Globalization or Regionalization?

Abstract

During the television broadcast of the 1994 Olympic Winter Games on CBS, this advertisement, sponsored by Sara Lee Corporation for its Hanes garment division, appeared against a backdrop of colorful images of people from the various ethnic backgrounds and an upbeat rhythm of an undefined world music. It ended with Hanes’ signature chorus ‘Just wait ’til we get our Hanes on you!’ In its own way, this message epitomized Marx’s prediction 150 years ago that the bourgeoisie, in its relentless search for markets, would destroy all vestiges of nationalism and parochialism in the world. Never mind that the inhabitants of an entire continent are lumped together into one nationality (‘African’) while the rest of the world appears rather more differentiated. Maybe it reflects the (un)conscious admission of Sara Lee Corporation that the African continent is not yet a promising enough market to warrant differentiation.¹