Incredible India in a global age: The cultural politics of image branding in tourism

Brand physics and tourism development

In today’s intensified world of global interconnectedness, full of movement and mixture, contact and linkages, the brand is regarded as the centerpiece of marketing theory and one of the most valuable constituents of advertising practice. As a label of ownership and a conceptual extension of trademarks, the brand was originally conceived as a stamp of quality in terms of production and dissemination that helped identify the goods or services of a particular seller (Foster, 2007; Mazzarella, 2003, 2004, 2010; Strasser, 1989). Through the development of trademarks and a brand “logos,” such as a name, sign, slogan, or symbol, this helped to reinforce the signature of a product and “allowed producers centralized creative and legal control over the manner in which their goods were packaged and sold” (Mazzarella, 2010: 25). Thus, as part of the packaging and dissemination of the product within a competitive global marketplace, brand design and image management became a critical field of intervention for marketing and advertising professionals who sought to establish and secure enduring consumer–product relationships.

The rise of the brand image in global tourism marketing raises a number of contentious issues that are at the heart of tourism studies, especially surrounding culture, commodification, and authenticity (Britton, 1980; Cohen, 1988; Edensor, 1998; Jafari, 1974; Matthews, 1977; Nash, 1989; Perez, 1980; Turner, 1976; Turner and Ash, 1975). According to Huberman’s (2011) recent review of the field, early studies by anthropologists were looking to debunk the idea that tourism provides a direct “passport to development” (De Kadt, 1979). Instead, the burgeoning tourism industry was increasingly described as a form of “neocolonialism” that perpetuates economic asymmetries and creates “pleasure peripheries” of Third World leisure destinations. These critical views were particularly aimed at tourism marketing and the representational practices that promote luxurious, sanitized “elsewheres” (Hancock, 2008: 122) and reinscribe forms of colonial domination by perpetuating “exotic” social constructions and “orientalist” images of destinations and peoples (Bandyopadhyay and Morais, 2005; Bhattacharyya, 1997; Hutnyk, 1996; Kaur and Hutnyk, 1999; Yan and Santos, 2009). As the number of ethnographic studies developed through the 1980s and 1990s, there have been numerous debates about whether tourism commodification threatens the authenticity and integrity of cultural systems and identities or whether tourism can actually provide resources and incentives for cultural reinvention (Duggan, 1997; Greenwood, 1989; McKean, 1989; Smith, 1989).

These debates have certainly intensified in recent years with the rise of neoliberalism and a market economy that seeks to maximize the role of the corporate sector in determining cultural, political, and economic priorities of the state. However, unlike some of the major multinational brands such as Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, Marlboro, and Levi’s, that are believed to have a universal formula that transcends their origins and creates strong enduring relationships with consumers across countries and cultures, brand marketing in tourism generates value in a capitalist system through the production of cultural difference. According to AlSayyad (2001), under globalization and the cultural logic of late capitalism today, the demands for a unique cultural experience associated with different places are often central to the tourist imagination, especially when the presumed trend is toward the standardization of products and services that are now marketed worldwide. As an authoritative paradigm for expounding cultural “difference” and “otherness,” there are relatively few nations today that are unaffected by these modes of representation in the expanding tourism development industry. In fact, many state governments now look to the private sector to renegotiate cultural identity as an economic strategy to increase foreign exchange earnings and become more competitive in international markets.

Central to this economic strategy are the techno-savvy marketing professionals who act as cultural brokers for the state government and seek to manage and profit from the valorization of local identity. And like commercial brands that seek market dominance, similarly, acquiring a national brand for tourism marketing helps to promote and communicate the country’s image, reputation, and position on the international stage (Fan, 2009). ⁴ In other words, local marketing agencies have an invested role in accentuating their cultural specificity and capitalizing “upon a world in which globalization” is “in unpredictable ways, heightening rather than effacing the importance of locality and local identity” (Mazzarella, 2003: 5). The fact that until recently, both culture and tourism were managed by the same government ministry in India is indicative that these two arenas are closely entwined.

Concurrent with nation branding and the valorization of local identity is the “experiential turn” in global tourism marketing. According to Hudson and Ritchie (2009), experiential marketing is a relatively new marketing orientation that aims to unleash emotional and affective resonances of various products and services. Rather than approach consumers as “rational decision-makers focused on the functional features and benefits of products,” an experiential approach views consumers as “emotional beings” (p. 218) who are focused on achieving pleasurable experiences. Building on the concept of an “experience economy era,” first formulated by Pine and Gilmore (1998), experiential marketing recognizes that consumers are not interested in purely functional benefits but want to have “special experiences and unforgettable memories” that often bypass the rational response to a brand or product (Hudson and Ritchie, 2009: 218). Thus, in order to promote an unrivaled tourism experience, marketing campaigns also look to capitalize on the emotions of potential travelers and “bring brands to life” through a powerful aesthetic engagement that dazzles “consumer senses, touching their hearts and stimulating their minds” (Hudson and Ritchie, 2009: 218).

