Globalization and Glocalization in Media

The globalization of media consumption and the need for glocalization reflects the cultural similarities and differences people across the world share.

Global media is often portrayed in a local context – glocalization – which gives people a better sense of identity as well as a familiar lens through which to view a global media.

Glocalization suggests that people need a local context to understand or appreciate global media, indicating that people are in actuality quite different from each other.

The Importance of Culture in Globalization and Glocalization

Culture – perpetuated and transmitted in many ways by media – defines almost every aspect of who we are. As anthropologist Clifford Geertz writes, “Man is, in physical terms, an incomplete, unfinished animal” (Geertz 46).
People cannot exist without culture: “Men unmodified by the customs of particular places do not in fact exist, have never existed, and most important, could not in the very nature of the case exist” (Geertz 35). It is our cultures, then, not we, who are so different from each other.

It is these cultural barriers that separate us; culture, though, is not something that can be separated from “us”. It is a part of us; it defines us; ultimately, it finishes us: “Culture, rather than being added on, so to speak, to a finished or virtually finished animal, was ingredient, and centrally ingredient, in the production of that animal itself”.

The globalization of media consumption and the need for glocalization reflects the cultural similarities and differences people across the world share.

Glocalization as Creating Locality

“Glocalization” occurs when globalization and localization collide. Despite global trends towards homogenization, difference and/or the desire for difference remains very strong among local cultures.
Glocalization also helps consumers understand a product or media in a local sense, while a global product or media may seem irrelevant to them. In glocalization, a sense of locality is created top-down.

Harlequin Novels: An Example of Glocalization

Harlequin novels provide an example of glocalization. Harlequin, developed as a paperback novel company, reached broad popularity in the 1950s. By 1992, Harlequin novels were being published in 24 languages in 100 countries, a clear example of the reach of globalization.

These novels, though, were often adjusted in ways to adapt to their local audiences. Though about half of these novels were published outside of North America, most Harlequin writers were from English-speaking countries. Foreign offices decided which books to translate and publish; they then did their own translating and editing.

Translators strove to avoid books that seemed “too American”, and were less concerned with creating a faithful translation and more interested in whether the new text came across as reflecting the locality for which they were translating.

To achieve that, they made deliberate changes to the meanings of the books to reflect the cultural beliefs of their area. This, then, is glocalization; a globalized product (the Harlequin novels) is adjusted to fit with local culture.

Coca-Cola’s “Pearl of the Orient” Commercial

Coca-Cola’s 1955 advertisement “Pearl of the Orient” gives another example of glocalization. The 21-minute film portrays Coke as a Filipino product; it shows Coke to fit in with the traditions, habits, and culture of the Philippines, such as community events like festivals and dances.

Coke, according to the advertisement, is “wholesome”, “pure”, “your friend”, and “part of the family”. “Pearl of the Orient” is a clear example of glocalization; the global product, Coca-Cola, is portrayed in a local way that wouldn’t apply to any other region or culture.

Mixing Cultures through Globalization and Glocalization

People are not inherently different from each other. Instead, it is our cultures that complete us and teach us the traditions and beliefs that separate ourselves from each other.

As Geertz writes, “One of the most significant facts about us may finally be that we all begin with the natural equipment to live a thousand kinds of life but end in the end having lived only one” (Geertz 45).

The glocalization of media merges globalized media with local specificities; this mixes the elements different cultures can share with specific elements that pertain to a specific culture. In conclusion, while profound differences do exist between people of different cultures, there are also many similarities. Perhaps as globalization progresses and cultures become more fluid, then people will be more able to understand each other.

Source: http://www.suite101.com/content/globalization-and-glocalization-in-media-a195898