Jihad Vs McWorld

In Jihad vs. McWorld, Benjamin Barber puts forth two opposing extremes of ideology, Jihad and McWorld. Jihad consists of religious fundamentalists trying to force their views onto all others. On the other end of the spectrum is McWorld based on capitalistic principals. Each of these ideologies challenge the way of democracy. In their differences they are similar. McWorld tries to sell products; Jihad tries to sell their beliefs and ideas. Part 1 of Jihad vs. McWorld introduces McWorld, its way of thinking and affect on democracy. Democracy is supposed to serve the public interest. The corporations of McWorld care about one thing, profit. Every decision is based from an economic standpoint. The McWorld question is, what will be the monetary gain, not what is best for the public. In McWorld everything commoditized. If a profit can not be made then there is no need. In McWorld we live in a pseudo democracy. Under McWorld, democracy is redefined as consumer choices, thousands of products to choose from. The term citizen is replaced with consumer.

The objective of every corporation is make money. Barber states, “Selling American products means Selling America.” I agree with this. It is not just a product that is being sold it’s a symbol. I experienced this when I was employed at a drugstore. A customer has a choice of either the Discount Drugmart brand of a medicine or a brand name medicine. The store brand is less expensive yet contains the same ingredients as the brand name product. Many times the store brand is actually manufactured by the same company just put into a different box and an inactive ingredient is changed, however customers will still buy the more expensive product. The consumer is not buying ibuprofen, they are buying Advil. Not only are they paying for the medicine, they are paying for the company to advertise their product, consecutively influencing the consumer to buy more of their product. Cultural status is correlated with what car you drive, what clothes you wear, and the size of your television. In McWorld people are defined by their material goods, not morals.

McWorld feeds off advertisement. According to Barber, “The story of McWorld’s rise is the story of the advertising industry’s explosive growth in the same period.” Again I agree with Barber. Our lives are surrounded by advertisements. Television for an example is a huge advertisement medium. Programs are breaks in between advertisements, not the other way around. Even during shows advertising can be seen, people wearing name brand clothes, drinking a Pepsi, driving a Lexus. As these programs are viewed the watchers absorb these things. If these people are drinking Pepsi why shouldn’t I? Clothes are also a big example of advertisement. Barber explains this as well. Wearing Nikes makes you an athlete, even if you are the most uncoordinated, out of shape person in the world. While Nike shoes cost $100 plus other off brand shoes can be bought for fractions of that price. In some cases the consumer gets what they pay for. Being a runner I have had many experiences with shoes. A higher quality product might need to be used. Going through three to four pairs of running shoes a year gets very expensive, but you can not settle for cheap shoes in this case. Having a good shoe is important