Cooking a nation of consumers: Peru as global brand

Abstract

Nation branding or “marca país” programs are intended to articulate a new and positive image for external consumption
and, at the same time, to revive national pride. This article adopts a critical interpretive approach and analyses the
symbolism in the TV spot of Peru's nation branding campaign. The analysis points out tensions and contradictions in the
advertisement to generate insights about symbolic commodification in a context of economic growth, after decades of economic
decline and political incertitude. The findings state that the campaign appropriates national identity for the purposes of
neoliberal globalization. This appropriation constrains national imaginaries within an ahistorical, depoliticized frame,
resulting in an image gallery in where old and new stereotypes intend to live together. In this way, nation branding also serves
to foreclose democratic ways for national redefinition.