Our cultures reveal the identities and the communities where we belong. However, this culture does not always stay the same; it is constantly changing. Cultural diffusion is one of the reason why our culture are keep on changing.
Cultural diffusion refers to the spreading of cultural ideas or traits from their place of origins to the others (regions, countries, groups). Cultural diffusion can happen in several ways: through migrants, tourists, warfare, trade, intermarriage, commodities (music/movies), and so on. Today’s cultural diffusion mainly occurs through the communications technology and mass media.
The case of Coca Cola clearly shows how does cultural diffusion happen. It is a transnational corporation that intentionally spreads consumerism through cultural diffusion. Consumerism is the behaviors, attitudes, and values being done to protect of promote the interests of consumers toward the products. Coca Cola is located in more than 200 countries in the world. In order to spread consumerism, Coca Cola used involve numbers of affective marketing strategies.
First of all, long since the past, the advertisements of Coca Cola widely reflected the cultural values and trends such as feminism and environmentalism. For instance, Coca Cola set the polar bears as the company’s mascot in advertisement. Polar bears are the animals with their lives threatened due to global warming. This is a significant and well-known global trend.
Second, Coca Cola implants the thoughts that drinking coke makes people happy. The company has its main slogan that reads the following: Be happy and open happiness. Coca Cola refers the coke as a happiness that is being consumed by the consumers. Coke cannot be the happiness itself so does for drinking coke. However, Coca Cola company encourages people to buy their products by reflecting on the universal agreement that everyone wants to be happy with their lives.
Third, Coca Cola promotes environmental activities such as recycling, providing drinkable water to rural areas, protecting polar bears, and sustainable packaging. By doing so, Coca Cola company gain positive image of the company itself and get the media attention, which further promote the products.
These marketing strategies and movements established by the company contributes to cultural diffusion as the people become more aware of the products and the company itself also. Drinking coke becomes acculturated in the world that result in cultural diffusion. Due to the cultural diffusion taking place by Coca Cola company, the world get to be more exposed to the western culture and opened to the other foreign cultures. In this sense, drinking coke becomes a connection among the people from different countries.
I've definitely heard people talk about Coke's "Open happiness" campaign and how it touches on one of the most positive human values that exists.
ReplyDeleteWith regards to the extended written response from last week, can you come up with a counter example to Coke's marketing campaign where they have NOT been able to infiltrate a specific market for any particular reason?
As the government of Mayanmar opened up themselves to sell Coca Cola products, there are two countries without Coke being sold: North Korea and Cuba. Actually, Cuba was one of the three countries outside the U.S. to sell Coke in 1906. However, the company was forced to move out of the country due to Fidel Castro's government in 1960s. In addition, the media currently suggested that some of the North Koreans and Cubans who drink Coke are clandestinely smuggled into black market.
DeleteI like you example and the way you explain it. 'Coca Cola' is so familiar example since I also watched and heard of 'Coca Cola' commercials on television or radio. Before I read your blog, I could not find how cultural diffusion affects on consumerism. But now, I can understand the idea of consumerism and cultural diffusion.
ReplyDeleteCoca Cola is one of the most widespread brand in our world and this company work soooooooo hard to promote consumerism worldwide :) ! After the research and write a post on this topic, I realized that Coca Cola is just a perfect example for us, IB geography students, to use in this unit of globalization!
Delete