MDIA209

Tourism New Zealand’s 100% Pure New Zealand branding campaign sells opportunities for

self-expression. It showcases New Zealand’s pristine countryside, which encourages

consumers to convey their outdoor tourist identity online. Drawing on academic literature

about self-branding, myths, and commodity fetishism, 100% Pure New Zealand

communicates this pure image to mystify the disappointing reality regarding the

government’s shortcomings at addressing environmental degradation. People under the spell

of its message, especially the audience its advertisements are interpellating, consequently

perceive New Zealand through consuming advertising and personal narratives that social

media users publicise.

To differentiate New Zealand from rival travel destinations like Australia, Tourism New

Zealand positions the country with a clean, green national brand to sway nature travellers. The

governmental marketing agency highlights the purity of New Zealand’s diverse, distinctive

environments, characterising them as natural wonders worth exploring. From Milford Sound

to Tongariro National Park, these locales serve as symbolic signs of the country’s appeal by

imbuing them with picturesque, exciting connotations throughout 100% Pure New Zealand’s

advertising. An example of these associations is the “Things To Do – Queenstown, New

Zealand” commercial with its upbeat music accompanying the wide-angle aerial shots of

Queenstown’s landscapes and a montage of people rafting, off-roading, and cycling to evoke

sensational fun with grand imagery (100% Pure New Zealand, 2015). Such 100% Pure New

Zealand ads arouse the desire for thrill and awe among potential visitors, stirring them to

traverse the country’s outdoor sites of interests. Thus, Tourism New Zealand is subjecting

nature travellers to its interpellation, the hailing of a subject (Althusser, 2006, p. 86), by

playing into their passion for sightseeing and adventuring exotic places. According to Morgan

et al. (2001), “the prime targets of the New Zealand brand are so-called ‘interactive

travellers’—people young in body or heart who love travel, seek new experiences, and enjoy

1 of 12
 MDIA209

the challenge of new destinations” (p. 349). Since 100% Pure New Zealand suggests this

audience with its brand positioning, it inspires consumers to tour the country’s countryside to

view themselves as daring and cosmopolitan. Going there signifies a person’s character as an

outdoor tourist.

Figure 1 A poised woman with Milford Sound’s glaciers as the backdrop (Graham, 2021).

Once tourists post online about their time in New Zealand to reflect their sophisticated self-

branding, they validate the associations about the country 100% Pure New Zealand is

instilling. They do so by appropriating the signs of touring New Zealand, contriving a persona

founded on their accounts exploring the country’s advertised scenery and outdoor activities.

By doing so, they can gain social status through likes and comments from selling themselves

as an adventurer or a thrill-seeker. In Figure 1, @hellofrom_claire draws on Milford Sound’s

majestic symbolism established by 100% Pure New Zealand, generating comments about her

photo’s ethereal, dreamy quality. This response, therefore, affirms travelling as part of her

self-concept. Not only does this Instagram post promote her personal narrative but also the

cultural beliefs of New Zealand’s environments, perpetuating their scenic perception. Self-

2 of 12
 MDIA209

branding mythologises the country’s clean, green natural splendour, which involves nature

travellers touting about it as if they take it for granted. To quote Hearn (2008), fostering a

self-branded meta-narrative involves “the use of cultural meanings and images drawn from

the narrative and visual codes of the mainstream culture industries” (p. 198). In a sense, 100%

Pure New Zealand’s self-branding opportunities act as myths, “ready-made connotations”

(Kavka, 2010, p. 20), rendering the country’s pure representation seem logically true to

cement it as the dominant opinion. Ultimately, when these travellers package New Zealand

with their content to express their marketable self-image, they normalise and aggrandise the

country’s pristine reputation.

Regardless of contradictory truths challenging the clean, green myth, Tourism New Zealand

obscures them in favour of commodifying this pure conception of New Zealand’s countryside

with word-of-mouth marketing. The posts of nature travellers touring New Zealand add value

to the country as a product fulfilling and stimulating the desire for worldliness and adventure.

