ABSTRACT
As “a series of complex, independent yet interrelated processes of stretching, intensifying, and accelerating worldwide interconnectedness,” globalization is affecting “all aspects of human relations and transactions—economic, social, cultural, environmental, political, diplomatic, and security—such that events, decisions, and activities in one part of the world ha[ve] immediate consequences for individuals, groups, and states in other parts of the world” (S. Kim 2000: 10). Among the tidal waves of globalization is transnational advertising, which has swept across most parts of the globe since the 1970s. With their remarkable economic growth in recent decades, many countries in Asia 1 are seen as the greatest “beneficiaries” of globalization (Roach 2009: 1). If free markets have been the fuel for economic growth in Asia, advertising—including transnational advertising—has been the match that sparked the fire (Frith 1996: 9).
