Electronic colonialism

Electronic colonialism theory was first started by Tom McPhail, a Canadian who began his career with Marshall McLuhan. Following a posting with UNESCO in Paris, McPhail wrote a book for SAGE entitled Electronic Colonialism: the Future of International Broadcasting and Communication in 1981. The foreword was written by Everett Rogers. The theory is about the impact on the mind of repeated mass media messages, including commercials, on audiences around the world. Just as earlier colonial institutions, like Great Britain, sought out soil anywhere in the world for colonies, now multimedia giants seek to capture the eyeballs, ears and minds of millions of viewers, readers, or listeners. Disney, MTV, Netflix, Comcast, Hollywood, CNN, BBC, Fox, Google, the Internet, and others—all seek to influence, not by force of arms, but by packaging media to attract large audiences for advertisers around the globe. The mass media over time will impact more and more individuals—primarily using the English language—to become more similar as indigenous films and artifacts become marginalized by a cultural tsunami created by high-quality and mass-produced media messages and systems.

Electronic colonialism theory explains how mass media are leading to a new concept of empire. It will not be one based on military power or land acquisition but one based on controlling the mind. It is a psychological or mental empire. It is an evolving global "Empire of the Mind." The global media are collectively influencing the minds, attitudes, values, and languages of individuals around the globe. It is an electronic mass media driven phenomena which over time will not only expand the frontiers of the multi-national communication firms but will far exceed even the vast reach of the declining, once-great British Empire.

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