Content

1. Introduction

2. History

a) Transnational advertising

b) International expansion of the advertising and television industries

3. Transnational forms of the advertising industry – marketing strategies

4. Effects of transnational advertising on foreign cultures

5. Conclusion

6. Reference list

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1. Introduction

Nowadays no one can travel to Asia, Africa or Latin America and not be struck by Western culture elements such as cars, fast food chains or Hollywood movies. These “honey traps” of transnational culture cause a feeling of being haunted by capitalism and consumerism in every single corner of the planet.

Behind these elements stands a corresponding set of values and attitudes about work, time, consumption, leisure etc., which form the so-called ‘global culture’. This border-crossing culture is a result of tremendous investments of time, money and effort by transnational corporations. The common theme is consumption and advertising expresses this ideology in its most synthetic and visual form. Transnational advertising is one of the major reasons for the spread of global culture and the breakdown of traditional ones. International companies and advertising agencies work hard at creating a consumer culture. Increasingly, advertising campaigns are aimed at the vast number of poor in Third World countries. They are offered things they do not need, that they would not think about buying without the advertising. But what they see, they want. Western products are associated with modernity, and what is modern is good, implying that what is traditional is bad. Global advertising campaigns are popular, using one single message in all countries where a product is made or distributed, regardless of whether poor farmers in Venezuela can connect with a blond Revlon-Model walking down Fifth Avenue in New York.

This essay will present a brief history of transnational advertising and the international expansion of the industry as well as forms and strategies of advertising. The main focus will lie on the effects of transnational advertising on foreign cultures.

2. History

a) Transnational advertising

Until 1880 the use of branded advertising was only used by the makers of patent medicines. Twenty years later, by the turn of the century, branded goods such as

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Lipton Tea started establishing their identities in national markets through advertising and found the base of today’s advertising industry. But also the distributors, e.g. department stores, of the new goods sought to promote themselves by advertising, which led to the creation of advertising agencies, which tried to change their image from mere space brokers to professional specialists with scientific knowledge. “Advertising became seen as an open, fair, legitimate and respectable means of competition” (Buchan, 2004, p.1). The quality of the advertisements improved, shifting from simple repetitions and exaggerations to more psychological appeals. In the 1930’s big American companies, especially the ones that had consolidated advantages in technology, marketing and mass production techniques (e.g. Nestle, Kellogg, Philips), begun overseas operations, establishing the beginnings of today’s international oligopolies. Full international expansion after World War II, when US corporations could gain a foothold in war-damaged Europe, gave them the opportunity to found factories and introduce their products in the new markets. “ This trend towards transnational production in and for foreign markets, sometimes called ‘the internationalization of the internal market’, spread rapidly as

US enterprises turned to new regions in which to set up their subsidiaries, often

attracted by ‘import substitution’ policies and resulting in a relative swing away from resource industries in the ‘host’ countries” (Sinclair, 1987, p.102). The spread of US advertising and media industries into foreign markets led to the development of advertising agencies as transnational corporations.

b) International expansion of the advertising and television industries

“Over the last 50 years an increased willingness on the part of firms to invest in building awareness of themselves and of their wares has given rise to the rapid development of the advertising, marketing and public relations sector” (Doyle, 2002, p.40). In 1954, the top 30 US advertising agencies earned about 5% of their billings from overseas; in 1984, thirty years later, 26% of the industry’s gross income and billings was derived from outside the United States (ref. Sinclair, 1987, p.102). According to estimates from Zenith Media global expenditure reached about $330 billion in the year 2000 (ref. Doyle, 2002, p.40). One of the reasons for this development is the spread of the television as the Number One advertising medium.

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