Chapter 2
Review of Related Literature
This chapter presents information that supports the relationship of traditional media, consumer behavior, and how these affect certain groups of audience. The chapter is divided into three parts that highlights the significance of each topic in relation to this study. The first part talks about the development of traditional media and how it evolved to greatly affect a wider scope of social activity and human behavior. The second part, discusses labor migration that has contributed to the country’s economic revenue which makes them an essential market. These findings lead to the third part of the study that analyzes consumerism as an inevitable and pervasive force in the modern age.
Traditional Media’s Influence in Shaping Ideas and Decision-Making
One of the roles of mass media that was established in the nineteenth century was to disseminate and form the new mass culture. According to Stan Le Roy Wilson, in his book Mass Media Mass Culture: An Introduction (1995),
As new technologies developed in the industrial age, they had
to find a way to serve the new society. Among the mass medim,
for example, the newspaper found its niche by becoming a
medium in which the common person could learn about what
is happening in his or her city. (p. 30)
By providing information by the means of traditional media, the people became not only well-informed but also entertained. The messages and news delivered to them paved the way for them to broaden their knowledge and awareness, thus contributing to their choices.
In Media and Cultural Theory by Curran and Morley (2006), historically, it is virtually impossible to separate the development of promotional culture from that of most forms of mass media and culture. Media had undeniably played a crucial role in developing and changing public behavior because they are the gatekeepers for disseminating information in social systems and therefore making them a powerful agent in legitimizing behavioral norms (Finnegan, 2003). From the use of drums as a communication device to the use of the manual printing press and to the development of the Internet, media has continued to influence almost all dimensions of life: economic, political, social and behavioral.
The consequences of media dissemination of images, ideas, themes and stories are commonly discussed under the rubric of media effects (Bryant & Zillman, 1994). At first blush, the term seems to imply the unidirectional study of the media’s effect on some outcome (knowledge, opinion, attitude, behavior) among individuals, groups, institutions or communities that are regarded as more or less passive recipients of the effect (McLeod, Kosicki & Pan, 1991). However, media effects research also looks at effects flowing in the opposite direction -- from audiences to the media. Moreover, strong traditions in media research regard audiences not as passive recipients, but also as active seekers and users of information (Blumler & Katz, 1974).
He added that although media has established its influence on its audience, the audience has also been taken into high consideration of the media in terms of developing the theme and information that is being projected by the media. Thus, the media recognizes the importance of the individual, groups, communities and social systems.
In this light, Mutz (1989) pointed out that the perception of media and other people highly affects the formation of public opinion. She sited elections as one example of how the media affects the decision of the voters and how other voters influence the choices of the electorates. She refers to the media as a “third person” that either fuels or obstructs a person’s action. She added that “whether or not media content actually influences political attitudes and behaviors or not, it has a substantial impact on the conduct of elections as a result of third person perceptions of media influence.”
In addition, Wilson (1995) cited that leisure, also being an important element in this culture paved the way to provide alternative activities in exchange of the increased hours spent in the workplace. Traditional media covering sport events gave the people another alternative of recreation other than staying at home and reading a good book or going to a park for some relaxing time with family and friends. Radio’s evolution to becoming a mass communication medium in the 1920s, found that sporting activities were ideal for programming. Television’s development drove networks’ executives to turn professional football into that medium’s number one electronic sports entertainment
In the study of the media’s impact on both decision and action, Mutz’s findings are relevant, for it supports the notion that media arouses individual perception, community interaction and social system. Advertising may be an effective way of pushing an individual into action and even, sometimes, changing the person’s priorities, influences his ideas of needs and preferences.
The interaction among media, audience and social system is important in understanding how these factors affect another system whether it is a political system, social system or economic system.
The relationships between these factors are undeniably inevitable (in simple terms, one affecting the other and vice versa). According to De Mooij (2003), the relationship between media and consumerism is affected by the individual’s culture. She added that consumer behavior, through the convergence of income, media and technology highly affect the consumer’s needs, taste and lifestyles, thus making culture an important factor in both consumerism and media consumption. He pointed out that the differences in income, media, and technology of different countries are the root of variations in aspects of consumer behavior such as the consumption of packaged goods, ownership of durable goods and consumption behavior.
Given the study of De Mooij, that highlights three variables that highly affect consumerism, thus examining these factors is crucial in understanding the effect of media, together with income and developments in technology. In the Philippines per se wherein a high percentage of people are exposed to advertisements in magazines, newspapers, television, and radio, there is a greater probability of media affecting viewer’s perception. Media has continued to impact Filipinos regardless their economic status and location.
