Globalizing American Culture

As our country  becomes more and more diverse and Minorities start to  become the Majority, in numbers not power dynamics, companies must start to  make changes and use innovation to  target these populations of people. This task  is easiest for fast food  restaurants and food product chains due to the fact that  they  are accessible to  every  socioeconomic class.This is relevantly  important because many people of color ,specially undocumented immigrants, are living pay check  to  paycheck  barely  making ends meet. To  them  a meal at a fast food restaurant is a significant outing. Some companies whose efforts to reach out to  these communities really stand out  are McDonalds and Coca Cola. Not only have  these huge companies globalized their image and made their products internationally known and demanded, they have made them is a part of American culture.This becomes an advantage when selling within  the united states because it gives immigrants a sense of regularity  after leaving their home country. Regardless of where  one is migrating from, chances are that there was a McDonalds there. McDonalds symbolizes the diversity  they  pledge to  have gained from international business through  the translation of their Jingle , I’m Loving it, into up to  a dozen languages. They  are attempting to  reach  out to  all  of their potential customers and make them  feel  a sense of comfort , understanding and acceptance through their Marketing strategies. They  have taken  advantage of the opportunities that come along with  Acculturation and assimilation. They  have used casting and cultural  aspects , such  as music and clothing, to  gain  the loyalty  of new groups of people.Another great brand to  look  at is Coca Cola. As individuals try to  adapt and assimilate to  the American  way  of Life Coca Cola takes the time to  make sure they  know that their differences are  embraced.  During the 2014 Super Bowl Coca Cola released  a commercial that tied together many  different races and ethnicities to  demonstrate their similarities  through  the love of the product. While this could be considered a genius and even beautiful  strategy  by  many , there was individuals  who  saw it and took offense because the words being used to  how their unity  was America the beautiful. My  assumption is that Coca Cola was making an attempt at surfacing the beauty  of the diversity of our nation and through  that reach  audiences  of all  backgrounds. Considering that in  this decade racism  and discrimination have surfaced as crucial  issues once again, it is important for there to be a company willing to  create an image of beauty  and Unity  among a diverse community.

Obsessed

In our society , we often make the mistake of underestimating the significance of stalking. Any pattern of unwanted attention, gestures and contact of any kind should not be taken lightly. When a person is being overly persistent, even after one has said no; many red flags should be going up. Stalking could result in far more than the guilty pleasure of the stalker, it could result in trauma or even death. Even though it could be assumed that most reports of stalking put the woman as the victim and the male as the perpetrator, our society has created a portrayal of stalking that has made it seem like it is an act that only a man  could commit. That however, is very incorrect. A woman stalking a man could be just as dangerous as a man  stalking a woman. For instance, the Movie Obsessed, staring Beyoncé Knowles. Her husband is being constantly stalked and manipulated by the new secretary. This new secretary has a hard time understanding that  she is not wanted and that the male character is not interested. Throughout the film she fails to understand that her persistence is not admirable nor desirable as she believes that it is. She is under the impression that  all of her  actions are romantic and that  she should  be repaid with  gratitude and love. She tries to  use her sex appeal  and  seduction  as a way to  win over the male, however due to  societies assumption that women  are hopeless romantics and men have the power and privilege to  bring women  to  a weak  submissive state, the male is blamed for seducing her.  This could be seen  in  the film   by the way  in  which  the detectives  would question the male over and over about his behavior,  rather than  the secretary’s. In  this film, the police officials assume that the man,  who is a successful,  attractive  business man, has the privilege of fixing this problem if he “wanted to”. Given that we live in such  a patriarchal society, the sexism  within  it shows that  men  have all the say  in these situations. That however is not the case in this film when the power of the woman show the consequences of stalking. Beyonce, the wife, takes matters into her own  hands when  the situation gets out of control. After realizing that her husband was not at fault, she defends him and her family  by  stopping the stalking. The fatal ending of this story  is only  one example of what can  happen when  stalking gets out of hand, it can also  demonstrate the danger of stalking even when being committed by a woman. As a society we should try working on  not putting a gender on the crime, but rather seeing a problem as what it is. 

Exclusivity of Music and Language

Cultural Assimilation can be seen through more than just choice of costumes on Halloween, it can be seen through things as such as language and Music. This country is full of many kinds of people and so many cultures; a way for them to remain cohesive is through their language and their music. When having to assimilate into American Culture, they have to learn the English language and often times that results in a culturally unique interpretation of the Language. This form of English becomes their own and although that may make them vulnerable to misunderstanding and stereotyping, it contributes to unity within the community. The first example that comes to mind, is the way that African Americans speak English and the way that their language is significant to their culture.   When African  Americans  began  to  learn the English  language they  mixed it with  certain  words or forms of speech  that  originated from their native languages, over time this created the need to  label their form  of speech as something uniquely  different than the English language. Through this came what can currently be referred to as Ebonics by linguist specialists.   Given that they formed this language within themselves, whether it is considered slang or actual language, gives them a sense of entitlement to it. This version of the English language has become a part of the African American Culture. Due to their feeling of entitlement it becomes invasive when individuals of other races adopt their form of speech to create something of themselves, such as rap/ hip hop artists. African Americans already have a long history  of being robbed of their freedom  and their rights, hearing others take their language as their own is set to  be upsetting. Not only that, but the African  American  Version  of English  is often  times referred to  as Ghetto, or ratchet  when  used by  African  Americans  but considered a part of pop culture when  used by  others. For example there is Justin Bieber and Iggy Azalea, they are both clearly  not African  American however they  talk and even  preform  as if they  were. They  have both  emerged into the pop / hip hop  world embracing that Hip  hop  culture, which  is considered to be predominantly  black.

They are often criticized for trying to  be a part of hip hop  culture because of their appearance and their back  ground. Hip hop music embraces the struggle and resilience that has come from living as an African America, giving them  room  to  feel they  are the only ones that should have the right to  create music through  their Language.