How Filipinos’ Glocalize International Brands in Video Commercials? : A Multimodal Discourse Analysis of Glocalization and Cultural Identity in Three Filipino TV Commercials

Author: Remart Dumlao, Arlene Bobadilla-Honthong (King Mongkut\’s University of Technology Thonburi)
Speaker: Remart Dumlao, Arlene Bobadilla-Honthong
Topic: Semiotics and semiology
The (SCOPUS / ISI) SOAS GLOCAL CALA 2019 General Session

Abstract

Improvising selected tools from Kress and Van Leeuwen’s inter-semiosis framework and SF-MDA framework of O’Halloran, this paper explores how Filipino localize international brands in TV commercials in the Philippines which depicts often reframe a cultural third space producing new discursive forms and identities. Three commercials from the beverage and food industries are selected on the basis of the country of the endorsing company and the pattern of glocalization. Finding on Multimodal discourse analysis reveals that commercials construct the glocal identity in several ways. For instance, in the Milo drink commercial, the melody of the title song is adult contemporary pop, whereas the delivery style and crooning are distinctively western. Bear brand drink commercial, on the other hand, the melody of the title song is Sentimental ballad which particularly characteristic of the popular song of the British Isles. The language used is predominantly Filipino with deft use of selected English words. In the McDonalds’ commercial, typical Filipino childhood memories are recollected by visual collocated more westernized-participants. Thus, the study advances the knowledge of product positioning brand identity involving the intersemiosis of discursive elements from different cultural spaces within the contemporary Philippine consumerist culture.

Keywords: Multi-modal analysis, commercials, glocalization, international brands