In the following response, Carolyn Wilson considers further implications of Robert Ferguson's address to the International Congress on Communication and Education in Sao Paulo, Brazil, May 1998.
When responding to Dr. Ferguson's keynote address in Brazil (published in the Fall issue of Mediacy) another United Kingdom scholar, Dr. Andrew Hart, also used the metaphor of the Titanic in his comments about media education. He suggested that educators need to think about whether we are focussing too much attention on re-arranging the deckchairs rather than looking at the larger picture and the direction in which we are headed.
He suggested that in media education programs today there is a poverty of thinking and action which stems from a failure to connect media education to world issues, to questions of political economy and praxis. Attending the conference in Sao Paulo allowed us to examine to what extent our work connects to the larger picture and highlighted a number of current issues, which can be addressed in our classrooms today.
Many times during the conference, conversations revolved around globalization and the increasing visibility of transnational advertising. In developing countries, the phenomenon of advertising and the promotion of a consumer culture are relatively recent. Yet the availability of Western products in developing nations and their marketing worldwide have already begun to affect local cultures.
"Consumer democracy is held out to the poor around the world as a substitute for political democracy. After all, as the advertising executive who transformed the U.S. Pepsi ad campaign, 'Join the Pepsi Generation', for use in Brazil to 'Join the Pepsi Revolution', explains: most people have no other means to express their need for social change other than by changing brands and increasing their consumption" (Janus 297).
This co-opting of political and social change by advertisers is an issue that can be taken up by educators. This advertising slogan can be discussed in terms of the message that solutions to real life problems can be found in a product and in consumption. Students and teachers can discuss the implications of promoting consumer values to the detriment of social and political issues. Key questions can include: who is speaking?; who is being spoken to?; what is their message?; who benefits if this message is accepted?; who loses?
Targeting the poor in developing countries by advertisers is seen by many critics as an example of "recolonization" (Mies 56). The practice demonstrated by transnational corporations involves implanting consumer values on developing nations through extensive advertising campaigns. Once these values come to be accepted, transnational corporations are in a position to take advantage of the poor, cultivating a market for specific products and establishing consumer loyalty.
Globalization and attempts to export North American culture are tied to a current trend in corporate image creation, which is another topic for our media classrooms. A great deal of the energy which goes into the creation of a corporate image today is directed toward what many refer to as "caring capitalism" or "cause marketing". These terms are used to describe situations where private companies sponsor social programs in order to achieve a positive corporate image. Many believe this current trend comes, in part, from a desire to distance one's business from the controversy over the effects of rampant consumerism at home and abroad. By creating the impression that the company is actually concerned about social issues, the company taps into the customer's sense of social responsibility, and distracts him or her from any concerns about the negative effects of consumerism on a local or global level.
"Cause marketing" is the fastest growing segment in advertising. Many experts predict that companies will pay over half a million dollars this year for the rights to sponsor social programs, community events, and charities (Kaldec 33). While this form of sponsorship gives needed funds for social causes, there are many concerns about this practice which are worth investigating. Critics suggest that companies are only donating in order to benefit their bottom line, and therefore will only sponsor social causes with a high public profile. Companies launch extensive marketing campaigns to ensure that their company will acquire an image distinct from their competitors', but in the process many social issues are marketed as consumable items, and risk being forgotten once the campaign loses popularity in the style of consumable items.
Nike, Starbucks, Wal-Mart and many others have entered into today's new world of giving. Documentary films such as Michael Moore's The Big One are a valuable resource for teachers because they offer an investigative look at corporate practices today. Analysing corporate ad campaigns and marketing strategies can provide a powerful entry point for exploring the reality which exists behind many corporate images--namely the controversy surrounding corporations due to their questionable labor practices in developing countries and the re-emergence of sweatshops here at home.
Now to return to the metaphor of the Titanic and the direction in which we are headed. While the issues raised here require more extensive discussion than this space permits, media education can provide us with the tools to examine the commodification of lifestyles, values, and social issues and the impact of consumer culture on our global village. If we share Dr. Hart's concern that there is a poverty of thinking and action in media education, connecting our study of the media to global issues such as these will certainly begin to enrich our programs and move media education in a direction necessary for the twenty-first century.
Janus, Noreene. "Advertising and Global Culture". Cultural Survival Quarterly 7.2 (1993).
Kadlec, Daniel. "The New World of Giving". Time, 5 May 1997.
Mies, Maria and Shiva, Vandana. Ecofeminism. Halifax: Fernwood Publications, 1993.