On the other hand, the study also points out the impact of income (whether increasing or decreasing) in making decisions regarding the consumption of goods. Given the increasing number of Overseas Filipino Workers and their higher income, they generate more purchasing capacity thus highly affecting the change of priorities and lifestyle of their families. Studies of government addresses the issue of how OFW families develop a lavish lifestyle after a family member leaves the country for work.
Technology on the other hand, has supported the convergence of the media and the increase in income towards a higher level of exposure and consumption. Through the developments in technology, advertisements in cellular phones and in the Internet are made available for consumers. Traditional media has also used “modified” ways in making the medium more interactive and persuasive.
According to Roberts (2000) in relation to Colonius, “the overall media exposure and exposure to individual media vary as a function of age, gender, race/ethnicity, and family socioeconomic level.”
These findings support the idea that media together with the support of interpersonal relationships is an effective channel for transmitting and discriminating messages to a wide number of people. People, regardless of their economic status, location or culture develops a need for media (although their need may vary because of the differences in their background) to satisfy their necessity for information or entertainment, therefore making it a powerful medium.
Despite the studies of the effectiveness of media in societal awareness, there’s a debate whether or not that the commercialization of mass media has contributed to the declivity of civic culture. In Keum Devanathan’s research article Political Communication (2003), he says that some scholars of various fields speculate that the personal needs emphasized by the product saturated mass media decline civic mindedness by creating particular and distinct consumption-oriented culture/s. On the other hand, other scholars contend that this conclusion is not true rather the two are positively interrelated.
The Trend of Labor Migration in the Philippines
In this period of time when global and competitive business environment arises, the quality of human resources is a key to our nation’s progress especially that the Philippines is a developing country.
According to Hechanova, Uy and Presbitero (2005), citing the 1997 Work Orientation Survey, work is seen as a person’s most important activity (88 percent). However, three-fourths also agree that a job is just a way of earning money. Hence, “work is primarily seen as a means of meeting basic needs” (p.6). Good job security, according to them, was the most important element in a job based on the 2001 World Values Survey. Second would be “good pay” (38 percent). This element is reflected by the 1.06 million Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) all over the world (National Statistics Office 2003). This data proves how labor migration is influenced by a Filipino’s desire to provide better quality of life to his or her family.
It is in our culture where family holds a very significant place in our lives, as supported by the World Values Survey, where 99 percent of participants rated family as “very important” and as work being the second most important in their lives. Also, Filipinos are known for their positive spirit—we still get to laugh despite the crisis we are facing. So, regardless of the lack of job security, low wages, unemployment, long working hours, still, “we see an image of the Filipino worker as a generally happy, family-oriented individual who values work for economic rewards and growth” (p.16).
Domestic helpers, caregivers, seaman, nurses and teachers are just some if not the most usual Filipino workers being deployed. It is not unknowing that “a throbbing Filipino chooses to leave his home and family behind to find better working conditions and ultimately offer a better quality of life for himself and for the kin” (de la Torre, 2004).
There are actually two mainstreams of manpower outflow according to her, “the permanent migration, in which the worker leaves on a more or less permanent basis to eventually call his family to join him and settle in a new land; and the temporary migration or temporary employment in which the worker will return to the home country after contract termination” (p.2). Our migrant workers were then called Overseas Contract Workers (OCWs). It was in 1995 when the term OCWs ended and was replaced to what we now call our Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs). This change according to de la Torre, signified Fidel V. Ramos Administration’s desire to bring to a close the image of Filipino workers as mere contractors that brought in much-needed dollars and affirmed them as Filipinos who had to enjoy the government’s protection of their human rights and reassurance of their dignity as decent human beings after they have acquired almost everywhere—Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, Hawaii, Hong Kong, Singapore, Europe, Japan, etc.—a reputation for their hard-work, intelligence, dependability and loyalty.
In Stella P. Go’s article, Towards the 21st Century: Whither Philippine Labor Migration published in 1998, she said that Philippines has become the largest exporter of human capital in Asia due to years of economic and political mismanagement. The emerging trends in international labor migration from the Philippines in the nineties as she cited are the increasing prominence of Asia as a work destination, the increasing demand for service workers and the re-emergence of production and related workers in the skill composition of international labor migration; and the increasing feminization of international contract labor migration. However, along these trends is the problem of illegal deployments or the undocumented workers.
