The term 'a global village' was coined by Marshall McLuhan, to help explain the shrinking and expanding of the world's culture at the same time due to widespread technological developments. Multi National companies that illustrate this would be the likes of the newspaper companies who have shrunk down the scale of their production by almost completely eliminating printed papers, and expanded their production to be online with the continuing advancements in technology.
2) What role does Slavoj Zizek suggest the media plays in global capitalism? How can you link this to our previous work on Marxism and Hegemony?
Capitalism refers to when a country's trade and industry are controlled by private owners for profit. Then, Global capitalism nowadays works based on the fact that all aspects of any prior system have essentially been quashed. All aspects of the system including production, accumulation, class relations and governance have been disembedded from the nation + reorganised in a globally intergrated way to give more flexibility with which institutions etc operate. This links to previous work on marxism,pluralism and hegemony because global capitalism isn't governed by a class based system any more, no matter what class you are from the system is trying to give everybody more flexibility and freedom in the finanical world.
3) What does 'capitalism with a conscience' mean?
Zizek argues that the global media has raised awareness about social issues, but in order to sustain Western Capitalist Dominance, company marketing campaigns have constructed "capitalism with a conscience". This means that when we buy something our anti capitalist duty - the desire to do something for others and the enviroment is already included in the purchase we have/are going to make. For example, many companies Starbucks to name one now give a percentage of their product's cost to a recognized world charity organisation 'FairTrade' or a organisation working in a third world country. As the campaign for Starbucks states "It's not just what we are buying, its what we are buying into". When we buy Starbucks we are not just buying a cup of coffee we are buying into coffee ethics.
4) What is the (PRODUCT) RED campaign?
The (PRODUCT) RED campaign - global conscience and consumerism
The (PRODUCT) RED campaign, was founded in 2006 by U2 frontman and activist
Bono to engage the private sector in raising awareness and funds to help eliminate AIDS in Africa.5) Based on what you've read in the Factsheet, what is YOUR opinion of the (PRODUCT) RED brand? Is it a positive force helping to fight AIDS in Africa or a cynical attempt to make multinational companies look more ethical than they actually are?
I agree with the general campaign though process in terms of advertising and using big company names to better recognition of the campaign, getting more people to donate and help in the fight against aids. However, all these multinational companies that are involved do not really care about what the campaign is fighting for, they are only in for what they get in return which is a chance to maximise their profits through the (PRODUCT) red campaign, it is a cyncial attempt to make multinational companies seem more ethical then they really are. They are taking a worthwhile cause and putting their logo on to better there company and its sales. The most obvious example, is the "lace up save lives" line in the above picture; this is encouraging people to buy nike shoes to help with the fight against AIDS with the promise that a portion of the money they have parted with will go to the cause, but it will almost definately not be as much as multinational companies claim it is.
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