Homogenization.

As the world grows increasingly capitalist in nature, I fear for our cultural diversity, or any diversity for that matter. I never ever looked from this perspective until recently. But it is true, isn’t it – Nothing succeeds like success. Replicas of TV shows, replicas of story lines, replicas of popular songs. Why do we not have any more variations in our media products – because The Suits are ultimately dictating that anything too risky and too unpalatable is going to be bad for ratings/popularity, and inadvertently, they act as gatekeepers and filter all the creative content out.

The most horrifying of course is the dawning realization of the role that advertising plays into this. The more people try to inject cultural elements into the advertisements (inter-cultural communication?) into ads, the more all of us are eventually socialized into the same culture of consumerism. It doesn’t matter your race, age, gender, personal preferences. All are schooled into the same way of thinking. Every point of contact with the media tells you that you are imperfect, that you need what they can offer you to conceal those imperfections.

We are taught that buying (-insert product plug here-) will solve all our problems. Purchasing a product equates to happiness eventually because you are that one step closer to a perfect lifestyle- just like on TV!

The production process is eventually relegated to the background. Products are created in toy factories full of glitter and puffballs ( the Coke factory anyone?). Like the elves in Santa’s workshop. Like the oompa loompas in Willy Wonka’s factory. No one really wants to see images of Third World children slaving away in sweatshops in dilapidated conditions, come on!

In Brands We Trust
As the corner store grocer and mom and pop stores all around the world lose the battle against the large chains, all of us eventually turn to brands. There is nothing else that is familiar to us, nothing else we can bank on. So why is it that you only only swear by (insert favourite brand here), when just another product from another brand is just as functional? Is it really delivering that much of a different experience to you?

Is it you that is really controlling what you consume? Or is it something else that has shaped your tastes and preferences? And how would you ever know, or would you even know?

I, personally, have yet to figure that out. Just like how I don’t understand why people go loco over the very ugly Coach bags. But that is another story altogether.

Tags: branding, advertising, homogenization