Following Mazzarella and Hudson and Ritchie, I now set my sights on the Incredible India campaign as an “evolving field of cultural production” and a “compelling point of mediation between the local and the global, between culture and capital” (Mazzarella, 2003: 3). Although the thesis of local cultural resistance against global capitalism has become a familiar theme in tourism studies and anthropological literature more broadly, rarely do we examine the ways in which national elites use tourism and image branding as a process of claiming global status and as a means of addressing colonial legacies and advancing geopolitical interests. In the following section, I explore these issues through the formulation of the Incredible India campaign and analyze a set of images and events linked to its production and dissemination within the last 8 years.

Incredible India Campaign: 2002–2010

The arrival of the Incredible India brand image must be understood within the context of wider socioeconomic changes linked to a series of government reforms tied to the liberalization of India’s economy. As one of the world’s largest emerging economies, India’s growth is often attributed to the strong economic push for liberalization and the subsequent departure from the “developmentalist” approach toward national self-sufficiency that had been the official state policy since 1947. Up until very recently, according to Hannam and Diekmann (2011), the role of tourism development in India was one that was characterized by ambivalence. ⁵ However, with the shift toward an “externally oriented, consumption-led path to national prosperity” (Mazzarella, 2003: 5), this had unleashed a powerful desire to become more competitive in global markets leaving behind the “backwards India” and becoming a self-confident nation. With reference to what Mazzarella describes as the “New Swadeshi,” economic liberalization was deemed a moral responsibility to ensure its citizens access to a global marketplace. ⁶

A consequence of the New Swadeshi was also the rebranding of India as a commodity image and an object of global consumerism. From the 1990s onward, tourism was signaled out as a priority sector for investment (Hannam and Diekmann, 2011) and had become one of the first government-sponsored industries to be privatized. This move, as Hancock (2008) points out, overlapped with the government’s declaration that the 1990s were to be the “Decade of Tourism” (p. 129). Under the Ninth Five-Year Plan, for example, tourism was identified as a “commercial and moral endeavor that advanced the goal of liberalization while still containing it within the integrationist message of cultural nationalism” (Hancock, 2008: 133). Whereas previously tourism development—both domestic and international—was seen as an integral part of postcolonial state formation, from the 1990s onward, tourism images and destination branding became key signifiers of the nation-state within a global arena. Furthermore, the marketing of this new national imagery was “increasingly left to private enterprises, while state agencies defined tourism’s goals and parameters” (Hancock, 2008: 133).

In the aftermath of 9/11, the war on Afghanistan and the attacks on Indian Parliament in 2001, according to Amitabh Kant, joint secretary for the Ministry of Tourism at that time, tourism in India was looking bleak. ⁷ It was at this point of crisis and reflection that the Incredible India campaign was launched with nearly half of its tourism expenditure earmarked for overseas marketing in order to position India as a global brand and take advantage of the burgeoning global travel trade (Hannam and Diekmann, 2011). As part of the changing travel trends discussed by Amitabh Kant (2009), the marketing team wanted to capitalize on an “experience economy” rather than a “purchase economy” by focusing on those travelers seeking an “experience beyond words” (p. 34). The biggest challenge, however, was the “task of holding the entire canvas together with one powerful idea that would help achieve the vision of unifying India as an aspirational destination” (Kant, 2009: preface). Finding an innovative formula to both diversify and standardize the tourist product through a powerful brand image was no easy task. During this time, other prominent brand-imaging campaigns such as Amazing Thailand (1998), Malaysia—Truly Asia (1999), 100% Pure New Zealand (1999), and Live it up Singapore (2000; now replaced by Uniquely Singapore) provided inspiration for the Indian marketing team. And, in 2002, these efforts to conceptualize a unique iconic logo resulted in the “Incredible India” trademark where the exclamation formed the “I” of India and the logo was creatively positioned in a number of colorful and vibrant photographic images (Figure 1). ⁸

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Figure 1.

The subtext reads, “Too close and you’re the one who’s endangered. Unless you’re enjoying the safety of the most preferred 4×4: the Indian elephant. Do come for an experience that’s truly incredible.”

The initial launching of the campaign by the Ministry of Tourism in 2002 marketed the country as a high-end tourist destination with “multiple” attractions and “world class amenities” (Kant, 2009: 24). As an extension of the development of tourism regionalization throughout the country, the campaign initially conformed to a relatively standardized set of exotic and orientalist images with “well-worn tropes of cultural intimacy” (Hancock, 2008: 132; Herzfeld, 2005). These images included glossy depictions of famous global Indian icons such as the Bengal Tiger, the Taj Mahal, and luxurious backdrops in Rajasthan to strengthen the continuing popularity of the “golden triangle” circuit and its romantic history as the “Land of the Kings.” Images of the rugged Himalayan mountain range and other geographic contrasts were used to emphasize India’s diverse natural beauty. There were also popular iconic images of “escape” and “discovery” depicting the beaches of Goa and the backwaters of Kerala. In other words, through the development of an Incredible India logo, a colorful panorama of the nation was constructed around a relatively familiar set of tourist imagery.

