Third International Conference on Communication & Media Studies

Abstract

This paper offers a socio-cultural analysis of the images/representations of Jamaica in television commercials produced by the Jamaica Tourist Board (JTB) as part of their marketing campaigns between 1955 and 2012. Using Barthes’ (1977) idea of the rhetoric of the image as a theoretical framework along with critical/cultural studies, the author examines eight video commercials, one from each of the JTB’s eight campaigns launched between 1955 and 2012, to explore what meanings about Jamaica’s national identity as well as brand as a “premier Caribbean tourism destination” ( http://www.jtbonline.org/jtb/) are being produced by the various images and rhetorical messages embedded in the selected advertisements. Specifically, the author focuses on the images of the Jamaican landscape present in the commercials, the actors performing as well as the narration that accompanies each video. Given the intentionality of the marketing process, in which advertising plays a significant role, it is important to critically examine the associated meanings or significations produced by such processes as they are actively cultivating particular perceptions about Jamaica as a place and space.