Corporate Candids Photo Gallery by Kal Khogali at pbase.com

Corporate Candids

This gallery was inspired by a discussion between Duncan and Stan Schutze on the image "100 Acre Wood". It is social commentary on the merging of cultures, fashions and values...West meeting East in the form of Brands. A work in progress. K

Take a Break, Shanghai 2006	The Door To Dior, Shanghai 2006	Be Cool, Shanghai 2006	"The Real Thing"?, Shanghai 2006	Get The Message?
PWC, Shanghai 2005	The March of Fashion, Shanghai 2005	Fashion in a Bottle	The New Colonials, Shanghai 2005	Dedicated Follower, Shanghai 2005
Windows of Opportunity, Shanghai 2005	Phoney Conversations, Shanghai 2006	100 Acre Wood, Shanghai 2006	Buy! Buy! Buy!, Shanghai 2006	A Bitter Taste, Shanghai 2006

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Guest		09-Apr-2007 20:09
I just like the pictures. We can talk a lot about the how and why but at least we got to do something with it and thats what you did.

Click Hamilton		09-Apr-2007 16:55
As a matter of fact, I'm sipping a fine, strong, rich cup of Starbucks as I read and ponder these photos and posts. I wonder about "Chinese traditions" and the way they may have been modified post 1949, or traditional values in Tibet, or maybe the impact of the Cultural Revolution, or it's downstream events on Cambodian traditions to the south. Or in Indonesia in 1965. Where in the world can we find Chinese products now, and to what degree have they affected traditions and economies of the Americas, Europe, Middle East, Asia and anywhere else? I wonder how much of what Starbucks, KFC, McDonalds, etc., sells is made in China in the first place? Who makes the machines, cups, napkins, mylar bags, ribbons, furniture, and so on? I wonder if the same suppliers of contaminated wheat derivatives used in most pet food products here also go to McDonalds as meat filler for what constitutes a hamburger now? Just curious. On a trip from Guangzhou Province down the river to Hongkong on a jet boat, I was amazed to see the miles and miles and miles of shipping container yards stacked high with containers of Chinese product being filled for export. Stacks of 40' Shipping containers have become as much a part of the river, as the river itself. Dio, Versace, Hermes, mobile phones, and almost everything else in the world is now made in China. What's what? I'm confused.

Guest		06-Jul-2006 01:31
Armin, I can see how many people would see it that way but I have been lost in the woods and saw the light and it was not McDonalds but family or friends or a familiar landmark, which could be a corporate thing for some but my mind does not work that way. When I go on a journey I don’t look for what is known but what is unknown. I get lost a lot travelling anywhere, no sense of direction some would say. That said I get the home feeling not from things or buildings but people. McDonalds to me means greasy food and caffeine in an already much too caffeinated world. Duncan

arminb		08-May-2006 18:11
Hm, Duncan, I'm not so sure, corporate branding is such a powerful tool - and it will influence values as well - imagine you are in the wilderness, it's dark, you drove for hours already, you're tired and exhaused and your journey seems endless...can you feel it? Ok, and then out of nowhere, the typical yellow sign of McD - and many people will get a home feeling, knowing that the journey will end shortly. Absurd? Of course, but also true. Kal, thanks for this great discussion place, inspired by your great gallery :) Cheers, Armin

Guest		15-Apr-2006 11:52
Wonderful work ........... Keep them coming.

...duncan		02-Mar-2006 02:15
Kal, I don’t mind the fact the Coke is spreading around the world or McDonalds or any other the other western products. What I don’t like are the corporate slogans taking over a culture and landscape. When I buy a Pepsi I buy the drink or a cuppa I buy the coffee but I don’t buy or purchase the idea of the image of Starbucks overtaking the skyline. What does the Coke slogan have to do with lamps or anything other than coke? Not a bit other than the product and company taking all means necessary to sell its product. Do we really need McBabies clothing and Coke lamps or Starbucks hoodies? Not really. I don’t think so anyway. I have always believed the products quality should sell the product and not adverts. If Starbucks or any other the other companies in question, and there are many, are that good then there should not be a need for blanketing and world with advertising. Leica cameras don’t need it but I know that is on my wish list. What it is, is, fast food culture overcoming culture itself. We want a product not because it is good quality but because we see it advertised everywhere we turn. People are becoming adverts for product and have been for a while but more so now landscapes are as well. We don’t see beautiful graffiti on the walls of a building or train, we see buy this or that. We don’t see a mountain side or lake or ocean, we see a huge M sticking over the horizon. My point with the coffee and everything else is that, to me a cup tastes much better with that old machine churning in the background while I read the paper, and it is not a quiet machine either. It chugs and spits and mulches the beans in a whirr of delight while the man next to me reads the horse racing results and the next talks about his daughter’s dance recital. It is ambience lost for convenience sake because although the corporate coffee can be good in a pinch but taking the time to sit and have a cup with a friend without feeling pushed out the door so your spot can be replaced is a good feeling like having dinner on a plate as opposed to a bag of cardboard box. Fish and Chips are a whole ‘nother story.

Kal Khogali		27-Feb-2006 03:45
Thanks Alem, your view is Stan's view, and in a sense the gallery was meant to prompt the discussion. From my perspective, alot of my photographic style deals with the "clash" of civilisations/ways of life as you describe it, but in reality this is not a clash so much as an acceptance of new ways, in China, what you see below is seen as progress here, I see that too, but I also see thcost of progress...that doesn't mean no progress, but record the cost. I wonder in twenty years time when names like BenQ and Haier and Shanghai Automotive (and who knows what else) become household brands, if Europeans or Americans will feel as welcoming. I take your point that the gallery may be more negative than positive in it's outlook....but if you don't take a position, how do you provoke a response? ;-)) By the way I am intrigued by Duncan's comment below, because If I read it carefully, he is not resisting the ideas in these images, but that they are corporate and branded (e.g. Starbucks is the problem, not coffee itself...).

Guest		26-Feb-2006 22:10
I am sorry but I am not sure whether I like this gallery. I mean, each photo is nice but put all togheter like that, I don't really see West meeting East nor "merging of cultures, fashions and values"... I just see western brands conquering eastern markets. Why should that be so strange ? Don't westners have chinese food or clothes ? Why then people from the east shouldn't have coke or starbucks or wear armani ties ? The problem with this gallery is how you look at it. I am afraid the general approach - not sure about your intentions - is too "orientalistic"... east, west and the clash... Truth is - and this is my interpretation of the gallery - there is no east and no west. P.S. My comment goes beyond the strictly photographic aspects of the gallery and I am aware that what I said would require thousand more words and more articulated thoughts.....

...duncan		25-Feb-2006 04:25
I love the idea and theme. One world imposing itself on another, however I do see a few images where there are people ignoring the adverts or turning their heads up to them to show prowess over them. I like that. It is turning into a fast-paced fast-food world where we have to gobble and munch every bit of it until the only thing we have left to sell is our soul because our credit card is maxed out on visits to Starbucks and Wal-Mart. If you don’t have those there yet wait, they will be soon. Many people don’t realise what they are missing when they go to Starbucks for a cuppa instead of the Italian coffee house down the block. It isn’t the service because Starbucks only wants your cash and the coffee house counter person will tell you straightaway that they don’t serve American coffee here and a cup of espresso will keep you up all night. To me it is a war between consumerism and falling into that mould and culture. Keep up the great work.

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