Building on an earlier development strategy to create “brand equity” and portray India as a “harmonious cultural mosaic” (Haines, 2011: 168), each state was also encouraged to develop its own regional image and logos that could be encapsulated by the “mother” brand. For example, the benighted state of Bihar, long regarded as a bastion of corruption, violence, poverty, and above all “backwardness” has recently undergone a provincial face-lift that builds upon its worlding significance as the birthplace of Buddhism. Promoting itself as “Blissful Bihar,” the state has created a new logo with the image of a peepal tree under which the Buddha attained enlightenment. Designed to cater to the financially lucrative religious diaspora, the launching of the new tagline in Bihar was also synchronized with several elite tourist initiatives with a view of creating “Buddhist circuits” under the rubric “pilgrimage with pleasure” (Geary, 2008). This has involved huge investments in transportation and connectivity at major tourist destinations, such as Bodh Gaya, that now offers direct access to the land of enlightenment for many neighboring South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries such as Bangkok on Thai Airways, Colombo on Sri Lankan Airlines, and Paro on Druk Air, the Royal Bhutan Airlines. More recently, both Singapore-based SilkAir Airways and Myanmar Airways also operate charter flights during the tourist season, and there are plans to expand the land space to incorporate jumbo jets in the near future. ⁹

Similarly, the Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation have also recently introduced the “Mahaparinirvan Express.” ¹⁰ Modeled upon other luxury tourist trains, such as the popular “Palace on Wheels,” the Mahaparinirvan Express promotes “world-class facilities” through special package trips that run during the pilgrimage season. These tours involve meals, guides, sightseeing tours, and hotel accommodation that are connected with all the major Buddhist pilgrimage sites in India, and Nepal, such as Bodh Gaya, Nalanda, Rajgir, Kusinagara, Sarnath, Shravasti, and Lumbini. As a special Rajdhani-Express train, it is fully air-conditioned and is largely targeted at the middle-class and higher end Buddhist tourists, especially from Southeast Asia, China, and Japan. The prices can range from US$140 for AC I to US$80 for AC III per day, and can fluctuate depending on the given time within the peak season months. ¹¹

In other words, as part of the geopolitical role of tourism and the use of the Incredible India brand for the relandscaping of the nation’s self-image is the elevation of Bihar’s Buddhist heritage. These investments in transportation and connectivity—most of which have been funded through Japanese development loans—are also taking place alongside ambitious development projects such as the rebuilding of Nalanda University. Under the chairmanship of Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen, the resurrection of this ancient seat of Buddhist learning has attracted a great deal of media attention, especially from Singapore, and other East Asian countries who are investing millions of dollars into the project. These efforts to create a “special educational zone” in an impoverished area of north India are similar to the recent investments that underlie city redevelopment in Bodh Gaya—the place of Buddha’s enlightenment. Ever since the Mahabodhi Temple was rebranded as a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2002, the harnessing of UNESCO’s global regime of value has been harmonized with several elite tourism development projects, such as an 18-hole golf course that is part of a broader strategy to preserve more “green areas” (Geary, 2008). Thus, as a consequence of these new tourism initiatives synchronized with a glossy international marketing campaign, “backwards” Bihar has been repositioned as “Blissful” Bihar and a premier global destination—a place where backward-looking views has become central to a vision of an economically vibrant future.

Given the long-standing trope of India as a spiritual destination, whether they are Buddhist or not, it comes as no surprise that in the second year of the Incredible India campaign, the marketing managers focused on this particular aspect of the country’s civilizational fabric, but with a twist. The set of images constructed in the 2003/2004 campaign showcased prominent yoga positions such as the padma-asana, danda-asana, and various meditation exercises performed in settings of outstanding natural beauty. These backdrop images include the foothills of the Himalayas, lotus-flower gardens symbolizing purification and transcendence, and the sacred mountain of Meru as the mythological axis of the universe—equivalent to Meru danda—the axis of the spine. In each of the images, a literary subtext was also added to reinforce the transcendental character of India as a destination for profound spiritual transformation, rejuvenation, and wellness (Figure 2).

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Figure 2.

The subtext reads, “Padma or lotus is the symbol of purity. Its seed sprout in the dark and murky bottom of a pond while the beautiful flowers bloom above the surface, unspoiled by the muddy water. The lotus also inspires Yoga. Which cleanses your mind, body and soul.”

In other words, moving beyond the physical attributes of a destination to incorporate the meta-physical, the Incredible India campaign in 2003/2004 emphasized a journey of enlightenment with the aim of transcending distinctions of self and other—a place where one can find their “center” through a direct experience of India’s ancient wisdom. This favorable and romanticized view of India as a treasure trove of ancient wisdom has a long history with the European and North American encounter with India, certainly since the eighteenth and nineteenth century (Singer, 1972). During this time, a favorable view of India as a civilization animated by spirituality and mysticism came to trump the degenerative effects of Western civilization and its materialistic worldview. This dichotomy, according to Partha Chatterjee (1989), was also reinforced by Indian nationalists who “located its own subjectivity in the spiritual domain of culture, where it considered itself superior to the West and hence undominated and sovereign” (p. 632).

