Abstract

Media representations in the West of the so-called “Rest” feature the production and dissemination of Orientalist stereotypes. In mega-sporting events, the Western media plays a particularly pivotal role as producer of Orientalist representation of the Other. Drawing on critical content analysis of ten promotional and advertisement videos about Brazil as a host country, this article critically examines the process by which the Western media reproduced the colonial stereotypes of Brazil in their representations of the 2014 FIFA World Cup, held in Brazil. This study suggests four main representations of Brazil and argues these Western-produced representations of Brazil are problematic, in particular because these stereotypes plainly imply a colonialist logic. The media representations of Brazil today demonstrate clearly how the West implicitly inferiorizes Otherized Brazil by producing and reproducing Orientalist images.