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The New Zealand
Tourism Board's website "100% Pure New Zealand" serves as a case study
for the way in which the New Zealand tourism campaign plays on certain
aspects of our culture to manifest national identity. One example is
the portrayal of a "native" culture, commodifying the culture and portraying
Maori as a primitive race by depicting them in traditional costume.
Research for a report by the Aotearoa Maori Tourism Federation (no date
given) found that the use of Maori images in tourism promotions is narrow
and based on stereotypes.14
Under the label 'Discover Maori Culture' the website talks about "Our
indigenous Maori culture ..." and "Our Maori people have preserved
their traditions and customs as well as their language."15
This could be read as implying a boundary between Maori and Pakeha as
well as a sense of ownership with the use of the word "our." On the
other hand, the words are more likely to be an attempt at depicting
a "shared culture" in the name of commodifying New Zealand.
As well as this,
the banner of 'Cultural Landmarks' approaches the Treaty of Waitangi
with somewhat rose-tinted glasses: "... historic places like Waitangi,
where the Treaty of Waitangi was signed, joining British and Maori as
one nation." This assumes several points. First, it ignores the fact
that the Treaty of Waitangi has since been widely disputed by Maori.
Thus portraying New Zealand as a harmonious bi-culture that subsequently
because of Treaty issues is not always so. Secondly, the old strain
of "mother-country England" shines through by the announcement of the
joining of "British and Maori", completely ignoring the fact that many
other cultures settled here in the nineteenth century such as the Dutch,
Irish and Chinese.
By far the most dominant
imagery in the promotion of New Zealand, both nationally and internationally
is the use of landscape. This is not surprising New Zealands landscape
is one of great beauty. However, this not only denies the existence of
New Zealand cities but also occurs at the expense of urban culture. A perfect
example occurs in the opening sequence of Lee Tamahori's 1994 film Once
Were Warriors. The shot begins by focussing on a beautifully placid,
rural landscape, as though it were an establishing shot, but to the audiences
surprise, pans out to reveal the truth of the situation. The landscape
is actually a billboard advertising an electricity company, which hangs
over an urban, concrete motorway.
The "100% Pure New
Zealand" website shows no urban imagery. It is however filled with many
landscape/outdoor photos and information about them. In one section
entitled 'Heartland' the potential tourist is encouraged to "experience
a true kiwi lifestyle in uncrowded rural areas." This is problematic
because of two factors. One, how is a rural lifestyle more "true" than
its urban counterpart? And secondly, the majority of New Zealands population
live in urban areas, so if we take this above statement to be true then
only a segment of the population are leading "true" lives. The writer
of the website does however try to compensate for this by saying: "We
love the great outdoors, but we also make a good espresso ..." as if
to align coffee with "high" urban culture. There are so many landscape
shots in the "100% Pure New Zealand" website that they actually become
quite generic.16
The landscape and outdoor activities are heavily concentrated on in
the "100% Pure New Zealand" campaign as a construction of what it is
like to be a New Zealander.
An interesting page
in the "Pure" website is 'Clinton's 100% Pure New Zealand Experience.'
Two pages are devoted to U.S President Bill Clinton's visit to New Zealand
for the 1999 APEC Leaders Summit. Apparently "the President quickly discovered
the magic of New Zealand."17
Here, the tourism campaign seems to seek valorisation by showing Bill Clinton
enjoying the New Zealand visit. Again landscape is depended upon when the
Clinton is quoted as saying: "Everybody on our plane was just gasping when
we saw the landscape, it's just so beautiful." Clinton is shown on the
website in order to create credibility. This is a reflection of New Zealands
need for approval and wish to gain closer links with the U.S.
By the examples provided
it is possible to see a common thread in New Zealands search for national
identity. We seem to play on the same imagery repeatedly, as though frightened
to explore new boundaries. In undertaking the research for this paper I
was lead to really think about exactly what our national identity is portrayed
to be. I also asked some friends to write down words they commonly associated
with "New Zealand." All of the answers were similar and included words
such as rugby, sheep, farms, trees and rural. This is exactly how myth
has saturated the view of our cultural identity. All the participants are
urban dwellers, whose contact with farms, sheep and so on is very limited.
And so why did they relate such concepts with the country they live in?
The answer lies in the media. As Barthes himself once said: "I try to imagine
going to a place that I have not already seen in pictures."18
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[bibliography]
14
Brian Human and Julie Warren, 'Snappers in Brochureland' in Kearsley,
Professor Geoff (Ed.) Tourism Down Under II - Towards a More Sustainable
Tourism, Dunedin: Centre for Tourism, University of Otago, 1996, p187.
15
Located at http://purenz.com/maori.cfm
16
I am not trying to deny the beauty of the New Zealand landscape, but am
attempting to point out the tourism industry's reliance upon it as a marketing
tool.
17
http://purenz.com/clinton.cfm
18
Human and Warren, p181.
Bibliography
Barthes, Roland, 'Myth Today'
in Mythologies, New York: The Noon Day Press, 27th Edition, 1993.
Eagleton, Terry,
Ideology - An Introduction, London: Verso, 1991, pp5-6.
Human, Brian and
Warren, Julie, 'Snappers in Brochureland' in Kearsley, Professor Geoff
(Ed.) Tourism Down Under II - Towards a More Sustainable Tourism,
Dunedin: Centre for Tourism, University of Otago, 1996.
Novitz, David, 'On
Culture and Cultural Identity' in Culture and Identity in New Zealand,
Novitz, David
and Willmott, Bill, (Eds.) Wellington: Crown Copyright Reserve, 1989.
Maharey, Steve,
'Media' in New Zealand Society, Spoonley, Paul and Pearson, David,
(Eds.) Palmerston North: Dunmore Press, 1990.
McNeill, Tony, 'Roland
Barthes: Mythologies (1957)' @ http://www.sunderland.ac.uk/~osOtmc/myth.html,
(last updated) April 1996.
Perry, Nick, The
Dominion of Signs, Auckland: Auckland University Press, 1994.
Williamson, Judith,
Decoding Advertisements - Ideology and Meaning in Advertising,
London: Marion Boyars Publishers Ltd, 1978.
http://www.purenz.com/shocked.cfm
http://purenz.com/clinton.cfm
http://purenz.com/maori.cfm
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