There is no denying that this pastiche of ancient wisdom technology, romantic literary subtext, and blatant orientalism through highly gendered images reinforces the spiritual–material contrast that Partha Chatterjee is referring too. However, this polarization, one could argue, also finds its synthesis through the practice of yoga, which is not only marketed as an antidote to the straining effects of the modern material world-system but has also become a global phenomenon in itself. As both an indigenous form of spiritual heritage and a “global positioning system,” according to Sarah Strauss (2005), yoga “has become entrenched in the global lexicon and its image lodged in the visual imaginary of the world” (p. 138). As an experientially based bodily practice for achieving wholeness and integration, yoga “purports to transcend a host of conflated dichotomies, beginning with East/West and spirituality/materialism, and extending to cover both body and planet” (p. 139). ¹²

During the 2003/2004 campaign, these images were also combined with a highly synchronized communication strategy to facilitate advertising in a number of prime generating markets for popular distribution. This included advertising in prestigious worldwide channels such as CNN, BBC, Discovery, and various Travel Channels. There were also a number of online contests featured on the Incredible India website and other leading Internet portals, such as Yahoo, MSN, and Google (Kant, 2005). In the National Geographic and Condé Nast Traveler, for example, two captions read: “Only one country can change the way you see the whole world” and “A masterful evocation of the country’s spiritual heritage combined with the sensuous images, creates a kind of nirvana that can be surpassed only by a journey to India itself” (Kant, 2005: 38). Based on the marketing success of the spiritual-directed initiative, the country apparently benefited from a 28.8% increase in tourist traffic and also went on to receive numerous accolades and prestigious awards in prominent tourism literature, such the Travel + Leisure readers survey, Condé Nast Traveller, and the popular Western guidebook Lonely Planet. ¹³

As evidenced by the various communication strategies above, the production and circulation of the image brand to a global audience is central to destination marketing and geopolitical positioning. And what is striking about the brand management of Incredible India during the 2006/2007 year is the unabashed confidence and self-assured tone of India’s emerging economic and cultural resonance on the international stage. No longer is Indian tourism marketing hinged upon the reproduction of purely exotic and orientalist imagery, but rather, the campaign builds on the aspirations of a “rising India” where its culture and civilizational fabric has become a cornerstone of a powerful new identity in the twenty-first century. This is best captured in a quote by the creative director V Sunil who states (Figure 3),

To be truly powerful, a brand must express itself not just in terms of a product benefit, but in terms of a greater socio-economic truth. Apple told a brave new world to reject Big Blue IBM and “Think Different.” Nike told flabby, procrastinating city-dwellers everywhere to stop making excuses and “Just Do It,” following up with the brilliant “swoosh” icon, a graphic device that expressed energy and inspired sport without a word.

The Incredible !ndia campaign belongs to this generation of branding. Visually it uses the “!” symbol to convey the mind-boggling depth and intensity of the Indian experience. Every aspect of India—be it ever accelerating GDP, extreme geography, kaleidoscopic culture, deep-rooted spirituality or photogenic chaos—is summed up by the simple yet profound exclamation mark.

The campaign is also noteworthy in terms of tone. Headlines such as “not all Indians are polite, hospitable and vegetarian” [with the image of a Bengal tiger] are more than just witty advertising copy. They are symptomatic of a much bigger social phenomenon—an optimistic and extroverted new India, eager to make its presence felt in the new global community. This India is a far cry from the meek, tentative, “offshore” destination of the last decade.

It is the sub-text that transforms Incredible India from a mere branding exercise into a pop culture milestone, denoting a turning point in the evolution of one of mankind’s greatest civilizations. (V Sunil cited in Kant, 2009: 20)

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Figure 3.

The subtext reads, “The Royal Bengal tiger is the undisputed king of wild India. The tiger apart, you can observe over 1,200 of birds and more than 272 animal species at India’s 84 national parks and 447 wildlife sanctuaries. Scared?”

During the 2006/2007 year, this “optimistic and extroverted new India” was advertised through a number of striking visual images, but with the added use of irony as a creative device for drawing upon and circumventing several orientalist and conventional representations. For example, in the black and white depiction of the Taj Mahal—the monument of love—the text reads, “And to think these days men get away with giving flowers and chocolates to their wives” (Figure 4).

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Figure 4.

The subtext reads, “A monument of love built by an inconsolable emperor, Shah Jahan, in memory of his wife Mumtaz, the Taj Mahal is perhaps best experienced in moonlight. Arguably the world’s most photographed monument, the Taj is one of India’s twenty-six World Heritage Sites. Do visit with a loved one.”

