Interrogating the Icelandic imaginary: nation branding and the articulation of national identity in Iceland’s tourism advertisements

• Main Author: Nygaard, Chantel
• Other Authors: Bookman, Sonia (Sociology), Níelsdóttir, Katrín (Assistant Librarian), Wilkinson, Lori
• Language: English
• Published: 2024
• Subjects: Iceland; Sociology; Nation Branding; Nationalism; Branding; Critical Geography
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/1993/38618

The rise of nation branding points to the ubiquity and pervasiveness of brands. Under nation branding, the nation state and national identity—like the corporate brand—are transformed into commodifiable entities. Here, national identity is reconfigured to meet the demands of the global marketplace. This project explores the nation branding via tourism advertisements in the context of Iceland and aims to answer the following dual-pronged question: How do Iceland’s tourism advertisements contribute towards the country’s nation-branding strategies? How do the visual and discursive representations of Iceland in tourism media (re)inforce and (re)articulate a mythologized Icelandic national imaginary and identity? In conducting a semiological analysis of four of Iceland’s tourism advertisements, released during the COVID-19 pandemic from 2020 to 2022, this project examines how, through visual and discursive representations, a nationalist image of Iceland—one that upholds the ‘Icelandic imaginary’—is (re)constructed and (re)circulated. Using a synthesis of critical constructivist theories that examine the interconnections between geographies, national imaginaries, tourism representations, branding strategies, and consumption, I develop four key themes (presented as ‘mythologies’)—The Mythology of the ‘Sublime Landscape’ (Iceland as Ontologically ‘Wild’); The Mythology of Inheritance (Iceland as ‘Primordial’: An Authentic Antidote’ to Modernity); The Mythology of Eccentricity (Iceland as ‘Otherworldly’ and ‘Exotic’); The Mythology of Irreverence (Icelandic Humour and Performances of Nonchalance)—that critically examine the effects of nation branding on the formation and articulation of Iceland’s national identity. February 2025