Coca-Col-ization: How Coca-Cola Advertising Embodies Glocalization

Yes, you read it right.

Glocalization is a more precise term for the its well-known counterpart, globalization. Before discussing its use in Coca-Cola's advertising, there's a distinction to understand:

  
   

• GloBALization:
• Connection of many cultures that forces homogenization of all cultures.
• Culture 2 transforms to mimic Culture 1.

• GloCALization:
• Products and ideas intended for a global market, but customized to suit local cultures. 
• Culture 2 is affected by Culture 1, but retains some original qualities.

A perfect example of a company harnessing glocalization to advertise to a huge, diverse audience is The Coca-Cola Company.

Check out this Coca-Cola advertisement from their Happiness Without Borders campaign:

Coca-Cola Small World Machines - Bringing India and Pakistan Together 

by The Coca-Cola Company

The video exemplifies both specific trends of effective mass communication and the social process glocalization.

Mass Communication Trends & Effects:                                                               

• Political controversy
• Audiences like conflict. It’s interesting.
• Here, the ad portrays Coca-Cola as a global product that may solve tension between India and Pakistan. 

• Agenda-setting
• The media’s ability to influence what publics think about
• In this case, shedding light on the conflict.

• CNN Effect
• The ability, through emotional video, to elevate distant issues on the domestic public agenda
• Because of the footage in the ad, viewers worldwide feel sympathetic and action-minded toward the situation.

Glocalization:

• By placing the "Small World Machine" in a rural environment, the technology is exciting and novel. So, Coke extends that global image in a local setting. 

• The theme of the video also corresponds with Coca-Cola's ad campaign: "Open Happiness."

Final five seconds of "Coca-Cola Small World Machines"

While Coca-Cola narrowed the content to fit local groups, their "happy" brand remains potent. From individuals drinking Cokes and laughing to the final slogan, neither the American brand nor the locals completely conformed to the other's culture. 

Instead, Coca-Cola combined the local culture with its global trademark and created a perfect example of glocalization in mass communication. 

Check out the full sources for more info.

• Sources used in this article:
• "Defining Glocalization" by The Global Policy Forum
• "Global Modernities" (Chapter 2: Glocalization: Time-Space and Homogeneity-Heterogenity) by Roland Robertson
• "Glocalization as Globalization: Evolution of a Sociological Concept" by Habibul Khondker
• "Happiness without Borders" by Jay Moye
• "The Media of Mass Communication" by John Vivian
• "Transnationalism, Cosmopolitanism and Glocalization" by Victor Roudometof