As part of these efforts to construct a new global identity, the next step that was taken by the creative marketing team—with the backing of Ambika Soni (Minister of Tourism and Culture)—was to extend the brand in terms of its quality and scale to a number of strategic cultural axis points in both Europe and North America. ¹⁴ The first stop on this itinerary of accelerated cultural spectacle was the Internationale Tourismus Bourse (ITB) Berlin in March 2007. This international media event is regarded as the leading trade fair for the global tourism industry and a principal destination for business travelers and tourists. The Government of India was also participating as a Partner Country, which provided a marketing launchpad for substantial coverage worldwide. Backed with huge financial support, the campaign used the cityscape of Berlin and a number of strategically positioned “visitor touchpoints” through the urban center as a canvas for capturing the attention of over 5000 industry leaders and tourists from around the world. ¹⁵

For visitors and delegates at the ITB, the experience of Incredible India began at the Berlin-Schönefeld International Airport, where large colorful banners were displayed throughout the arrival lounge and passenger exits. From the airport to the hotel, strategically placed signage continued to magnify India’s presence on landmark buildings, taxis, trams, and buses, providing commuters with a “door-to-door brand experience.” ¹⁶ Not only did the Incredible India campaign boldly announce the presence of India at the ITB through the large billboards but through its ironic spin, the images contained several “tongue-in-cheek messages and headlines” in the subtext that “playfully highlighted the dramatic contrast between Indian and European culture” (Figure 5). ¹⁷

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Figure 5.

An Incredible India billboard during the 2007 Internationale Tourismus Bourse in Berlin.

This door-to-door brand experience was only the beginning. For the first time in the history of ITB meetings, the Partner Country was allowed to kick off the international event by hosting a huge prelaunch party. The evening began with a kaleidoscope of music and dance performances from 75 folk artists representing different regional traditions and styles across the country. Given that the Ministry of Tourism outsourced the job to a top professional choreographer, according to India Today reporter Dilip Bobb (2007), the result was something rarely seen: “a medley of folk music and dance, mercifully short but brought together in such dazzling fusion that even the normally phlegmatic Germans were tapping their feet in time to the dholaks” (p. 116). To whet the appetite of 4500 delegates and invitees, the artistic performance was followed by an elaborate 29-course meal catered by 45 of India’s chefs from the country’s leading hotel chains (Figure 6).

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Figure 6.

The prelaunch party at the 2007 Internationale Tourismus Bourse.

Based on the review by Bobb (2007), the excitement generated by the inaugural event was not easily forgotten by the delegates attending the ITB. Adding to the cultural melange was a number of unique art installations such as a “souped-up scooter rickshaw” flown in to showcase India version 2.0 in the nearby exhibition hall. There was also a multicolored “Wool Wall” displaying stacks of wool in a giant glass cube reflecting the Incredible India insignia through a three-dimensional (3D) background. In collaboration with the ITB event, National Geographic also issued a special collector’s edition in Deutschland titled “The Magic of India” that was on display next to a series of prints by some of India’s leading photographers. At the nearby Indian Pavilion—the main cultural hub at the event—business meetings were held next to craft displays, ayurveda demonstrations, astrology sessions, classical dances, folk music, tea-tasting, bangle stalls, henna painting, and even a mock wedding. ¹⁸ In his concluding remarks of the ITB meeting, the reporter Dilip Bobb writes that it was impossible to escape the symbolism of Incredible India in Berlin.

Berlin is the city that best symbolises the end of the Cold War with the demolition of the Berlin Wall and, judging by India-related events at the ITB, it seemed that many a bureaucratic wall had also tumbled down. The main organiser of the show was the Ministry of Tourism but it was anything but the traditional yawn that Government of India performances tend to be. Whether it is India’s rapid economic growth, an expanding global profile or increased self-confidence, there is a new energy and purpose in government circles that is embracing innovation and happily making space for partnering with the private sector. (Bobb, 2007: 115)

Following the branding spectacle at the ITB in Berlin, there has been the extension of the Incredible India campaign in a number of other major metropolitan centers and cultural hubs in both Europe and North America in 2007. The first stop on this itinerary of image building was the popular resort town of Cannes in southern France—to promote the Incredible India brand at the opening of the International Film Festival. This annual event held at the Palais des Festivals et des Congrès in May is considered one of the world’s oldest and most prestigious film festivals that brings together an elite clientele of movie-stars, prominent film directors, artists, and distributors from all over the globe. As an international event that receives wide global media exposure, the Incredible India brand was displayed throughout the venue showcasing diverse and picturesque locales with cinematographic themed headlines scene à louer or in English, “Location for Hire” (Figure 7).

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Figure 7.

“Locations for Hire” displayed during the Cannes Film Festival in 2007.

After Cannes, the next destination was a 3-month campaign in London between July and September 2007. The main theme behind the London event was “India Now,” and was carefully crafted to promulgate India’s “accelerating economy” and “ever-evolving culture.” ¹⁹ Throughout the summer months, there were numerous events, activities, and festivals planned throughout the capital city reinforcing the creative and innovative cultural power of this former colony. There were programs dedicated to Indian art, film, food, theatre, music, and fashion throughout the urban metropolitan space, and similar to the Berlin meeting, double-decker buses and taxis were also branded with the colorful Incredible India insignia. As a major hub for rapid transportation with the world’s oldest underground railway, the creative marketing team decided to place a number of large outdoor banners in 150 bus shelters that featured images of India corresponding to the names of famous London Underground stations. For example, the popular station “Elephant and Castle” was reinscribed with an Indian image displaying a palace gateway in Rajasthan with a large elephant in the foreground (Figure 8).

