Pepsi And Colonialism Essay

Consumer patterns throughout the developing world have been shaped by colonialism (Murphy, 2009, p: 8-9). Colonialism is a form of domination or the control by individuals or groups over the territory and/or behaviour of other individuals or groups (Colonialism has also been seen as a form of exploitation, with emphasis on economic variables) (Horvath, 1972 p: 47). Consumerism is the idea that individual prosperity and joy depends largely on the level of individual consumption, especially on the purchase of goods and services. A consumerist society is one in which individuals give a lot of time, energy, thought and resources to "consuming" (Norton, 2009, p:1-2). The modern economy depends on consumerism. The thesis of this paper is that there is

The colonial subjects started to develop a taste for European products (Murphy, 2009, p: 19). This shows that the colonial rulers still indirectly control the minds of people living in the colonies (now independent nations). To support the claims I have made in this paper of how colonialism and consumerism are linked I will use the example of the Pakistani Pepsi commercial (link provided below) that shows how the Pepsi brand promotes the view that foreign foods our better than our local ones. The advertisement shows a man who hits a Pepsi bottle next to various ‘desi’ foods and they turn into foreign foods like burgers, pizzas etc. This is an example of how brands portray certain cultures to their viewers, in this case drinking Pepsi and eating foreign food will make you look cool. Viewers than follow this culture and consume these goods to become cool. Foreign brands and advertisements make the customer demand foreign goods and therefore help in reinforcing consumption trends in developing or previously colonised countries that the colonisers created years