Cultural items become "glocal" when international items get introduced into a country, and the item becomes blended with the items of the new country, so as, to fit into the culture of the natives. For instance, America established McDonald's and following much success, the chain expanded at an international level to nations such as UK, Asia and China. Presently, McDonald operates in about 120 nations. The most amusing thing with this expansion is that McDonald serves different dishes in each of these nations. For instance, McDonald serves chicken, hamburgers and fish, in India, since the Indian natives considers beef sacred (Nargundkar 14). As soon as people begin to enjoy a service or product as a bloc, investors begin to spread out.
The second illustration of how cultural becomes “glocal” can be seen in TV shows and films. Americans ensured that they introduced MTV to countries like China and Korea in order for them to understand some aspects of American programs. Similar to McDonald’s strategy, MTV considered employing diverse versions of American programs and integrating local shows of countries within their areas of operation, into the program. Also, Americans released the Titanic film with the idea of North American audience. However, after the film obtained much success in 1997, it became introduced to other audiences of the world. The fact that the Titanic film was real, and it reviewed a past event that was almost forgotten made the film extremely hot in other cultures.
Lastly, we can refer to Tupac as a global artist. Tupac’s music received an audience from America. However, it did not take long for the music to reach other countries, especially through television and Internet. While, some people in other states failed to understand his music, they highly appreciated and tried to emulate his style and beat.
Thus, cultural items become “glocal” when they reach a different country than the one that was initially intended, and they try to assimilate with the items of the natives.
Works Cited
Nargundkar, Rajendra. Services Marketing: Text & Cases. New Delhi, India: Tata McGraw Hill Education, 2010. Print.