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Figure 8.

London 2007.

Directly following the London festivities, the Incredible India campaign crossed the Atlantic to inaugurate a special event in New York that marked India’s 60th year of independence. Coinciding with the UN General Assembly session, the Incredible India@60 campaign took place between 23 and 26 September and was organized in partnership with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). According to the campaign website, the combination of the 4-day event and the General Assembly provided the “perfect opportunity” to showcase a “brand new India” to world leaders, top international business moguls, and the public (Figure 9).

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Figure 9.

Incredible India@60 campaign held in New York City 2007.

With eight ministries, eight overseas partners and 41 events—including four gala dinners, 13 conferences and panel discussions, nine cultural shows, seven receptions and eight ongoing events—it was a grand show that maximized India’s presence and visibility to the world. ²⁰

Building on the vivacity of earlier campaigns, the images in New York boldly expressed the country’s “extraordinary energy” and “cultural diversity” through its wide dispersal of billboards at Times Square, Winter Garden, and Lincoln Center as well as branded taxis, buses, bus shelters, TV, and radio announcements. Prathap Suthan, national creative director for Grey Worldwide, who assisted with the delivery of the New York marketing event, explains why the campaign stood out: “The difference lies in the expression which, according to me, is very Indian. Where one normally uses photography for billboards, which is a Western expression, the style used to communicate in this ad is the kitsch look.” He is referring to the combination of village folk art and colorful illustrations depicting yoga positions, for example, with the accompanying subtexts: “Get rid of 21st century stress. Stand for 5,000 years;” “Perhaps it’s time you learned to breathe;” and “Go back to 3000 BC and get a healthier life.” ²¹

The strategic extension of the image brand in these prominent global cities and cosmopolitan cultural centers of the West implies that after 60 years of Independence, India’s presence on the world stage can no longer be overlooked in the new millennium. In fact, according to Kant (2009) “no country in the world has attempted branding through events of such scale, size and dimension” (p. 44). Through the recalibration of national identity in an intensified global economy of images and brand logos, these images suggest that India is no longer the meek, sheltered, and maternal protectorate of spiritual traditionalism eager to receive the paternal guidance and material support of a Western power. Rather, in the twenty-first century, the powerful trope of Mother India itself has been recast as an object of global consumerism.

The symbolism of Bharat Mata or Mother India has a deeply controversial cultural history in modern India as an embodiment of national territory (Ramaswamy, 2010; Ray, 2000; Sinha, 1994, 2006). One of the more prominent and enduring representations includes a mother/goddess figure wearing an orange and saffron sari holding a red flag and standing next to a lion. Beginning with the late nineteenth century, the image of Bharat Mata gained currency as an important symbol for the growing Indian independence movement but was also recast in the early twentieth century as the title of a popular and controversial book by American journalist Katherine Mayo. In the book Mother India (Mayo, 1927), she wrote a seething critique of Hindu culture that expounded an essentially racist view of Hindu society that served to confirm long-held prejudices of white people against Indians, and significantly, reinforced the colonial rule of authority (Sinha, 2006).

Following independence from the British Raj, the Bharat Mata image continued to be reworked through popular cultural idioms, such as the 1957 Bollywood film directed by Mehboob Khan and starring Radha Nargis as the “mother.” This film, which also starred Sunil Dutt, Rajendra Kumar, and Raj Kumar, became India’s first submission for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 1958 and was chosen as one of the five nominations for the category (even if the film entry was dramatically different from the original version). And of course, more recently, the Mother India image has gained leverage as a potent symbol of the Hindu nationalist movement whose vision of Bharat Mata is equivalent to “Aryavarta,” the motherland of Hinduism. This adaptation of Mother India as a goddess in the Hindu nationalist imaginary implies that it is the religious duty of all Indians to participate in the struggle to defend and purify the nation, especially against those forces deemed external to the subcontinent.

In comparison with the Hindu nationalist imagery is the latest incarnation of the Mother India theme in the Incredible India campaign. As part of the marketing angle for 2008/2009 year, the Ministry of Tourism decided to focus on the experiences of those who came to visit India as tourists and decided to stay and make India their permanent home. From the campaign website it states,

It takes a special bond with the country and its people to give up everything you know and set up home, [sic] take roots in India. These are the people who’ve truly embraced the culture and assimilated it into their being. As opposed to those who’ve simply being “bitten by the India bug.” Staying back is prompted by a decision that will change their lives forever. It is not a mere whim or adventure. It is the commitment of a lifetime. ²²

Central to the set of images used in the 2008/2009 campaign was the showcasing of several different visitors to India—mostly women—who have been absorbed into the Indian cultural and national milieu and have decided to make India “their home.” As “ambassadors to our culture,” according to the website, each image deploys a simple creative device whereby the individual states their country of birth, followed by text that reads “Motherland: India.” In one particular image, it depicts a French woman Anne Chaymotty who was born in France and trained in classical ballet in Paris. But after searching for the “perfect art form,” she discovered the classical dance style of Bharat Natyam, which brought her to India (Figure 10).

