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In "Through the Looking Glass," Humpty Dumpty declared, "When I use
a word, it means what I choose it to mean, neither more nor less."
Mr. Dumpty would have loved living in our era of corporate-speak,
when even a plain word of obvious meaning can be dumped down the
semantical rabbit hole to be swirled and twirled by marketing meisters.
Then -- sproing! -- out it pops, looking like the same word, but now
burdened with a convoluted connotation that is the very opposite of
what the word appears to mean.
This corporatization of language is presently being applied to the
common term, "local" -- as in: right here, in the immediate vicinity,
this neck of the woods, hereabouts, our backyard, etc.
In the past few years, "local" has become an important commercial
term, as small businesses have proudly attached it to their products,
services and presence in the marketplace. The term differentiates them
from the gigantism, plasticity, aloofness and frequent abusiveness of
faraway, big-box, chain operations. The message conveyed by these local
enterprises is that "we are your neighbors, you know us and we know
you, we share a community bond beyond just taking your money."
"Local" is a growing movement in American commerce. Some 30,000
small businesses have organized themselves into "local business
alliances" in more than 130 cities. The movement is phenomenally
popular with consumers, who like the personality and uniqueness of
homegrown enterprises and prefer to buy from people who keep consumer
dollars moving through the local economy.
As a result of the movement's financial
success, many more businesses are joining the local push. For example,
such down-home outfits as Barnes & Noble, CVS, Frito Lay, HSBC,
Starbucks, Unilever and Wal-Mart are trying to get in on the action.
Believe it or not, these giants are using TV ads and other
promotional outlets to hawk their centralized, standardized and
globalized brands as "local." Here are a few of the twists they've made
in the straightforward definition of the term:
-- HSBC, a sprawling, British-based financial conglomerate, has
thousands of branch banks in localities across the globe (from Boston
to Brazil), so it has labeled itself, "the world's local bank."
-- Barnes & Noble, the biggest bookseller in the world, is trying
to scale its image down to mom-and-pop level by proclaiming that "all
book-selling is local."
-- Hellmann's, a division of the Dutch-owned 
conglomerate, is claming that its mayonnaise is a local product because
most of its ingredients come from somewhere in North America -- a 9.5
million square mile stretch of "local."
-- Starbucks, the ubiquitous 16,000-store caffeine purveyor, has been losing market share
to cool, local shops that are the opposite of cookie-cutter chain
stores, so the giant is opening a series of pretend-funky shops
designed by corporate headquarters to present a "local vibe" -- a
consumer hoax that includes no display at all of the Starbucks name and
logo.
These examples are closer to loco than they are to local!
Stacy Mitchell of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance notes that
the corporate pretenders are often boosted by economic development
officials.
She recently reported on a "buy local" campaign in Fresno, Calif., in
which county authorities sold out the true locals (as well as the
English language) by proclaiming, "Just so you know, buying local means
any store in your community: mom-and-pop stores, national chains,
big-box stores -- you name it."
This "ya'll come" perversion of reality is supported by PR
consultants for giant marketers. As rationalized by Michelle Barry, an
executive of the Hartman Group: "There is a belief that you can only be
local if you are a small and authentic brand. This isn't necessarily
true; big brands can use the notion of local to their advantage as
well. ... It's a different way of thinking about local that is not
quite as literal."
Wow, Humpty Dumpty would be proud of her! By that definition, "Made in China" could be local.
To connect with the "literal" world of local business, contact the Institute for Local Self-Reliance: www.ilsr.org.
© 2023 Jim Hightower
In "Through the Looking Glass," Humpty Dumpty declared, "When I use
a word, it means what I choose it to mean, neither more nor less."
Mr. Dumpty would have loved living in our era of corporate-speak,
when even a plain word of obvious meaning can be dumped down the
semantical rabbit hole to be swirled and twirled by marketing meisters.
Then -- sproing! -- out it pops, looking like the same word, but now
burdened with a convoluted connotation that is the very opposite of
what the word appears to mean.
This corporatization of language is presently being applied to the
common term, "local" -- as in: right here, in the immediate vicinity,
this neck of the woods, hereabouts, our backyard, etc.
In the past few years, "local" has become an important commercial
term, as small businesses have proudly attached it to their products,
services and presence in the marketplace. The term differentiates them
from the gigantism, plasticity, aloofness and frequent abusiveness of
faraway, big-box, chain operations. The message conveyed by these local
enterprises is that "we are your neighbors, you know us and we know
you, we share a community bond beyond just taking your money."
"Local" is a growing movement in American commerce. Some 30,000
small businesses have organized themselves into "local business
alliances" in more than 130 cities. The movement is phenomenally
popular with consumers, who like the personality and uniqueness of
homegrown enterprises and prefer to buy from people who keep consumer
dollars moving through the local economy.
As a result of the movement's financial
success, many more businesses are joining the local push. For example,
such down-home outfits as Barnes & Noble, CVS, Frito Lay, HSBC,
Starbucks, Unilever and Wal-Mart are trying to get in on the action.
Believe it or not, these giants are using TV ads and other
promotional outlets to hawk their centralized, standardized and
globalized brands as "local." Here are a few of the twists they've made
in the straightforward definition of the term:
-- HSBC, a sprawling, British-based financial conglomerate, has
thousands of branch banks in localities across the globe (from Boston
to Brazil), so it has labeled itself, "the world's local bank."
