Looking inwards, designing outwards: national identity and print advertisements of the Cyprus Tourism Organisation

Abstract

National identity is a person’s identity or sense of belonging to one state. It is the sense of a nation as a cohesive whole, represented by distinctive traditions and culture. The present work examines how these traditions, culture and other elements of national identity are presented in advertisements, promoting Cyprus as a tourist destination. Print advertisements of the Cypriot Tourism Organisation were collected in an effort to investigate the way the visual identity of the island is presented through nation branding. Ninety-three print tourist ads promoting Cyprus as a tourist destination since the establishment of the CTO were analysed using content analysis and semiotic analysis. The results indicated that national identity is mostly presented through the social characteristics of the people and their daily practices.