Informal notes
American imperialism in advertising
by Cindy Petterson
October 17, 2001

• Modern day imperialism is the societal impact of culture imported from other countries.
• Vivian (2001) said that entertainment media and news service from Western nations are motivated by profit and have no concern for their effect on Third World countries.
• Herbert Schiller, author of "Mass Communication and the American Empire" asserts local production of movies and television cannot compete with their slick American counterparts. Like

Marlboro:

• The only product, besides weapons, considered deadly if used as intended is tobacco

• Thailand did not allow cigarette imports prior to 1990

• Section 301 of U.S. trade bill is a policy to retaliate, by taxing the countries’ imports, against nations that prevent import of U.S. products.

• Using 301, the U.S. forced Japan, Taiwan and South Korea in 1986 to 1989 and Thailand

• Marketing techniques to increase consumption are used globally but are banned in U.S.

• Thailand received support from groups like the World Health Organization, American Lung Association, American Heart Association and American Public Health Association

• Thailand agreement included a total ban on advertising, ingredients be disclosed, tax and controlled distribution ie 18 years old. Ban on advertising exception is printed materials that are imported and live telecasts. Cigarette logos on non-tobacco products are banned. Philip Morris sponsored a Tony Bennett concert but could not show logos where show was held.

• Market share of foreign cigarettes is only 3% due to bans on advertising

• China has 300 million smokers–number of smokers is bigger than U.S. population but U.S. doesn’t dare use Section 301 to pressure China

Internet:

• September 17, 1993, Japan’s first commercial Internet packets connected to San Jose, Calif.

• First commercial packets were sent by American engineers working for Japanese subsidiaries of the US corporations InterCon systems and AT&T

• Japan’s first public access Internet provider are foreigners based in Japan

• Collision of cultures is freewheeling democratic style of U.S. and authoritarian style of Japan
• Japan’s largest research network is not supported by Japanese government and led by Jun Murai
• Banner advertising on web is still small in Japan
• 1996–ad agency Dentsu teamed up with SoftBank to form Cyber Communications and Hakuhodo allied with Yomiuri Advertising to create Digital Advertising Consortium who has the key banner hosting site Yahoo! Japan
• NTT entered online ad market with partner DoubleClick in US and promotes NTT’s goo search engine
• Net advetisers must go through one of leading agencies if they want to book ads on the highest traffic servers in Japan–Gatekeepers to advertising

Nike: "…the enduring excellence of one athlete, through product endorsement, brand management, high-profile advertising and worldwide media coverage, has been turned into a multi-million dollar global enterprise; and how the world has stood to attention, dug deep into its pockets, and cheered" said Walter LaFeber

Globalization is a worldwide reality. Developed and developing countries live in an international community where the impact of supply and demand laws are no longer restricted by the national borders. Developed countries created free trade areas and protection agreements that provide even more power to its members. Developing countries that have accepted the new order, receive the support as well as the influence of developed countries. Those few states that still do not accept a global economy tend to succumb in isolation, poverty and credit shortage.

Focusing on low labor costs, industrial production is performed in diverse locations with the same procedures. Identical products are offered everywhere with the same brand names, positioning, and pricing strategy. Pattern advertising campaigns are placed in global media. Sales and communications strategies differ only on the language (yet, the increasing use of English in global advertising ensures quick adherence to its messages and at the same time reduces expenses). Logistics are strongly facilitated with the aid of new global media, i.e., internet and satellite TV, as well as with international credit network facilities.

Author Jeremy Tunstall disputes the idea of an American media imperialism. In spite of the obvious influence of the U.S. companies in the developing countries, he maintains that "it would be quite misleading to think in terms of media imports always favoring the poor at the expense of the rich."[1] In his turn, Professor Blair suggests that "in the context of the ‘cultural imperialism question-mark’ [American products aim] at establishing habit patterns" among foreign consumers and (in the case of Marlboro cigarettes they do not "invite any particular differentiation between American and Europe."[2] None of the two authors is convinced by the thesis of an American "cultural imperialism". Is economic leadership followed by cultural imperialism, or local cultures are just a medium to make profits?

