Consumerism and Asian marketing professionals blasted!

22nd July 1996

One of the two quality Bangkok English dailies, The Nation, celebrated its 25th anniversary in July with a glossy volume entitled 25 Years of the Nation.Focussing on the growing middle classes and consequent phenomena of consumerism, it is far from being a mere decoration for the new Teak coffee table in trendy Sukhumvit apartments,it includes more of the provocative social analysis of Thailand that Nation readers have become accustomed to.

The press in neighboring countries being somewhat more stymied, the Nation can be relied on to speak their mind. Take the quote from the well known mass media expert, Boonrak Boonyaketmal, of Thammasat University for example. Warming to his task, Boonyaketmal has these opinions on the advertising "community" in Thailand:-

They are a community of liars!

They just want to see who can lie better - the winner gets the award. And then they have what they call their "creative" divisions. Its a gross abuse of one of the most beautiful words mankind ever invented. To make it worse, let me say that Thai creative writers are merely a bunch of second rate imitators.

Advertising and marketing groups were of course quick to jump to their own defense and the feature goes on to analyze with opinions from many on consumer culture.

However for our purposes, Boonyaketmal's comments may ring true in many other Asian countries as well as the old world too of course. Last weeks' Bangkok Post and Nation together reported on the fines handed out to a cellular phone company for deceptive advertising, and similar instances occur in Malaysia, Taiwan and even squeaky clean Singapore regularly.

More interesting is the comment on the quality of the work of Asian advertising professionals. Again, not just confined to Thailand, recruitment groups report extreme problems in locating good marketing and creative staff. The major reason of course is the fast growth of the advertising and marketing function in Asia in recent years. Local training is just not able to keep up with the demand. To make matters worse, such professionals are not included in the work permit exclusions of most countries, making recruitment of foreign professionals to help train the trade here difficult. The result is, with some notable exclusions of course, poor quality copy and design, deceptive advertising, and promotions that are quite frankly boring, and mass marketed rather than target marketed, turning urban streets into billboard nightmares and making the news hard to read in between the advertising.

Even more disturbing is that with the lack of excellence in creativity, marketing/advertising people look to simply copy the techniques and methods of the old world. Multinationals simply import global advertising strategies into Asia.

While we tired many years ago about hearing how Asia is fast becoming the "biggest consumer market in the world", the old world is attempting to colonize the hearts and minds of this "new market" which they failed to do previously with their armies and economic forays. While Singapore in particular and Asia in general rushes to negate the influence of the Western media (including the Internet) in promoting the free speech and exchange of ideas that may corrupt minds, they leave alone unfettered the influence of consumerism.

Consumerism dominates the minds of the new Asian middle class. To Asia and outside it is a market to make money out of. And the governments encourage it, for more consumer goods means more that the middle class have to buy to keep up with the Wongs and keep face, and they work bloody hard to achieve it. And the middle class falls for it. How often have your hosts taken you on a tour of the latest nega shopping mall, proudly pointing out the designer fashion shops and then completing the tour with lunch in a shopping mall eatery?

It is perhaps in the commercial and retail area where Western influence is seen at its most absurd and insidious. Lets develop the real creative minds here and contract the agencies that contribute to the new world rather than copying the old. The battle that was lost in the safari suit is very close to being won in the double breasted suit and red tie.