed never before in human history has a single television channel been available in over 150 nations, nor has there been any communications medium which managed to attract hundreds of million of users. However, as Ferguson has pointed out, the linkages brought about by the so-called globalisation process are largely confined to OECD and G7 member countries, which constitute one-third of the world population. And even when a medium, e.g., CNN, can be seen in 150 countries, the rate of penetration and actual consumption can present rather a different picture. As Street (1997: 77) has said, the fact that a product is available everywhere is no guarantee that it achieves the same level of popularity, let alone acquires the same significance, meaning or response. It is no secret that CNN’s audiences normally account for only a small fragment of a nation’s population.

However, the meaning of a globalised industry would be seriously distorted if other dimensions were left out of the discussion. These dimensions, including the dynamics of the market, modes of production, the contents and messages transmitted, that are closely related to the perception of the role and function of communications in the globalisation process, the direction of change in the industry, and ultimately, the cultural images presented by the theories of globalisation.

There is no denying that competitive pricing is a major reason for the availability of American and Japanese programs in most parts of the world. However if prices were the single most important factor at work, those companies that produce the cheapest and most attractive products, with the most extensive global distribution networks and best promotional skills would have become the sole suppliers for the global market, leaving very little to the smaller, less competitive national and local players.

To critical theorists, communications media can be viewed as industries which commercialise and standardise the production of culture (Kellner, 1989). This definition highlights an important property of the media: a business that produces, distributes and sells marketable products. But the recognition of this property is not to overlook the media’s other equally important characteristic: its being cultural. Cultural products, more than any others, reflect the cultural values of their producers and the social reality in which they are produced. Viewing a television program or listening to the radio, therefore, cannot be seen as a simple act of consumption; these acts involve a rather complex process of decoding cultural meanings. Although competing prices may contribute to the wide availability of certain cultural products, the purchase of cultural products differs from the purchase of typical consumer goods in that considerations such as product quality may bear little significance in the decision to watch, or not to watch, a television program.

The cultural products market, therefore, does not operate on economic forces alone. Following a similar logic, communications technologies, the other purported major force for globalisation, also have their blind spots in explaining all changes-a conclusion which we can derive, without too much difficulty, from the discussion of the significance of ‘place’ and ‘local cultures’ in the literature on globalisation.

Some neo-Marxists view globalisation as a process where the feeling of belonging is no longer connected to different places; they argue that under globalisation people’s sense of belonging is to one single global society. Therefore it is fair to say that the local culture and the local ‘place’ is still more important to most people than the global. Therefore, many scholars today see globalisation as interlinked with localisation But although scholars agree that globalisation and localisation are linked, sometimes referred to as glocalization, there still remains a lot of uncertainty and discussion around the question on how these two concepts are linked.

Viundal (2000: 6) describes this linkage by using the analogy of a tree: ‘As the tree grows stretches out and widens its horizon, its roots at the other end also need to grow stronger. In my case, going to Australia, stretching out my branches, as a way of globalising, my awareness of my cultural background and roots as a Norwegian have at the same time grown stronger, as a sign of localising. Consciously or unconsciously my culture might have been challenged or changed due to my exposure to other cultures, but in this process my Norwegianness also tends to be confirmed’.

Cultural identity

Various cultures manifest different and fragmented identities. There are at least two possible ways of conceiving cultural identity: one essentialist, narrow and closed, the other historical, encompassing and open. The former thinks of cultural identity as an already accomplished fact, as a ‘product’. The latter conceives cultural identity as something which is being produced, always in ‘process’. Furthermore, the term cultural identity refers to two complementary phenomena: on the one hand, an inward sense of association or identification with a specific culture or subculture; on the other hand, an outward tendency within a specific culture to share a sense of what it has in common with other cultures and of what distinguishes it from other cultures (for an elaboration, see Servaes & Lie, 1997; Servaes, 1999).

Cultures seem no longer to be geographically fixed. At least this is what many global/local scholars want us to believe. But at the same time, some of these global/local scholars recognise that all interpretations are still locally constructed. That knowledge is always local. This again, is a paradox. Culture travels; vertical, through all kinds of flows, but also horizontal, through all other kinds of other communications. It has been argued that these communications of cultures are best analysed in spaces where several cultures meet. It is in these communications that cultures surface and identities are build. These so-called ‘intercultural communication spaces’ can be discourses, (public) spheres, civil societies, countries, debates, supermarkets, (virtual) communities, folk societies, trains, airports, squares, classrooms, organisations, universities, living rooms, global cities... It is in these kinds of spaces that culture travels. In studying these intercultural communication spaces through a culturalistic, interpretative and people-centred approach, we can distinguish between an individual approach that emphasises being in such spaces, and a complete approach that emphasises the spatial formations of these themselves.

