World Tribune.com


Global consumers favor U.S. brands, not policies


See the John Metzler archive

By John Metzler
SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM

Monday, January 26, 2004

UNITED NATIONS Ñ Global consumers still have a taste for American products while at the same to time seem to be openly shunning any association with, or support for, American foreign policies. ThatÕs part of the verdict from a Harvard Business School study which was presented at the recent Davos World Economic Forum. Thus while thereÕs a smirking hauteur towards America and whatÕs often sneeringly referred to as American Òculture,Ó it seems that some of those same people canÕt get enough not only of American products but movies, and equally books.

According to the Harvard survey of 1,800 consumers in lands from Egypt to Turkey and Indonesia that despite expectations of a consumer backlash against U.S. brands, most people still choose products such as Coca Cola and MacDonaldÕs. According to the Financial Times, ÒAbout 88 percent of people, a consistent figure across most of the countries surveyed, selected well knows global brands, rather than local alternatives. The backlash against globalization had made companies such as Coca Cola move away form overt American values before the terror attacks on the United States.Ó

Professor John Quelch of Harvard Business and his colleague Prof. Douglas Hold advise that Òlocal consumer boycotts following the US response to the September 11th attacks had proven short lived. People did not seem to have switched allegiance en masse to new alternatives such as Mecca Cola,Ó reports the Financial Times. According to the survey, ÒConsumers were able to separate their feelings about US foreign policy and US brands more than had been predicted.Ó

But beyond this letÕs look at other indicators. While the French have an artful and classy cinema industry Ñ the movies are highly subsidized by the state and still donÕt break box office receipts of their American counterparts. In 2002 for example there were 163 French films produced with a government subsidy of $820 million! These films held just 35% of market share.

The consumer rules for better or worse. While I think its fair to say that the USA has a genuine image problem in La Belle France, you wouldnÕt know it at the Cinema. Approximately half the movie favorites are American. Last Summer, for example, I saw a surge of interest in the latest Schwarzenegger film Ñ AHNOLD is popular in France. Eddie Murphy is another perennial favorite in France, donÕt ask me why.

In the meantime Starbucks coffee shops have come to Paris as if to teach the French something about cafes. While IÕm happy to see the market expand there must be a business reason that Starbucks is thereÑproduct, quality, and yes a market, despite or more likely because of, being American.

In book publishing too itÕs the same thing. In Germany now the bestseller list published by the weekly Der Spiegel newsmagazine lists a number of American fiction selections in translation from Stephen King to John Grisham, to that vulgar clown Michael MooreÕs latest rants of primal political paranoia in what purports to be non-fiction. Three of MooreÕs books rate among GermanyÕs top ten bestsellers! The great German political scientist Max Weber once warned of such Òterrible simplifiersÓ in the political arena.

Mind you MooreÕs ÒliteraryÓ polemics are equally popular in Britain. So when West Europeans view the U.S. through the biased left-wing prism of oft American-written political paranoia, itÕs no wonder Washington has an image problem in Euroland.

Robert Kagan of the Carnegie Endowment writes in the New York Times, ÒA great philosophical schism has opened within the West, and instead of mutual indifference, mutual antagonism threatens to debilitate both sides of the trans-Atlantic community. Coming at a time in history when new dangers and crises are proliferating, this schism could have serious consequences. For Europe and the United States to decouple strategically has been bad enough.Ó

While largely a global left-wing reaction to the Bush Administration, the problem reflects fundamentally different visions which question the role of American legitimacy as a force for good and global change.

John J. Metzler is a U.N. correspondent covering diplomatic and defense issues. He writes weekly for World Tribune.com.




See current edition of

Return toWorld Tribune.com's Front Cover
Your window on the world

Contact World Tribune.com at world@worldtribune.com