A spectre is haunting the world--the spectre of globalisation. It is an issue which has also haunted a great deal of academic debate; for example, Anthony Giddens has talked about the "runaway world" in which we live and the uncontrollable transformations wrought by globalisation. Globalisation, for me, cannot merely be defined as a series of uncontrollable changes, it is a closely managed system and while, like other systems, some of its consequences will be unforseen, it is organised and controlled.  | |
| Thinking Point | | | How have companies used the idea of globalisation in their promotional activities? Think of other examples where the idea of globalisation has been used to promote a brand or a concept. | | |
I am interested in furnishing the evidence to illustrate various facets of globalisation and how it presents itself. Using a selection of images, including company brochures, satirical cartoons, and advertisements, I hope to cast light on the links between the CEO mastery of the times and a transnational capitalist class which co-ordinates everything and is, basically, in charge. It is this capitalist elite that regards the world in quite a different way to other people, and it incorporates four important political groups: corporate executives, bureaucrats and politicians, professionals and the consumer elite. Most images of globalisation--as with the process--reflect the interests of these groups. But I have also included those images which recognise and pose challenges to this system. So, from Diageo's visual representation of the world as a series of markets to the New Internationalist's depiction of the capitalist conquest of the third world, we can begin to grasp the complexity of globalisation.
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