“America First, the Netherlands Second” on YouTube: Cover Image

“America First, the Netherlands Second” on YouTube:
“America First, the Netherlands Second” on YouTube:

“spoofing” destination marketing with political satire

Author(s): Maja Turnšek, Petr Janeček
Subject(s): Politics / Political Sciences, Anthropology, Social Sciences, Language and Literature Studies, Theoretical Linguistics, Applied Linguistics, Communication studies, Sociology, Pragmatics, Sociolinguistics, Politics and communication, Cultural Anthropology / Ethnology, Tourism
Published by: Krakowskie Towarzystwo Popularyzowania Wiedzy o Komunikacji Językowej Tertium
Keywords: YouTube; destination marketing imagery; destination image formation; eye-tracking; memory recall

Summary/Abstract: This study attempts to provide initial tentative insights into the audience reception of intertwining political satire and destination marketing imagery by analysing the “America First, the Netherlands Second” video and a student sample audience response. In 2017, a series of YouTube videos named “America First” went viral. The video that started the viral phenomenon was “America First, the Netherlands Second”, responding in a satirical manner to the “America First” message of the inaugural speech of U.S. president Donald J. Trump. They achieved extreme popularity both in number of views and number of new memetic videos with similar satirical messages. These videos were a form of political expression and at first sight did not seem to have much in common with communication in tourism. However, the videos included typical destination marketing imagery, intertwined with satirical representations, thus representing a humorous “spoof” on destination marketing. The study analyses participants’ memory recall, eye-tracking movements and focus group responses in order to provide initial conclusions on how audiences respond to the intertwining of satirical political expression and destination marketing imagery.

  • Issue Year: 7/2019
  • Issue No: 3
  • Page Range: 26-45
  • Page Count: 20
  • Language: English