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Figure 10.

The subtext reads, “The complexity, beauty, and spiritual power of this 3000-year-old classical dance came as a revelation to her and became her first love. Today she is known as Devayani, one of the foremost exponents of Bharat Natyam in the world. If you are seeking peace and fulfillment, visit India. Like Devayani, you will find that your search ends here.”

The powerful invocation of Mother India, as I have discussed, has been used throughout the late nineteenth and twentieth century as a prominent cultural and moral index for Indian national sentiment. Returning to Partha Chatterjee (1989) and his discussion of nationalist thought and the colonial world, he writes that if the external world is the treacherous terrain of the material, where practical considerations reign supreme, then typically it is also conceived as the domain of the male. Moreover, if “the home” is representative of “one’s inner spiritual self, one’s true identity,” then traditionally, this essentialist position was anchored in a feminine principle that must remain “unaffected by the profane activities” viewed external to it (Chatterjee, 1989). Yet, through the Incredible India campaign, one could argue that Mother India, like the global positioning system of yoga, is no longer restricted to the sovereign space of national culture but has become a transnational hybrid—one that “incorporates new people in relation to the body politic” as Homi Bhabha (1994) has suggested.

In my opinion, it is the reworking of the Mother India image in the Incredible India brand that really brings out the geopolitical connections of nation branding through tourism. Far from being a superficial exercise that merely reproduces exotic and orientalist images, the Incredible India brand provides a privileged space for the reworking of these cultural idioms and the assertion of a new global nationalist vision. In this final case, “Motherland: India” is not only about destination marketing, but it is also about appropriating the “Other” into its global nationalist vision: a creative device with particular resonance for the Indian diaspora who may wish to return to the motherland as tourists and potential investors.

Discreditable India and the political economy of gloss

In this review of the Incredible India campaign that was launched in 2002, it is obvious that these images and the self-promotional discourse around them present a particular vision of India as a harmonious cultural mosaic and an emerging global superpower. Through the dissemination of these vibrant and provocative images, it is clear that the marketing campaign draws upon normative representations with strict controls over the creative process that occlude any form of dissonance or countervailing forces (Haines, 2011). Perhaps the most obvious critique leveled at the Incredible India brand is that the country’s image management and construction of a world-class aesthetic (Ghertner, 2011) may prove to be self-defeating. Despite the creative display of marketing talent, India is a country that faces immense challenges that have the potential to undermine its program of tourism development. For one, it is a country where the magnitude of poverty is staggering and according to the World Bank’s definition there are over 250–300 million people who live below the poverty threshold of US$1 per day. These are people whose life prospects and life chances are grim; they represent the other side of the Incredible India campaign that does not fit with the carefully constructed image for global circulation.

This disjuncture, one could argue, is similar to the India Shining campaign that reached its climax during the national elections in 2004. As Christopher Pinney (2005) has recently discussed, in May 2004, the national elections led to a dramatic transformation of the political landscape, whereby the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led coalition was defeated by the Congress-led coalition, despite a forecasting of 300-plus seats. According to Pinney, the most compelling way of accounting for the BJP defeat was the conflict between “image regimes.” Under the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), the BJP launched an image campaign that involved a luminescence under the sign of “shininess” and “radiance.” Sidestepping electoral liabilities and contentious issues such as caste and religion, the “India Shining” campaign presented a “supermarket of dreams and values … in virtual reality” (Pinney, 2005: 87). This campaign was countered by a set of stark images presented by the Indian National Congress that invoked the aesthetics of black and white realism, portraying rural and urban poor, suffering peasant families, and so forth. As Pinney concludes, “India Shining” was not simply a slogan that backfired, rather, it dramatized a “point of rupture within neoliberalism” that led to an aesthetic contest between life worlds and classes.

Although one of the main thrusts of the Incredible India campaign is to showcase its cultural and geographic diversity, one could also argue that the set of images that are carefully selected by a dominant class of elite project a glossy utopia of cultural nationalism that masks several regions of sociopolitical conflict. For example, the continuing violence in some of India’s most beautiful and culturally vital regions, such as the disputed territories of Kashmir, Nagaland, and the central tribal states, such as Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh—that are wracked with Maoist violence and antigovernment militant movements—do not fit under the image brand rubric. One cannot help but question whether the huge expenditure in the national military budget to undertake violent campaigns against the Maoist insurgency such as the recent “green hunt” and other disputed territories could be better used to encourage cultural innovation and build economic initiatives around tourism development that directly invests in the cultural resources of the people, especially among those groups that have been marginalized from the national vision.