In the latter approach, people in these spaces are one of the elements that give meaning to these spaces. In the first approach, people live the spaces. By these approaches, all kinds of cultural transforming processes can be studied in these intercultural communication spaces, but you can also study the space itself as a transforming process.

All intercultural communication spaces have identities, and these identities are of course made by people. All identities are therefore global as well as local, and this in-between status is not static at all. It is mobile, constantly in flux and continuously reformulated and reconstructed towards a new balance. To unravel the building of such a balance, we could follow the following steps:

(1) establish a willingness to study a globalising/localising identity as a complex whole, as a human socio-cultural process;

(2) select an appropriate ‘intercultural communication space’ where to study such a globalising/localising identity, and

(3) study the globalising/localising identity in or of the specific intercultural communication space.

Three examples: Pokemon

In the case of Pokemon, aspects of Japanese culture have been transmitted to other countries where the game has been introduced. However, cultural transmission is seldom prominent in such exchanges. Pokemon has undergone a cleansing of its cultural aspects to make the game more appealing (marketable) to its overseas recipients, an attempt to hide its ‘Japan-ness’. ‘We tried not to have violence or sexual discrimination or religious scenes in the U.S.,’ says Kubo of Kubo Publishing (on the Pokemon website). ‘Some graphic sequences involving punching were taken out. The names of the characters and monsters were westernised.’ The production of popular culture and cultural mixing makes the original source of consumer goods irrelevant (Iwabuchi, 2000). According to Iwabuchi, Japanese corporations, one of the major exporters in the international market, found success in globalising, or more precisely, ‘de-Japanising’ their game and cartoon programs for traces of Japanese culture may trigger unpleasant memories of the Second World War, especially in Asian nations. Another strategy that proved to have worked with Japanese corporations was localisation in the form of hybridisation and creolisation, a strategy which heavily involved local producers. A combination of globalisation and localisation, therefore, proved to be the best strategy for Japanese transnationals.

This demonstrates the trend of globalisation through localisation. The global market is an aggregation of local markets and maximisation of market share is obtained by penetrating as many local markets as possible. This is done by the merger of, or co-operation among, transnational corporations of different countries of origin (Iwabuchi, 2000). Local subsidiaries often specialise in giving transnational products a ‘local’ feel.

But however successful Japanese corporations may be, in order to expand market, they often relied on transnationals from other countries-American or Australian-for distribution, or even production. The rise of non-Western transnational media corporations, therefore, has not so much countered West-centric power relations as co-solidified it by co-opting it to join the alliance, according to Iwabuchi.

Thus, though the potential for cultural enrichment through globalisation is great, in reality most products are stripped of their cultural values in order to make the product more marketable. This ‘cultural striptease’ makes products in potential more appealing to more cultures. But, this does not necessarily mean that the product is simplified. The product is differently encoded by the producer (or better sub-producer) and is encoded in such a way that it becomes more multi-cultural interpretable. It offers the possibility for multi-cultural interpretations. Such a process leads of course to the loss of national or cultural identity of the original product, and in this way simplifies processes of intercultural communication. But, taking the other end of the communication process into consideration, it does not mean that the phenomena is part of a homogenous world wide pop culture. The active process of cultural localisation includes a process of interpretation that accounts for local cultural embedding of multi-cultural products.

Advertising is everywhere, cultivating particular attitudes to problems or creating problems where none existed previously (Young, 1990: 2). When advertising is aimed at children, the emotional and irrational drives of young children can be exploited. Minors are not capable of defending themselves against such an ‘influence’. In this case, the advertiser is seen as the seducer and the child is cast in the role of the innocent (ibid: 18). In the case of Pokemon advertising, transnational communication could be considered exploitative. Pokemon has steadily maintained its popularity through its television series and movies. This is especially true of the after-show section of its TV series called ‘Who’s that Pokemon?’ which is used to advertise new monsters for children to add in their collection. Even in the case of the official Pokemon web site, it is used to advertise new products and as a place for children to purchase or auction Pokemon products.

Pokemon is the latest in a series of fad toy preferences for children. These fads are the result of transnational communication through advertising, the linking of cultures through globalisation, the penetration of local markets through localisation, and the targeting of children by advertising. These fad toy preferences probably have little long-term effects on culture or society. Though many problems have arisen around the Pokemon craze, these are generally viewed as symptoms of general cultural troubles, not the cause.

