Globalization or Localization? Rural Advertising in India

Abstract

In the aftermath of the post-Cold War era, globalization has brought about, and continues to bring about, profound changes to economic, political, social, developmental, communication, and governance arenas (as well as to others) at both conceptual and concrete levels (Baylis and Smith, 1997; Chomsky and McChesney, 1998; Fingleton, 1999; Friedmann, 1999; Hoogvelt, 1997; James, 1999; Razin and Sadka, 1999). In terms of global communication, some changes have been noted in the choice of language and its role in shaping and reshaping global market discourse. There is no doubt that English has effectively dethroned competitor languages, such as French and Russian, and continues to do so with more vigor and dynamics than ever before. Importantly, English has become the single most important language of globalization. At the same time, English itself is undergoing some dynamic changes in the process of engendering and shaping global market discourse, with ramifications for international advertising media and marketing (Crystal, 1997; Goodman and Graddol, 1996, McArthur, 1998). Even in the globalization era, however, English cannot be deployed without regard for locality. This is especially the case in the “margins,” where earlier experiences under colonialism involved the hegemony of the English language and the subversion of native languages.