Nicolai Clawson

Paper 2

When Benjamin Barber made that comment about the influence of

both McDonalds and Coke he is referring to the globalization of the western
culture. As the western culture spreads across the world we see more things
like the Coke, McDonalds, Levis, Music and even cars become commonplace
in new regions. While some will say that this change is good and it has great
benefits, this change comes at a steep price that some will feel is too much.
For this paper I will cover a few of these items of western culture that have
changed thinks around the world. I plan to discuss the benefits of this change
and how it will happen weather we want it to or not. I also will cover the
downside to this change and I will attempt to represent those opinions that
are opposed to these changes.
So to fist answer the question about the effect of McDonalds and Coke
in both Moscow and China. Fist is the significant of a McDonalds in Moscow at
all, people forget just how hot the Cold War got and how high the tensions
were. We had delegates who were unable to get into Moscow, it was almost
impossible to take to the Soviets in Eastern Belin never mind Moscow itself.
Even after the collapse of the Iron Curtin and the fall of the USSR diplomatic
relations are tense. And yet in 1988 McDonalds received permission to build
a restaurant in Moscow, when it opened in 1990 over five thousand people
were lined up to eat there. This shows that the people wanted this, not the
government initially, this was a sign of how the people wanted to be like

America. Look at this like a stepping stone, first small step is an American
fast food joint in Moscow then that will lead to people liking this idea of
picking what they want for a meal. Then people want to pick the leaders they
want. now lets fast forward to today, the big Mac is now considered to be a
global reference to determine a nations economy, and it is not just
McDonalds that has this effect but Coke and others as well.
Now lets cover Coke in China and how that also lead to changes and
the spread of western culture. It was in 1979, we were still engaged in the
Cold War of course, when the very first shipment of Coke was sent to china.
20,000 cases were sent. The company wanted to make sure it was
thoroughly spread out and so they dispersed the shipment; 10,000 cases to
Beijing, 7,000 to Guangzhou and 3,000 to Shanghai. China was and still is a
communist nation, at this time were at war with communism and yet here
was a very American product being shipped to what was considered by many
our enemy. Now millions of bottles of Coke are bought every day in China.
This product has made a bigger change on the chines economy and culture
then any of our dignitaries have. Now while the changes have not been
nearly as dramatic in china as they were in Russia it still has made a large
impact. Coke is an American idea and the people loved it, they wanted an
item that was not form their nation and didnt bring in as much profit to
China as it did the United States. the Chines government were quick to
change this and had factories set up in 1979 to make the product here,
eliminating the shipping cost and providing some profit for China. This

brought in American business ideas and competition for the other companys
and this change only spread.
Another item that I want to use as an example is Levi pants, and the
impact it has on small and large regions. Levies were introduced to the USSR
in the 1950s and it left a large impression on the people. Everyone wanted
them and didnt care if they were illegalized by the government. The demand
was so great that diplomats children would wear several pairs of jeans under
baggy pants and sneak them into Russia to sell. The USSR tried to make their
own copy of Jeans and they said were superior, but the people didnt like
them. the US version had a faded look that people loved so much that they
would boil a new pair just to get that new look. As I said before this was a
stepping stone event that later lead to the idea of freedom. Now levis did not
just effect people in the past or in faraway places. I now a man who grew up
in an FLDS compound and told me how Levies destroyed some compounds
and were banned in most. The ideology of these compounds was to distance
themselves from outside influence and fashions. They would all have the
same type of shoes and pants with some variations allowed. But when
someone from another compound came in wearing Jeans that changed
things. Several kids requested to have a pair and were told at first no but
after a lot of complaining they were told once they go through their old pants
then they would be replaced with Jeans. My friend told me how after that he
and other children would slide down hills in the dirt just to destroy their old
pants. Once they got the Jeans then other things started to change, new

shirts, shoes, hair styles and other such things were being changed to match
current fashions. This lead to an almost universal ban on Jeans in the FLDS
compounds.
Now I have stated how these changes were made and their
significance it is here that I will bring up their pros and cons. On the pro side
these items spread the western ideology and in a lot of cases brought in a
better change for the people. Like the USSR changing into a democracy and
giving its people freedoms that they never had before. McDonalds is now
global and is used to determine the economic situation a nation is in. as this
ideology of business and culture spread people will start forgetting their
differences and focus on their similarities. At least that is the idea, in all
reality there is still a lot of work to be done. Some look at this new global
culture and say it is the spread of western ideology and they are right to a
point. These things are form the western world and as they spread people
feel that this is the west saying that they are superior and that their own
culture is worthless. Here is the simple fact, change is inevitable; it will
happen and when changes are made something will be lost. We have lost a
lot of cultural that had their own unique ideas that shouldnt be forgotten but
will be over time. This has lead people to try to fight this change or alter it to
match the culture of the region, I applaud their efforts and wish them luck.
however, in the end it will be futile, things will always change, to avoid
change is to ignore progress and in some cases development. Yes, the
western world has had the majority of influence in this global culture, but the

fact of the matter is that there would always be this kind of unfair influence.
The question that should be asked is if we prefer it to be our own influence
effecting the world of someone elses influencing us?