Crossworlds

Returning from a long hiatus, I found notes for this blog post languishing, waiting to be written. What I call the “globalization paradox” is actually an observation on the ubiquity of global brands and culture in remote regions. I’ve been surprised throughout my travels by the level of penetration by certain branded products (e.g., Coca Cola, Pepsi, Frito Lays) or pop culture in seemingly isolated areas where other signs of development and plugging into the mainstream switchboard are rare. Despite the fact these areas are apart from the interconnected world, the exposure to globalized products and media is extremely high.

Anecdote #1:

On a minibus ride through northern Lebanon last year, I met a young architecture student of the University of Tripoli. He spoke no English and only fragmented French, but when he passed me his mp3 player for a listen, I was surprised to hear Akon, One Republic, and other American artists. It was surreal – he had all the latest hits. I offered to send him music recommendations via email, but was once again surprised to hear that he had no email account. He candidly told me, “my sister has a hotmail account, but my friends are in Tripoli or in my village so why do I need email to contact them?” I was bewildered. Here was someone who was voluntarily isolated from the external world and yet was an avid follower of American pop music, in a language that he didn’t even speak. How does one explain this pop culture phenomenon?

Anecdote #2:

A couple months back, I visited a few tribal villages in Jharkhand, who intentionally limit their contact with mainstream society. These villages mostly subsist on sustainable farming with a little income from government rural employment programs. On average, these families earned 40 – 100 rupees per day; most of them didn’t leave the village aside from occasional trips to the market in larger towns. Yet, in the center of each village, a small Airtel PCO sign would hang outside a doorway announcing cell phone recharge station and the existence of the kirana shop selling all the familiar branded goods from bottles of Pepsi to Cadbury’s Dairy Milk chocolate bars. In these villages, people spent their incomes the same way we all do – on junk food and mobile minutes. How are these supposedly segregated tribal villages so far from mainstream and yet so tied to the same commercial brands as we are?

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What fascinates me about this “globalization paradox” is its potential as a solution to the social development sector’s last mile challenge problem. In spite of the isolation of many areas, the deep penetration by mass market brands and culture give us a channel to reach the bottom of the pyramid. Like the proposed matchbox ad campaign article featured on ThinkChange India last year, soda bottles could be the media for awareness campaigns in rural markets. As American cereal boxes feature brain teasers and puzzles, we can place educational games on the back of potato chip bags to promote literacy and arithmetic.

The fact that there are global brands and songs penetrate deep into difficult-to-reach markets is a hopeful sign the last mile problem. In the social sector, maybe we should stop asking for monetary corporate sponsorship or investment and ask for more in-kind real estate on their packaging to further our marketing reach. And maybe we can canvass popular artists to dedicate a few lines of their work to a development cause. Whatever the method, the “globalization paradox” provides some food for thought on how we can reach out to the bottom of the pyramid.