In the eyes of these travellers, exchange value arises from and is vested in the 100% Pure

New Zealand brand. New Zealand tourism subsequently becomes a fetishised commodity

where “the appearance of goods hides the story of those who made them and how they were

made” (Lury, 2011, p. 38). Hence, 100% Pure New Zealand divorces the country from its

hypocritical reality, decontextualising the pristine image nature travellers romanticise. 100%

Pure New Zealand’s social media presence is effectively propaganda distracting these

travellers from critiquing New Zealand’s inadequate environmental policymaking. They are

unaware that the country’s net greenhouse gas emissions have been rising since 1990 and are

currently failing to reduce due to the government’s lack of political will (Daalder, 2020). By

masking the failed labour of maintaining New Zealand’s scenery, the tourism messages seem

to take on a life of their own; they are more representative of the country nature travellers

recognise. The travellers are content with consuming New Zealand’s saleable portrayals on

3 of 12
 MDIA209

social media, mediating and shaping how they perceive the nation. Being in New Zealand

devolves into content traversing its picture-perfect countryside, which depoliticises and

pacifies these travellers with the country’s sugarcoated brand.

Tourism New Zealand fosters nature travellers into solely recognising New Zealand’s

idealised image when these travellers incorporate this perception in their social media

presence. It persuades them with its 100% Pure New Zealand brand campaign, imparting ads

of the country’s clean, green landscapes to interpellate these travellers. This interpellation

inspires them to adopt that imagery of New Zealand to sell themselves as someone who likes

travel and adventure, maintaining the myths of the country’s scenery. They no longer regard

New Zealand as a place to be in; instead, the nation is nothing more than a commodity to

articulate their online brand. The mythmaking and commodification conceal the reality of

New Zealand’s sustainability because nature travellers are captivated by the adventurous,

sophisticated lifestyle the country represents. Delving into the image of New Zealand they are

fetishising exposes the message the 100% Pure New Zealand brand is propagandizing and

how.

4 of 12
 MDIA209

References

Althusser, L. (2005). Ideology and ideological state apparatuses (Notes towards an

investigation). In M. Durham, & D. Kellner (Eds.), Media and cultural studies:

Keyworks (2nd ed.) (pp. 79–88). John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated.

100% Pure New Zealand. (2015, November 9). Things to do – Queenstown, New Zealand

[Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnAmnRgy4G8

Daalder, M. (2020, December 9). Overseas doubts grow about New Zealand's climate

commitment. Newsroom. https://www.newsroom.co.nz/overseas-doubts-grow-about-

nzs-climate-commitment

Graham, C. [@hellofrom_claire]. (2021, April 22). Well, hello Milford Sound! Throwing it

back to our incredible visit last year [Photograph]. Instagram.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CN9Dyavgnw3/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

Hearn, A. (2008). Meat, mask, burden: Probing the contours of the branded self. Journal of

Consumer Culture, 8(2), 197–217. https://doi.org/10.1177/1469540508090086

Kavka, M. (2010). Studying media texts, or how to decode the mythology of underwear. In L.

Goode & N. Zuberi (Eds.), Media studies in Aotearoa New Zealand 2 (pp. 12–22).

Pearson.

Lury, C. (2011). Consumer culture (2nd ed.). Polity Press.

Morgan, N., Pritchard, A., & Piggott, R. (2002). New Zealand, 100% Pure. The creation of a

powerful niche destination brand. The Journal of Brand Management, 9(4), 335–354.

https://doi.org/10.1057/palgrave.bm.2540082

5 of 12
 MDIA209

Week 2 Tutorial Activity: Commodity Fetishism

The concept of “brands” is not something Marx engages with, but how might brands further

develop the idea of commodity fetishism? How does a brand alter the value of an object?

Incorporate relevant references from this week’s course readings where applicable.

An extension of commodity fetishism can be seen in 100% Pure New Zealand’s campaign to

promote New Zealand’s scenery. It does so by branding them with green, epic imagery,

drawing upon New Zealand’s reputation as a sustainable country. However, imbuing them

with a fantastical aura showcasing their supposedly immaculate beauty misrepresents the

uncomfortable reality behind the country’s environments like the toxic riverways and lack of

government action to address climate change. Just as the perception of a commodity mystifies

the exploitative labour needed to make it, 100% Pure New Zealand validates the green media

narratives surrounding New Zealand’s landscapes to mask the damaging truth. Regardless of

the hypocrisy in its tourism campaign, people still resonate with its branding as it supports

their preferred perception of New Zealand’s environments. The power of its advertising goes

to show the power of the spectacle in distracting and contenting the masses with imagery

projecting the outdoor, environmentally friendly lifestyle they desire from them. To quote

Debord, what "was directly lived has moved away into a representation.” In that sense, 100%

Pure New Zealand’s pristine mythmaking is more representative of the New Zealand people

recognize than the country itself.

