The most prominant ethical issue discussed by Professor Divya McMillin during Monday’s Pockrass Memorial Lecture in Foster Auditorium was global corporations’ ability to change the perception of products and services offered in countries other than their origin. McMillin used several examples from her study in India to showcase the globalization of corporate products in the east and how it could change or corrupt perception. An additional ethical issue concerned Indian lifestyle television show hosts who speak in English and if they should have the ability to act as “translators” who intend to “purify” Indian culture and speak on its behalf.
As a global media studies professor at The University of Washington Tacoma, McMillin spent time in Bangalore, India during summer 2012 examining growing popularity for lifestyle media in eastern Asia. Properly titled, “Curing Taste: Lifestyle Television and the Globalization Subject,” McMillin lectured about media outlets and products avaiable in India today because of globalization and showed several television clips as examples of thriving lifestyle media.
McMillin said the definition of lifestyle media, particularly lifestyle television, is any entertainment that involves an ultimate transformation or reveal. In India today, with more than 42 million digital homes, lifestyle genre television shows are becoming a thriving form of entertainment, McMillin said. McMillin showed a clip from a Fox Traveler television show called, “What’s with Indian Men.” This show revolved around two protagonist women who traveled around India and profiled men in the cities they visited. Another clip was from a segment on New Delhi TV Good Times titled, “Twist of Taste.” Similar to “What’s with Indian Men,” the culinary show followed a couple as they traveled through India and ate local cuisines. Both programs featured Indian protagonists speaking English instead of their native language.
McMillin said the ethical dilemma with the characters in these lifestyle television shows is that they serve as a “translator” who tries to showcase a new way for Indian media consumers to perceive their own home country. Perhaps they do not need a westernized view of their own country, especially when it is not provided by westerners but by their own people from India.
In a study done by The Asian Journal of Communications, findings showed that MTV did not fair well in Japan because the music Japanese people listen to is 75 percent Japanese while the MTV programming was 75 percent international. However, MTV Asia set a goal of “launching more country-specific feeds,” which resulted in better consumption. This study might give clues as to how globalization of products must be localized to some extent in order to be successful. (Chang, 2003)
However, McMillin stressed that when much of the products from global corporations become localized once in India, or someplace other than their original enviornment, it can cause some misinterpretation or confusion. The ethical issue, McMillin said, is “localized global products” are so different from the original that people are unaware what the original product is like. In Bangalore, most McDonald’s and Pizza Huts are for delivery only, McMillin said. This service is very difficult from the drive-through or eat-in experience available at these restuarants in the United States. Perhaps this gives people a false impression of a brand.
Scott Bedbury, like McMillin, thinks corporations hold a lot of power with their products abroad. “It’s been said some brands are now more powerful than many governments. It’s time we unleashed that power in a direction that still promotes profitability but not by sacrificing people or the environment. More companies need to think in terms of a triple bottom line, where business performance is measured in profits, environmental impact and the contributions a business makes to society.” (Bedbury, 2002)
The lesson learned from Professor McMillin’s lecture can be that as long as global corporations do not corrupt the individual cultures of the country they are selling their products to, sharing new media and programs is not a negative action .
References:
Bedbury, S. (n.d.). Brands in new world. (2002). Advertising Age, 73(5), Retrieved from http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=10&sid=40df1566-f1aa-4e73-afc9-6390364aa63a@sessionmgr113&hid=103&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ==
Chang, Y. (n.d.). ‘globalization’ of television: Programming strategies of global television broadcasters in asia. (2003). Asian Journal of Communication, 13(1), 1-36. Retrieved from http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=8&sid=40df1566-f1aa-4e73-afc96390364aa63a@sessionmgr113&hid=103&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