Selling Nations: Using Nationalism to Sell Commodities.

Francesco Screti
Universit de Fribourg
francesco.screti@udc.es
ABSTRACT
In this paper I analyze two cases of how economic agents use nationalist feelings in
order to sell commodities, boost markets, win competitors. Both cases concern Spain.
As is well known, the concept of one Spanish (united) nation is challenged by
several autonomist or separatist movements: such as Galicianism (for the Northwestern
region called Galicia), Catalanism (for the Northeastern region called Catalonia), and
Basqueism (for the Northern region called Basque Country). Spanish centripetal
nationalism is challenged by these three centrifugal nationalisms, historically rooted in
Galicia, Catalonia, and Basque Country.
The first case is a 2007 video ad, called Vivamos como Galegos [in Galician:
Lets live like Galicians], where GADIS, a regional (Galician) company of supermarket
chain, uses (Galician) nationalist feelings in order to convince (Galician) receivers to
buy in GADIS supermarkets instead of in competitors ones. The second case is a 2011
video ad, called Sabores Nuestros [in Spanish: Our Own Flavors], where GALLO, a
national (Spanish) company of pasta products, uses (Spanish) nationalist feelings in
order to convince (Spanish) receivers to buy GALLO products instead of competitors
ones.
I will comparatively analyze these two ads in order to find analogies in their
nationalist discourse despite their differences: the role of economical and administrative
lites in the creation and defense of the imagined national community and in the
spreading of nationalist discourse; the fact that these lites pursue some particular goals
by presenting them as general and natural; the use of discursive categories and
rhetorical figures, such as the topos here (alternatively in Spain or in Galicia) is better
than nowhere else in the world, the deixis we/us/our, the inventory of typical unique
and renowned products; the strategic use of (some varieties of) language in order to
create and manage image, construct allegiances, strengthen persuasion, etc.
These analogies allow concluding that despite differences of scale, Spanish and
Galician nationalist discourses are very similar.