Both Tunstall and Blair agree on the hegemony of the U.S. over global economies. American companies and their allies in Europe and Japan, impose their globalization to other countries. American media force the international markets to accept their distribution systems, and through those systems they distribute their shows. In this way, they are able to profitably advertise American products.

What would happen if the Marlboro cowboy left his horse to a Marlboro cowgirl? According to Macksood Aftab and other researchers, sales would drop dramatically. And one of the most affected segments would be women.[3] Before analyzing Blair’s article, it is important to note that cigarettes are "the only product on the market (aside from weapons) that kill and injure when they are used as they are intended to be used."[4] The same research estimates that, during this year 2000, seven million people outside the U.S. will die from cigarette-related diseases, such as lung cancer, emphysema and heart disease. Conversely, cigarettes are key profit-makers for Philip Morris. Marlboro is the "world’s most profitable brand of non-durable consumer goods, surpassing even Coca-Cola.[5]

The Marlboro cowboy was originally created in the 1950s during one of the "sessions at the farm" of its advertising agent Leo Burnett.[6] Philip Morris shares the Leo Burnett’s creatives with other American giants like Procter & Gamble, Coca-Cola, Heinz, Kellog, McDonald’s and (not surprisingly), Walt Disney. Prof. Blair remarks that Leo Burnett "incidentally still handles the Marlboro campaigns."[7] We should add that no advertising agency keeps an account for incidental reasons. The success of the Marlboro cowboy, its acculturation around the world and the phenomenal billings generated by this theme are enough to keep the account for years. The "masculine confidence was the key to sales to both men and women"[8] in diverse cultures. Leo Burnett successfully executed the advertising "the cigarette designed for men that women like."[9] Act locally; think globally Philip Morris recommends to its brand managers around the world, yet they do act globally.

It is sad to verify that Blair’s statement of 1985 that "the single market where Marlboro does not use cowboy imagery is Argentina."[10] is not longer valid. In 1991, on line with global economies of scales, Marlboro’s ads in Argentina had begun featuring the cowboy as everywhere else. From that time on, when local media were acquired by American large networks, the cowboy is a frequent habitué in TV, outdoor, print and sport promotion advertising, which favors car racing, ski and polo. In the times of globalization, the gaucho culture is over.

Both American cowboys and Argentine gauchos share historical realities associated with low-rank rural workers, obscure origins and dirty, unlawful frontiers. The "mythologizing"[11] process experienced by cowboys took place with gauchos as well. Under the influence of the 1850s European Romantic zeitgeist, writers like Sarmiento, Echeverría, Mármol, Güiraldes and, most importantly, José Hernández, created the gauchesca literature to emphasize "loyalty to local spirit, to own language and culture."[12] Searching autochthon identities, they decorated the gaucho with heroic attributes, manly character and a "superb horsemanship, in which they rivaled, if they did not surpass our own western cowboys."[13] While the cowboy myth may ultimately adapt to social life and accept its rules, the gaucho myth will always be an independent outlaw that would only respect the comradeship code. The gauchesca literature is the origin of Jorge Luis Borges’ urban compadrito heroes that had wide influence in the Argentine society of the XX century.[14] However, the forward tendency of gauchos to outlaw might have been an important reason for Philip Morris researchers to recommend the avoidance of cowboys in Argentina.

Whether for selling cigarettes, credit cards or travel, local cultures are being replaced by all-American advertising strategies. The lack of respect for the gaucho imagery in Argentina is just another example of the way in which American media, agencies and advertisers behave regarding local cultures. Globalization is a just a new American euphemism for imperialism. Profit is still the only goal, and they will get it with or without culture.

If Molson tops global rivals for top lion, blame Canada

June 16, 2000

QwikFIND ID: AAG05H

Oh, here's a good idea. Why not predict a winner from among the 5,757 Cannes TV entries, before the festival even begins? This from someone who picked Sonny Liston, George McGovern and Miss New Hampshire 11 years in a row.

