The IB defines this concept as: ‘The practice of promoting the culture/language of one nation in another. It is usually the case that the former is a large, economically or militarily powerful nation and the latter is a smaller, less affluent one.’
Here’s one example of one culture being promoted over another…
British Council
China and Africa
China in Africa – the real story
China in Africa – soft power, hard cash
Coca-Cola
Click the image for an article on a French alternative to Coca-Cola:
Cultural imperialism, a very good explanation http://visar.csustan.edu/aaba/Essay.pdf
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1374/is_3_64/ai_n6060907/
Wikipedia on Cocacolonization http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cocacolonization
Coca Cola’s company website http://www.thecoca-colacompany.com/ourcompany/index.html
Coca Cola’s sustainability page http://www.thecoca-colacompany.com/citizenship/index.html
Coca Cola’s Middle Easter rumour busting webpage http://www.thecoca-colacompany.com/contactus/myths_rumors/middle_east.html
Coca Cola UK http://www.coca-cola.co.uk/
Coke’s micro distribution centres in Africa http://www.coca-cola.co.uk/community/micro-distribution-centres.html
Cokezone http://www.cokezone.co.uk/home/index.jsp
And there’s plenty of anti-coke sentiment out there:
Killer coke
http://killercoke.org/
Russian calendar
http://englishrussia.com/index.php/2009/02/05/russian-anti-coca-cola-calendar/
India anti-coca cola
http://www.indiaresource.org/campaigns/coke/2004/risingstruggles.html
War on Want on Coca Cola drinking the world dry http://www.waronwant.org/news/latest-news/15153-coca-cola-drinking-the-world-dry
The War on Want alternative report on Coke is very good and covers water, pollution, anti-union and marketing activity, good additional reading http://www.waronwant.org/attachments/Coca-Cola%20-%20The%20Alternative%20Report.pdf
ESSAY
Use all three examples to answer the following Paper 3, part b question:
“Cultural imperialism is facilitated by growing access to electronic media.” Discuss this statement. [15]