LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.A Shock to the System The graphic design of my article on working with the media in the Asia Pacific (June/July) was so arresting that the illustrations communicated loudest to many members arriving at this page in the publication. And for our Chinese members in Asia who reacted, fortune cookies were a problem because they are a foreign creation and to them represent a stereotyping of Chinese culture that they find demeaning de·mean 1 tr.v. de·meaned, de·mean·ing, de·means To conduct or behave (oneself) in a particular manner: demeaned themselves well in class. . Also, a boomerang boomerang (b  `mərăng'), special form of throwing stick, used mainly by the aborigines of Australia. is an Aboriginal Australian artefact See artifact. , and like the North American North Americannamed after North America. North American blastomycosis see North American blastomycosis. North American cattle tick see boophilusannulatus. Indians, the Aboriginal people in Australia have become very sensitive about the use of their artefacts as icons without the appropriate consultation. One might argue that pictures of fortune cookies and boomerangs abound in promotional literature, but that's because we are still educating our own communicators about these things. There is increasing litigation An action brought in court to enforce a particular right. The act or process of bringing a lawsuit in and of itself; a judicial contest; any dispute. When a person begins a civil lawsuit, the person enters into a process called litigation. against the perceived misuse of cultural icons, and consumers are showing their distaste by withholding their patronage. Also we should keep firmly in mind that what might be an icon for one group of people (for example, fortune cookies for the people of the United States might say "Chinese," or as the designer suggested, "Singapore" they might say "lack of knowledge of our culture" to our members in Hong Kong. I had no idea when I sent the article to Communication World that the visual interpretation would be as it was and I must be honest and say I know enough about Chinese culture to have been given a nasty shock when I opened my advance copy of CW. To echo the words of a hotel manager who apologised to me for poor service recently, "I am humbled by this experience. Meryl David MD COMMUNICATION SYDNEY, NSW NSW New South Wales Noun 1. NSW - the agency that provides units to conduct unconventional and counter-guerilla warfare Naval Special Warfare , AUSTRALIA |
|
||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion