Convenience or Culture

THE GRAND OPENING of SM City in Naga has been an event that many people were anticipating with mixed feelings.  I was one of those who were waiting for the opening of the mall.  I was invited during the mall's blessing on April 30.  I was looking forward to having quality goods available at my convenience.  In spite of the rain, the first store hours on May 1 saw all kinds of people from all walks of life flocking to the mall to celebrate the advent of a mega shopping and activity center in Naga City.

When one thinks about the phenomenon of mega malls in the Philippines with the SM malls as an important factor in the development of Filipinos' mall culture, one realizes the truth behind Peter Berger's distinction that people participate in modernity either sacramentally or non-sacramentally in the dynamics of cultural globalization.  First, it is the posture of experiencing real or imagined global modernity which Berger calls sacramental consumption, for example, eating a hamburger becomes a status symbol for a modern person, who participates vicariously in American-style modernity while remaining in one's locality.  Second, it is the posture of taking a product of popular culture not as a status symbol of global modernity but simply as a product that satisfies a basic human need, for example, a hamburger is a food for a hungry person regardless of its brand name.  This consumption is considered as non-sacramental as this type of food becomes commonplace over time.  The experience of people going to SM City mall in Naga City can assume the two postures indicated by Berger.  Some welcome the mall because of convenience when it comes to their shopping needs.  Others see the mall as an indicator of Manila culture (American popular culture) coming to the province.  I heard somebody saying that when he is in the mall he feels like being in Manila.  It is when he gets out of the mall that he sees the difference.  Instead of queuing for a cab, he finds himself taking a tricycle.

Brand names and products are signatures of the global popular culture.  Some observers say that the spread of American popular culture seems to be unstoppable.  George Ritzer coins and calls this visible diffusion as the McDonaldization of the world.  It is a fact that popular culture has found its home in almost every country made possible by mass media and in the case of the Philippines by mega malls.  However, one has to account for the reality that in principle, an individual could wear jeans and rubber shoes, eat hamburgers, even watch Hollywood movies, and remain fully embedded in traditional culture.  I believe that SM city in Naga City as an experience of popular culture does not erase local identities.  It is interesting to note that local dining establishments are in the mall.  The presence of local products and restaurants in the mall are indicators that global culture brings about hybrid products that are competitive and innovative.