The incredible scale of financial investment in the production and dissemination of the brand image is itself a contentious undertaking. Social critic Naomi Klein (2000) argues that for many large multinational corporations, the marketing of the brand name and image has now become more important than the actual manufacturing or delivery of the product itself. Linked to these concerns, perhaps the state should reallocate its overseas marketing budget for the Incredible India campaign (Rs 110 crore or US$ 22,500,000 for the 2008–2009 year for example) to strengthen infrastructural development, so that tourism can play an integral role in alleviating poverty by providing economic opportunities for social growth. ²³ At the same time, this argument toward the primacy of functionality leads to a particular paradox at the heart of the Incredible India campaign and tourism development practice, more generally. How does one improve the quality of experience for tourists without sanitizing the incredible in India? At the same time, the paradox becomes more evident when one considers the growing importance of medical tourism and the recasting of India as a global health-care destination that requires first-class amenities that matches or exceeds the standards of the West.

From the perspective of Amitabh Kant (2009),

a brand is what a brand does. The “Incredible India” campaign could not be sustained if the quality of experience offered to tourists did not remain credible. In the long run, a branding campaign which does not match with the actual experience does damage to the destination rather than promote it. (p. 92)

Is it likely that quality infrastructure, tourist circuits, and world-class destination management will ever live up to the promises of the brand image that it exports abroad? According to Ong (2011), the notion of “world class” is frequently cited as a “talisman to endorse varied kinds of partnerships, justify mega-projects, and denote the necessity of dislocating inconveniently sited poor residents, a common practice in many cities, but one with special resonance in South Asian initiatives to spark long-delayed urban-renewal” (p. 22). There is no doubt that many international and domestic tourists face challenges in India, but privileging luxury infrastructure and beautification at key tourist destinations can often be to the detriment of those residents who dwell there. Similar to the neoliberal rise of “special economic zones” directed toward free market investment in India, the construction of tourist enclaves around major historical monuments and cultural sites can lead to violent displacements in the name of promulgating a “world-class aesthetic” (Ghertner, 2011; Roy and Ong, 2011).

Conclusion

As important as these critiques are in the field of tourism studies, the recourse to an essentialist vocabulary and polarized debates surrounding authenticity and false advertising is to miss the wider significance of the Incredible India campaign that I have highlighted here. The question as to how the “third world” writes its own post-Orientalist history has long been at the forefront of subaltern and postcolonial debates on India and elsewhere in the global south. ²⁴ As part of the poststructural turn in recent decades, we have seen how the production of culture, identity, and difference has been recast in relational terms as processes that are constructed, contingent, and unstable, rather than in essences (Bhabha, 1994; Prakash, 1990). As Mazzarella (2004) explains in his analysis of globalization, this ontology of mediation is a constitutive feature of social life and cultural identity, and is always hinged on the management of “internal indeterminacies as well as external provocations” (p. 360). Furthermore, “that such a ‘fixing’ is at once both necessary and impossible,” according to Mazzarella, is “one of the ground rules of cultural politics” (p. 360).

This ontology of mediation certainly applies to the cultural politics of image branding in tourism development. At the global level, we have witnessed a phenomenal growth in the tourism industry leading to fierce competition among rival nations to promote their distinctive cultural attributes and unique travel destinations. As a mediating idiom and cultural modality of production, increasingly state governments and tourism officials rely upon advertising and marketing professionals in the private sector as a strategy for relandscaping the image of the country. It is in the marketing field where culture is reduced to a form of consumerism but also an object of expertise and an important arena for political and ideological intervention where certain cultural assumptions are contested. From the viewpoint of MacCannell (1992), “Tourism is not just an aggregate of merely commercial activities; it is also an ideological framing of history, nature and tradition; a framing that has the power to reshape culture and nature to its own needs” (p. 1).

This ideological framing, as I have suggested here, is one that uses image branding and the power of representation to subvert negative stereotypes, histories, and meanings. As an affirmation of power, according to Haines (2011), branding, “is more than just about an image of a place, it is also about the authority to speak, to represent” (p. 165). Couched in a rhetoric of “advancement” and “growth,” the brands promulgation of India’s rising global status and harmonious cultural mosaic provides a discursive shift away from the negative landscape of the past—as a former British colony and a “developing” Third World country (Haines, 2011). Through its lucid imagery, ironic subtext, and the launching of cultural spectacle in various metropolitan centers in the West, nation branding helps put into circulation a language of symbolic and cultural capital that mirrors wider attempts to claim international recognition. Like the Olympics and other major occasions of global visibility, the brand image provides a privileged platform for cultural reinvention that is not only designed to showcase a specific tourist destination but also, perhaps, more importantly, to announce the arrival of a brand new India—one that is confident, self-assured, and uses tourism as a window to elevate its geopolitical importance on the world stage.

But still the obvious questions remain: is the enormous expenditure in overseas marketing by the central government worth it? What, if anything, is the accountability and transparency associated with this massive expenditure? Who are the main benefactors, and under what circumstances? Further research on this topic would benefit from exploring how the narratives and images of Incredible India play out in the lived experiences of tourism workers and through perceptions of the campaign by tourists themselves. However, in terms of the cultural politics of image branding and the relationship between destination marketing and nation building, there is no denying that what is being communicated as “incredible” is the advertising and marketing skills of its roducers, along with the astronomical budgets that have been mobilized by the state for its dissemination.