-- Barnes & Noble, the biggest bookseller in the world, is trying
to scale its image down to mom-and-pop level by proclaiming that "all
book-selling is local."
-- Hellmann's, a division of the Dutch-owned
conglomerate, is claming that its mayonnaise is a local product because
most of its ingredients come from somewhere in North America -- a 9.5
million square mile stretch of "local."
-- Starbucks, the ubiquitous 16,000-store caffeine purveyor, has been losing market share
to cool, local shops that are the opposite of cookie-cutter chain
stores, so the giant is opening a series of pretend-funky shops
designed by corporate headquarters to present a "local vibe" -- a
consumer hoax that includes no display at all of the Starbucks name and
logo.
These examples are closer to loco than they are to local!
Stacy Mitchell of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance notes that
the corporate pretenders are often boosted by economic development
officials.
She recently reported on a "buy local" campaign in Fresno, Calif., in
which county authorities sold out the true locals (as well as the
English language) by proclaiming, "Just so you know, buying local means
any store in your community: mom-and-pop stores, national chains,
big-box stores -- you name it."
This "ya'll come" perversion of reality is supported by PR
consultants for giant marketers. As rationalized by Michelle Barry, an
executive of the Hartman Group: "There is a belief that you can only be
local if you are a small and authentic brand. This isn't necessarily
true; big brands can use the notion of local to their advantage as
well. ... It's a different way of thinking about local that is not
quite as literal."
Wow, Humpty Dumpty would be proud of her! By that definition, "Made in China" could be local.
To connect with the "literal" world of local business, contact the Institute for Local Self-Reliance: www.ilsr.org.
In "Through the Looking Glass," Humpty Dumpty declared, "When I use
a word, it means what I choose it to mean, neither more nor less."
Mr. Dumpty would have loved living in our era of corporate-speak,
when even a plain word of obvious meaning can be dumped down the
semantical rabbit hole to be swirled and twirled by marketing meisters.
Then -- sproing! -- out it pops, looking like the same word, but now
burdened with a convoluted connotation that is the very opposite of
what the word appears to mean.
This corporatization of language is presently being applied to the
common term, "local" -- as in: right here, in the immediate vicinity,
this neck of the woods, hereabouts, our backyard, etc.
In the past few years, "local" has become an important commercial
term, as small businesses have proudly attached it to their products,
services and presence in the marketplace. The term differentiates them
from the gigantism, plasticity, aloofness and frequent abusiveness of
faraway, big-box, chain operations. The message conveyed by these local
enterprises is that "we are your neighbors, you know us and we know
you, we share a community bond beyond just taking your money."
"Local" is a growing movement in American commerce. Some 30,000
small businesses have organized themselves into "local business
alliances" in more than 130 cities. The movement is phenomenally
popular with consumers, who like the personality and uniqueness of
homegrown enterprises and prefer to buy from people who keep consumer
dollars moving through the local economy.
As a result of the movement's financial
success, many more businesses are joining the local push. For example,
such down-home outfits as Barnes & Noble, CVS, Frito Lay, HSBC,
Starbucks, Unilever and Wal-Mart are trying to get in on the action.
Believe it or not, these giants are using TV ads and other
promotional outlets to hawk their centralized, standardized and
globalized brands as "local." Here are a few of the twists they've made
in the straightforward definition of the term:
-- HSBC, a sprawling, British-based financial conglomerate, has
thousands of branch banks in localities across the globe (from Boston
to Brazil), so it has labeled itself, "the world's local bank."
-- Barnes & Noble, the biggest bookseller in the world, is trying
to scale its image down to mom-and-pop level by proclaiming that "all
book-selling is local."
-- Hellmann's, a division of the Dutch-owned
conglomerate, is claming that its mayonnaise is a local product because
most of its ingredients come from somewhere in North America -- a 9.5
million square mile stretch of "local."
-- Starbucks, the ubiquitous 16,000-store caffeine purveyor, has been losing market share
to cool, local shops that are the opposite of cookie-cutter chain
stores, so the giant is opening a series of pretend-funky shops
designed by corporate headquarters to present a "local vibe" -- a
consumer hoax that includes no display at all of the Starbucks name and
logo.
These examples are closer to loco than they are to local!
Stacy Mitchell of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance notes that
the corporate pretenders are often boosted by economic development
officials.
She recently reported on a "buy local" campaign in Fresno, Calif., in
which county authorities sold out the true locals (as well as the
English language) by proclaiming, "Just so you know, buying local means
any store in your community: mom-and-pop stores, national chains,
big-box stores -- you name it."
This "ya'll come" perversion of reality is supported by PR
consultants for giant marketers. As rationalized by Michelle Barry, an
executive of the Hartman Group: "There is a belief that you can only be
local if you are a small and authentic brand. This isn't necessarily
true; big brands can use the notion of local to their advantage as
well. ... It's a different way of thinking about local that is not
quite as literal."
Wow, Humpty Dumpty would be proud of her! By that definition, "Made in China" could be local.
To connect with the "literal" world of local business, contact the Institute for Local Self-Reliance: www.ilsr.org.