6 of 12
 MDIA209

7 of 12
 MDIA209

Week 4 Tutorial Activity: Reading Advertisements

Find a static (i.e., non-video) ad for your selected brand, then discuss the following elements:

1. What is the denotation and connotation?

a. A landscape of Hook, Wanaka with the lake in the foreground and the forests

and mountains in the background.

 Suggests you can only experience this kind of scenery while fishing

exclusively in New Zealand.

 Characterizes these landscapes as nirvana because of their serene vibe.

b. “Ever caught your own lunch?” tagline.

c. 100% Pure New Zealand logo.

 Connotes New Zealand as pristine and picturesque.

d. “Do Something New, New Zealand” campaign slogan.

 Implies not many New Zealanders have tried fishing at Hook, but

100% Percent Pure New Zealand brands it as a classic Kiwi experience

thanks to the iconic imagery.

e. A family having fun fishing together.

 Associates fishing at Hook with family fun and bonding.

 Their smiles and laughter connote harmony and bliss.

8 of 12
 MDIA209

2. What, if any, cultural or intertextual knowledge is needed to understand the ad.

Discursive and intertextual analysis is involved.

a. Part of a larger tourism branding campaign promoting New Zealand’s pristine

scenery.

b. Connected to the Do Something New, New Zealand campaign encouraging

New Zealanders to try new tourist activities.

c. References Hook, Wanaka, which has its own host of family-friendly,

mythical, and idyllic associations.

3. What, if any, mythologies are incorporated?

a. Validates do-it-yourself Kiwi narratives by encouraging New Zealanders to

catch their own fish instead of buying them.

b. Plays into the myth of New Zealand as a country with clean and green natural

beauty, which appeals to those with an outdoorsy lifestyle.

 In incorporating this myth, these outdoorsy view New Zealand less for

the reality New Zealanders experience and more for the epic, pristine

image the brand conveys.

4. And, if so, what ideologies they communicate.

a. By emphasizing the clean, green perception of New Zealand to the point

wherein tourists fetishize it, the brand conceals the reality of New Zealand’s

failures at addressing pollution, greenhouse gas emissions, and the

endangerment of native ecosystems due to a lack of governmental action.

b. Promotes capitalism by fetishizing fishing with the family at Hook as an

experience you can consume.

c. Reinforces this family fishing as a spectacle where in consumers no longer

value it as an experience to live but rather have out of promoting the

perception of a happy family.

9 of 12
 MDIA209

10 of 12
 MDIA209

Week 6 Tutorial Activity: Self-Branding

Consider the kinds of self-branding opportunity your brand and its products offer. What

opportunities for identity development do they offer? What kind of message do they convey

to others? In other words, what is the ‘self-brand’ of someone that makes visible use of your

brand?

Seeing as the product 100% Pure New Zealand brand is selling the country itself, it offers

opportunities to brand yourself according to the activities you experience in New Zealand.

The country lets people promote the adventurous, green aspect of themselves considering the

tourism campaign conveys the pristine beauty you can visit throughout the New Zealand

outdoors, from visiting Milford Sound to the Waitomo Glowworm Caves. Touring the

country’s well-known attractions let a person brand themselves as people who love to travel

and explore nature. In that sense, touring across New Zealand adds value to the person as it

shapes their perception as someone adventurous and cosmopolitan out of promoting this

idealized narrative about themselves to others. To quote Hearn, “your personal brand is not

only a pretty veneer; it is intended to be a rhetorically persuasive version of yourself.” Not

only does the brand help articulate their backpacker identity but also garner cultural status

from gaining likes and follows when they perform it to others through social media posts of

them and New Zealand’s landscapes. 100% Pure New Zealand is consequently perpetuating

and instilling the myths about the country as a tourist destination for consumers like that

backpacker.

11 of 12
 MDIA209

12 of 12