She also said that “the eighties saw the increasing involvement of professionals such as medical workers in international contract labor migration” (p.15). While the increase in international demand for service workers, has resulted in the increasing feminization of contract labor migration, particularly nurses and domestic helpers. Thus, this data would be useful to our study for we can compare and analyze the changes between the present OFW’s condition from the previous years.
The economic development of a country is surely a significant determinant of labor migration. According to her, as a consequence of the economic situation of the country, migration is likely to occur and to continue for as long as the country’s economy is unable to grow fast enough to meet its people’s needs, to provide employment, and to sustain growth.
In accordance to this economic situation, the Labor Migration force contributes in alleviating the country’s economic problems through their remittances. The foreign exchange remittances help in propping up the Philippine economy to finance its investment needs.
It was in 1982 when Overseas Employment Administration (POEA), following Executive Order No. 797, was established, abolishing three offices namely: the Overseas Employment Development Board, National Seamen Board and the Bureau of Employment Services. POEA’s success in its continuous efforts towards greater efficiency and delivery of overseas employment and contracting services was seen when the dollar earnings in 1990 totaled to US $ 1.8 which hit an all time high of US $ 7.6 billion in 2003 due to the increase of skilled workers with higher compensation. In effect, dollar remittances have pumped local investments in real estate and a host of small and medium enterprises such as tricycle for livelihood in their hometowns, sari-sari stores, beauty parlors and the like (de la Torre, 2004).
To extend the global reach of Filipino workers, POEA crafted new employment arrangements. A breakthrough was achieved in their plan when more managers and ship-owners hired more Filipino officers and cadets. Also, she cited the Selective Deployment Policy—sending of Filipino workers to host countries which respect the basic human rights of a worker and or its government. Thus, securing the migrant workers’ protection with its continuous fight against illegal recruiters.
The Pervasiveness of Consumerism in Modern Age
The 21st century brought forth new ideologist, innovation, and trends that have grown to become one of the many vital factors toward current ways of service or product purchase. According to Stearns (2001) in his book titled Consumerism in World History: The Global Transformation of desire, the need to acquire luxury goods, and leisure is a basic force in modern life. It is seen as a global phenomenon with worldwide appeal. He further discussed the idea that consumerism emerged as a compensation for problems of other aspects of life.
While the unpleasantness could not be reversed directly,
it could be mitigated if labor could bid for a better life off
the job. For how was a better life off the job to be defined,
how were the higher wages and shorter hours to be used,
if not in new acquisitions or consumerist leaisure? (p.56)
The realization of consumerism and how it justify buying habits of people is important in understanding whether advertising through traditional media simply reinforces an already existing desire to acquire items. This finding also helps in knowing the behavior of consumers, wherein advertisements exploit to increase persuading ability towards product or service purchase.
In conjunction, Trentmann (2004) in Beyond Consumerism: New Historical Perspectives on Consumption stated that consumption is seen as a social activity that shouldn’t be concluded to involve solely self-fashioning, self-oriented, and utility-maximizing individuals. He added that, “It emphasizes the persistence of social and collective dimensions of consumption practices and identities” (Vol. 39, No. 3). Through the knowledge that consumption and consumerism goes beyond individuality, this would support the idea that overseas Filipino workers most likely acquire items for families and not just for personal satisfaction. This enables the researchers to comprehend the context by which ads used to attract their target audience.
Consumerism also extends to include children. Langer (2002) in Commodified Enchantment: Children and Consumer Capitalism wrote that Capitalist childhood was reconstituted as a time of consumption. This notion is significant to determine the ways by which advertising through traditional media use children left behind by OFWs as one of the major determinants that influence the decisions of family working abroad including on what to buy or acquire.
Consumerism, commoditization of culture and manipulation of preferences became a greater core of value as monopoly power and advertising developed in the modern age. In Advertising, Mass consumption and Consumerism, Benhabin and Bisin (2002) explained that postmodernist critique argues that firms manipulate preferences through advertising by creating false needs or conspicuous consumption. “The Monopoly power and advertising interact to craft individual identities to induce a system of values and preferences on the part of consumers.” (p2). The authors believe that promotion of a culture of consumerism is needed to sustain sufficient buoyancy of demand in consumer markets to keep capitalist production profitable.
This study helps in determining how advertising through traditional media exaggerates preferences to create a culture of buying. It determines the crucial ways on how advertising can and is making a “work and spend” cycle. Although consumption is a human need as stated by Borgmann (2000) “to live is to consume”. It is necessary to analyze and comprehend how adverting distorts the concept of need and preference to redefine consumerism.