Coca-Cola

Why is Coca-Cola a global product? The production of Coca-Cola can be located at the global level. The product is globally distributed and known in almost all countries in the world. Furthermore, the product/company uses a global strategy in the communication flow. Coca-Cola is not specifically or only aiming at national or local entities. It is global in its outlook and approach. A global strategy can however insist on approaching nations and localities in its own terms. For instance, the low-calorie sugar-free Coke is in some countries called Diet Coke (as for instance in the United States) and in other countries, it is called Coca Light or Cola Light. The word Light is used instead of Diet, because in some cultures, ‘diet’ conjures up the image of a strict diet of bread and water. However, these kinds of local adjustments in the advertising strategies do not make the product less global. Coca-Cola’s strategy is sometimes referred to as a ‘multi-local’ global marketing strategy. Moreover, consumers in their outlook towards the product (the cultural interpretation of the product) can reach all the way up to the global level. People in local settings can see a product as being a global product. This is certainly true for Coca-Cola.

This example is of course not limited to Coca-Cola, but applies to other brands and TNCs. Many so-called ‘global companies’ now recognise the importance of being seen as a local/national company/product and support a ‘multi-localised’ approach. But this is not uni-directional. Seattle-based Boeing for instance, aims at the year 2017 in which people should have forgotten that Boeing is an American company. Wherever people live in the world, the aim is that people should be seeing Boeing as part of their own culture. But, for other companies like Sony (the inventor of the classic slogan ‘Think global, act local.’) and Toyota, there is no doubt that they will be associated with Japan. They have written ‘Made in Japan’ all over their products. Though, the name Toyota itself was chosen at the beginning of the sixties by the car manufacturer because of its suitability for the international market. Previously, Toyota had a completely different and more local name. Toyota on the other hand can be pronounced in any language (Usunier, 1996:293).

But also the media themselves, such as CNN and MTV now have regional variations like those in Europe and Asia. In several disciplines, inside, as well as outside the academics, this global-local complexity is recognised as a fundamental cultural issue. In advertising studies for instance, it is common to distinguish between three approaches in such a global-local context: 1. the standardised approach, 2. the localised approach, and, 3. ‘the middle of the road’ approach (see for instance Dibb, Simkin & Yuen, 1994 and Tai, 1997). The first approach is related to cultural globalisation, the second to cultural localisation and the third, to what some have termed, glocalisation. All three approaches can be found in different corners of the world, but one trend that can be identified is the growing importance of the local in relation to the global.

By way of conclusion

The theories of globalisation have been challenged, criticised and modified, but few would deny that they do offer a fertile ground for research. Elsewhere, we (see Lie and Servaes, 2000) adopted a convergent and integrated approach in studying the complex and intricate relations between globalisation, consumption and identity. Such an approach would allow problems to converge at key crossings or nodal points. Researchers then are rid of the burden of studying linear processes in totality, e.g., production and consumption of global products, and instead are allowed to focus on the nodal points where processes intersect.

Several such nodal points were identified, including production, regulation, representation, consumption, action and local points of entry into the communications flow. The nodal points approach highlights the richness of globalisation as an area of research, however it is also important to note that all these dimensions do rest on certain axial principles. They do point out important features of the world cultural industries and converge on several points.

In this purported era of global communications, culture remains an important factor, either facilitating the transnationalisation of national or local cultural industries, or impeding further growth of global media. Global media may be largest in terms of coverage, however their size shrinks significantly if measured in terms of viewing rate. In many regions of the world the most important development in the communications industry has not been the further dominance of global media, but the emerging of cultural-linguistic media (mainly television) markets. As the influence of transnational television tends to rest on a quite superficial level of cultures; no global culture or global identity - not in the fullest sense of the words - has been fostered.

The danger is treating culture and language as another set of powerful, determining factors in communications studies, thus undermining the importance of others. In fact, no single factor, nor a group of factors, can fully explain what has, is, or will, take place. Globalisation may be inadequate to describe the current process of change, but neither would localisation nor regionalisation. As co-production further blurs distinctions between the global and the local, it is important to note that the two are dialectically opposed conceptually, but not necessarily in reality.

In a dynamic process of change, it is the interaction of factors that brings about endless possibilities.

A more extensive version of this article was presented at the International Communication Conference ‘Shapes of the Future: Global Communication in the 21st Century’, Taipei, Taiwan, 17-19 November 2000.

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