Visualizing the Nation: National identity, tourism advertising, and nation branding in Croatia
View/ Open
Date
28/11/2017Author
Fernandez, Nichole Marie
Metadata
Abstract
in many daily forms of media we see the nation being represented by or alongside
images. These images of the nation inform the way we see both others and
ourselves. This thesis attempts to understand the way the nation is visualized, a
topic that has been largely overlooked by theorists of nationalism. The visualization
of the nation is explored by researching two national tourism campaigns in
Croatia. Croatia was chosen as a case study in which to examine the visualization
of the nation due to its recent accession into the European Union alongside the
country’s economic dependence on tourism and its current attempts at rebranding.
In order to achieve the aims of this research I ask two main research questions:
1. How is the nation visualized in Croatia through tourism advertising
and by whom?, 2. How is this visualization received by members of the nation?
These questions were answered by combining three methodological steps which
consisted of a visual analysis of the images of the campaigns, interviewing those
involved in creating the campaigns and other members of the design or tourism
community, and finally photo elicitation interviews with members of the Croatian
public.
This research found that Croatia is often peripheral within these tourism
campaigns. The nation is represented passively with the main focus of the advertisements
being the experience of tourism. Croatia is merely the backdrop that
these tourism activities are being advertised through. This passive representation
of Croatia is a consequence of an industry that is focused on increasing tourism
numbers and that relies heavily on marketing data. The representation of Croatia
is not the aim of these tourism campaigns. The passive image of the nation
is additionally the consequence of Croatia’s uneasy relationship with presenting
something as national. National pride is often equated with violent forms of nationalism
and therefore visual representations of the nation are often eliminated
from the positive marketing images of the tourism campaigns.
Both members of the nation and the industry downplay the importance
of tourism advertising arguing that these images are solely for the tourist and
therefore they are largely insignificant. However, I use du Gay’s (1997) concept
of the ‘circuit of culture’ to argue that tourism advertising is not just influenced
by national identity but rather it is also influencing national identity. These tourism
campaigns contribute to the construction of national identity. Therefore, this
passive image of the nation is not just for tourists, it is part of a circuit of identity
construction that reaches far beyond the target audience.
Overall, these tourism images are simplistic and reductive imitations of the
nation while national identity is complex, inconsistent, and often contradictory.
Branding and design often aims to condense identity into easily recognizable and
quickly communicated images making any attempt to brand the nation inherently
lacking. While this reductive identity is useful when branding a company
or product, when applied to the nation ethical questions emerge about who has
the right to construct the nation’s image. I argue that this new phenomenon of
commercialized branding that is now a responsibility of the nation is evidence
of the changing role of the nation from a modern construction to a postmodern
brander. This opens up questions about the democratic nature of these tourism
images and consequences of nation branding efforts that continue to represent
the nation in reductive and passive terms.
Collections
The following license files are associated with this item:
Except where otherwise noted, this item's license is described as Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International
Related items
Showing items related by title, author, creator and subject.
-
Congestion, Capacity, Carbon: Priorities for National Infrastructure - Consultation Response: SCCS response to the National Infrastructure Commission consultation on priorities for national infrastructure
Bell, Rebecca; Brownsort, Peter; Haszeldine, R Stuart; Mackay, Eric; Akhurst, Maxine (Scottish Carbon Capture and Storage (SCCS), 2018-01)Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is a set of technologies that can reduce emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) at source to prevent increased atmospheric concentrations of the gas, which cause climate change. The approach of ... -
Unionist-nationalism : the historical construction of Scottish national identity, Edinburgh, 1830-1860
Morton, Graeme (The University of Edinburgh, 1994)In this thesis the relationship between the British state and Scottish civil society is analysed for the mid-nineteenth century. Focussing on the 1830-1860 period, this thesis will attempt to re-conceptualise the state/civil ... -
One nation, many faiths: representations of religious pluralism and national identity in the Scottish interfaith literature
Sutherland, Liam Templeton (The University of Edinburgh, 2018-07-10)This thesis presents a specific case study of the developing relationship between religious pluralism and national identity in Scotland by focusing on a particular high-profile group - Interfaith Scotland (IFS) - the ...