Call me loyal: Globalization, corporate nationalism and the America’s Cup

Abstract

This study examines the relationship between sport, globalization and national identity. Specifically, the article focuses on how Team New Zealand's 2003 America's Cup campaign represents and reproduces the concept of corporate nationalism. Located within a critical cultural studies perspective the analysis uses a multi-method approach including textual and contextual analysis and semi-structured interviews with key media cultural intermediaries to examine a unique global-local nexus involving the 'Family of five' sponsors whose elective affinity set about to unite the New Zealand nation. The findings reveal that: a) both local and multinational corporations (MNCs) use sport as a vehicle through which to articulate their brands with national identity as part of a process of localization; b) the promotional culture of major sporting events such as the America's Cup provides a platform for MNCs to (re)present, (re)produce and (re)construct national identity; and c) despite their strategic attempts to appropriate national icons and themes multinational corporations face resistance and national identity remains a contested domain.

Multiple dimensions of mediation within transnational advertising production: cultural intermediaries as shapers of emerging cultural capital

“…Featherstone's emphasis on the role of cultural intermediaries in mediating production and consumption has been widely accepted and applied by a range of scholarly accounts on a variety of cultural workers including, but not limited to, fashion designers (Skov 2002), business managers and accountants (Negus 2002), bookshop workers (Wright 2005), public relations practitioners (Curtin and Gaither 2005;Hodges 2006), fashion buyers (Entwistle 2006), personal fitness trainers (Smith Maguire 2008), branding consultants (Moor 2008), journalists (Doane 2009;Ma 2006), arts administrators (Durrer and Miles 2009), television buyers (Kuipers 2012), marketing/advertising practitioners (Amis and Silk 2010;Cronin 2004;du Gay et al 1997;Gee and Jackson 2012;John and Jackson 2011;Kelly et al 2005;Kobayashi 2012aKobayashi , 2012bMcFall 2002;Moor 2012;Nixon 2003;Jackson 2008, 2010;Soar 2000Soar , 2002, wine promoters (Smith Maguire 2013), specialist advisors (Rojek 2014) and more recently diary-keepers (Perry et al 2015).…”

“Go NZ YAS!!”: Children’s news media texts as curriculum resources in Aotearoa New Zealand

“…Discourses of Kiwi kids as adventure-loving, physically capable and fit reflect the major role sport plays in defining our national identity, as evidenced through self-referential notions of Aotearoa New Zealand as ‘the great little sporting nation’ (John and Jackson, 2011: 425) and the wide array of sports featuring across all forms of Aotearoa New Zealand’s news media. In particular, our identity has been forged through the national sport of rugby union (Bruce, 2013).…”

Reflections on Communication and Sport

“…My early work focused on the role of the media in constructing forms of national identity (Jackson, 1994, 1998a, 1998b, 1998c, 2004). Highlighting how one’s own biography influences one’s work, my migration from Canada to New Zealand reinforced an emerging interest in global media and its impact on identity formation (Jackson & Andrews, 1999), and this led to interrelated projects on Sport, Culture and Advertising (Jackson & Andrews, 2005), Corporate Nationalism (Jackson, 2001, 2004, 2013 [in press]; Jackson, Batty & Scherer, 2001; Jackson & Hokowhitu, 2002; John & Jackson, 2011; Scherer & Jackson, 2007, 2008a, 2008b, 2010), and, more recently, Sport, Alcohol and Promotional Culture (Gee & Jackson, 2010, 2011; Wenner & Jackson, 2009).…”