11 January 2008

Global elites: "It's all about me!"

Speaking of global elites (although not necessarily the absolutely wealthy ones) ...

In case you're wondering who runs the world, here he is. He's, well, a man. He's usually White. He's probably European/USAmerican. He's certainly wealthy. And he's most likely straight. He's the man of the moment. He's the quintessential global elite du jour!

Here he is being transported above the world ...






















"There's a good chance you'll imagine you are our sole passenger". Indeed!

Here he is arriving in the world ...






















This is red-carpet treatment global-elite style. Note the white-washed Asian angels and the fawning local servants. Of course, it's an English-speaking world with a little token Japanese for a spot of the exotic otherness.

Here our man of the moment relaxing, legs spread wide, claiming space ...






















Magnifica!

Our man of the moment is simply master of all he surveys ...






















This Northwest Airlines image has been one of my favourites for a while. The unctuous copy reads:

The world made it's guest list. You're on it.
... No matter where you travel, you'll feel like the guest of honor.
Sound familiar? Look familiar? Yep, he's the same global elite from before. It turns out he's actually Neocolonial Man, great-grandson of good old Victorian Man:




























Ah! Master of all I survey!

And just in case you were in any doubt, here's my favourite bit of Neocolonial Man marketing - a 2005 (I think) commercial for Qantas' revamped business-class (click on image to download a 9.39MB wmv file). It's also a classic example of what Norman Fairclough, a critical discourse analyst, calls "synthetic personalization" - the illusion of individual, personal treatment for an otherwise mass market. It takes the basic aspirational appeal of the first ad above (more celestial space, more synthetic personalization) and then takes things up a gear or two ...


It's certainly been a while since straight, White, "European" men were so actively and unapologetically encouraged to think of themselves as the centre of the universe. So much for post-colonialism. So much for post-modernity. My post-erior!

Oh, and finally, here's Neocolonial Man again - relaxing (again) after a long, hard day of globe-trotting, surveying the world and being the centre of it all ...























Perhaps we'll wake him up when the dream is over.

Note: These ads are some of the data I've been focusing on in my work on tourism and globalization - see, for example, Thurlow & Jaworski (2003) and Thurlow & Jaworski (2006).

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