Fine. We'll pick Molson, from Bensimon-Byrne/DMB&B, Toronto. At the moment, it happens to be the best TV ad from anywhere in the world. The problem is, at the International Advertising Festival, being the best is sometimes not enough.

The Molson spot, for instance, is very talky. Titled "The Rant," it features a young man named Joe speaking before an audience of his countrymen, detailing in what particular ways he is neither an American nor the American stereotype of a Canadian, but a true Canadian to the core.

"Hey, I'm not a lumberjack or a fur trader, and I don't live in an igloo or eat blubber or own a dogsled," he begins, "and I don't know Jimmy or Sally or Susie from Saskatchewan--although I'm certain they're really, really nice."

And so on toward a crescendo. It's a funny, stirring, irresistible anthem of national pride, orated with just the right tone of frustration, never lapsing into meanness or contempt. Historically, however, lots of talk doesn't fare well here. English may be the lingua franca, but wordplay and dialect are apt to elude the audience.

So, then, what about the inspired, brilliant Leo Burnett, Bangkok, spots for McDonald's of Thailand? Not a word uttered in these. Just two extended close-ups: in one spot, a bride at the altar; in the other, a competitive swimmer doing the freestyle. Oh, both of them are eating burgers--because the sandwiches are on special at only 29 baht. The camera never shies away, and for 15 seconds we just stare. With no dialogue at all, these ads are witty and arresting in any language.

But--retail promotion--it's so small. Cannes doesn't like small.

So how about an exotic-location spot, shot on some game reserve in Kenya? We see various park rangers going about the business of restoring some untamable beasts to the wild, where they can roam free. We expect zoo lions or some such, but what they release is a pride of Land Rover Freelanders. Wonderful.

Problem is, the U.K. took the Grand Prix last year. Back to back just wouldn't do.

Well, of course, there's always perennial contender Nike, with two magnificent spots from Wieden & Kennedy, Portland, Ore. One, called "The Morning After," tweaks Y2K paranoia by showing a runner rise on Jan. 1 to do his workout, amid civil chaos. The other, to Joe Cocker's "You Are So Beautiful," is a portrait montage of athletes disfigured while just doing it. But Nike has won before, and it has all these big, big production budgets, and Cannes definitely doesn't like big.

That would leave H&R Block, from Y&R Advertising, Chicago, and its sublime chronicle of a beleaguered taxpayer preparing for April 15, edging ever closer to nervous collapse. Truly hilarious and hilariously true, it could easily go all the way--but it's from the U.S., isn't it? It's not that Cannes doesn't like the U.S.; it's that Cannes likes the U.S. too much, and hates itself for that.

So the laugh-out-loud funny Fallon, Minneapolis, work for FX Network won't get the Grand Prix. Nor will Heinz's astonishingly original ketchup campaign from Leo Burnett USA, Chicago. Nor will the OgilvyOne, Chicago, cult favorite for Ameritrade. Nor will the competing Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, San Francisco, campaign for E*Trade. Nor will Budweiser's latest buzzword triumph "Whassup?" from DDB Worldwide, Chicago. Nor will Fallon's dead-on cowboy spoof "Herding Cats" for EDS.

Those ads will all take gold (or, in head-to-head battles among one another, silver), vying against equally worthy work from elsewhere: a U.K. Ikea spot from St. Luke's, London; the world's best BMW ad in years from S,C,P,F, Barcelona; and an understated but powerful spot called "Waterfall" for NBBS Travel from BBC&W, Amsterdam.

In the end, the winner has to be Molson after all. Wordy and local as it seems, the central concept is that Canada is not some pale northern province of America but a proud nation in its own right. Proud of its heritage. Proud of its differences. Proud of its beer--Molson Canadian.

As a witty, inspiring broadside against American arrogance and cultural imperialism, it isn't too inside at all. Quite the opposite. For a festival that would love to not like America so much, it is universal.

And Cannes loves universal.

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