Disneyization

France is a place rich in wine and food. Paris is one of the world's best place to visit for good food and delicate cuisines. However, through globalization, American ideologies has been injected into the French society. It is losing its identity to American disney figures and fast food outlets. The example of McDonalds will be used to portray the disneyization in France. There are thousands of Mcdonalds outlets in France and Mcdonalds is planning to expand its reach throughout Europe in the next few years.





Disneyization is stated as the process by which the principles of Disney theme parks dominate sectors of American society as well as the rest of the world. There are 4 main aspects to disneyization, namely, theming, hybrid consumption, merchandising and performative labour.

Theming

* clothing institutions or objects in a narrative that is largely unrelated to the institution or object to which it is applied, such as a casino or restaurant with a Wild West narrative

In 2001, McDonald's planned to open 30-40 new outlets a year in France. McDonald's has also claimedd to be the leading restaurant chain in France. Paris, France, is the gastronomical capital of the world! It is the place to be for food fanatics. Mcdonalds is unrelated to any of the fancy French cuisines and delicacies. Therefore it fulfills the theming aspect of disneyization.


Performative Labour

* the growing tendency for frontline service work to be viewed as a performance, especially one in which the deliberate display of a certain mood is seen as part of the labour involved in service work.

Serving hundreds of customers daily, Mcdonalds cashiers are required to be smiling and taking orders at the same time. Since they serve so many customers, the cashiers have to be fast and efficient to keep the waiting time short. Thus, they have a standardized routine speech to ask customers which are repeated for every customers.

Hybrid Consumption

* a general trend whereby the forms of consumption associated with different institutional spheres become interlocked with each other and increasingly difficult to distinguish;

Mcdonalds requires all its staff to be clad in Mcdonalds uniform and attire. The uniform is also constant throughout all Mcdonalds outlets. Therefore, it is hard to differentiate a Mcdonalds outlet in Paris from a Mcdonalds outlet in Russia. With this, France might be losing their sense of identity and culture due to exposure to foreign culture.


Merchandising

* the promotion and sale of goods in the form of or bearing copyright images and/or logos, including such products made under licence;

As we all know Ronald McDonald is the famous Mcdonalds mascot. However in France, the Mcdonalds mascot was replaced in its French advertisements by Asterix. Asterix is a French comic-strip character who stands for Gallic individuality and symbolises local resistance to imperial forces. A survey conducted in 2003 revealed that Asterix was the favourite cartoon character of 53% of French people. The mascot was changed from Ronald Mcdonald to Asterix in hope to gain support from the French locals. Below is a picture of the French Mcdonalds mascot, Asterix.

Asterix

Changes

Economic

As there is a growth of tourism in France, more foreign currency has been brought into France. This meant that there would be more foreign money inflow which will contribute much to France's economy and annual GDP. Seeing that there is potential growth for tourism, investors start to invest into private sectors such as water sports activities. This results in an increase of foreign cash inflow.

Environmental

Currently, France is Europe's 2nd most polluting country. With tourism, there would be negative impacts. This is because land and space needs to be cleared for tourism activities. Rainforests have been cut down to make way for the development of accommodation and transport. In addition, Aeroplanes and ships who ferry tourists emit large amount of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxides. The presence of these gases leads to an increase in the average global temperature.

Social

With higher inbound tourist arrivals, this will promote jobs that might not have been discovered until globalization. With more jobs created, this would improve the standard of living for locals and the quality of their lives. Secondly, there is also increased awareness of the French culture. Tourists can become more aware of the French culture as traveling has been made easier and cheaper.

However, there might be a loss of local culture amongst the French as global brands such as Starbucks and Mcdonalds dominate the consumer market. These corporations have standardized methods of operations, thus, are identical in appearance. In this way, these organizations have created a largely homogeneous culture across the world. Furthermore, globalization has also lead to the spread of pop culture across the world. These cultures include pop music and Hollywood movies. These cultures have influenced the youths negatively as they lose interest in the local culture.

Technological

With tourism, the country has to constantly improve and upgrade their technology to accommodate to tourists' needs and wants. For example, WiFi services are now common in hotels. Locals who operate these services must also be familiar with these devices so as to provide better services for the tourists

Culprit?

Has tourism been a culprit in commodifying cultures and traditions?

Yes, I feel that tourism has been a culprit in commodifying cultures and traditions. Through tourism, more people are more exposed and aware of a country's culture. These tourists would then "bring back" the experience of the country with them. They would then spread the word about this certain culture. This makes the country's culture commercialized as people are constantly visiting it. And then it would not be unique anymore as everyone has experience or seen the culture. For example, Chinatown is solely exclusive to the Chinese people. However, the Americans have mimicked Chinatown by building one in every famous state to give Americans an experience of Chinatown without having to go to China.

Secondly, poorer countries like Indonesia make use of tourism to "sell" their culture to tourists. For example, tourists are required to pay for a cultural Legong dance in Bali. This maybe lead to the extinction of its culture in a long run as this might deter tourists from visiting their country to experience their culture.