Elsevier

Public Relations Review

Volume 38, Issue 5, December 2012, Pages 731-745
Public Relations Review

Branding national images: The 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics, 2010 Shanghai World Expo, and 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pubrev.2012.04.003Get rights and content

Abstract

International mega or hallmark events such as the Olympics and World Expo, are believed to help brand national and government images of the host country. Existing studies explain that mega-event images are transferrable to a host country and/or government. Yet, such an assumption has not been widely tested, or studied with country cases. Furthermore, while international mega events are assumed to target chiefly the international community for country branding purposes, there is reason to assert that they may just as much aim at domestic audiences for regime's political legitimization. By focusing on China's recently hosted three mega events – the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics, the 2010 Shanghai World Expo, and 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games, this study addresses these issues.

The analyses reveal that people are likely to associate event images, especially positive ones, with those of China and Chinese government. A set of presumably influential factors, which may either strengthen or weaken that association, are examined, showing that “people's involvement and participation in these events” are the most significant. The findings also verify that internationally oriented mega events can aim at the host country's internal audience. Indeed, solidifying its domestic legitimacy always seems to be an integral part of the Chinese government's strategy in pursuit of a favorable international image. Although exploratory, this study provides clues and fertile ground for further research on the relationship between international mega events and national and/or governmental image building, projection and branding.

Highlights

► Taking on China's recently hosted mega events, we examine if events’ images are transferrable to that of the host country. ► Participation in the events is found to be the most important factor, enhancing audience's likelihood of image association. ► The international-oriented mega events can aim at the country's domestic audience for political legitimizing objective.

Introduction

National images abroad and at home are widely regarded as a state's intangible soft-power resource (Nye, 2004). While externally becoming essential elements of a state's strategic asset, they, internally, contribute to political capital for both democratic systems and authoritarian regimes.

There is growing recognition that national images can be branded. The traditional concept of branding asserts that brands are created when there is a balance in perception and reality about a product, resulting in a favorable, or a balanced image. Consumer-behavior studies find that such an image can have an impact on everything from purchasing habits to perceptions of nationals from a specific country (Berkowitz, Gjermano, Gomez, & Schafer, 2007). Following the same logic, the concept of nation or place branding has recently come into play, evident, for example, in the increasing acceptance of the Anholt Nation Brands Index (ANBI). S. Anholt's nation brand hexagon based on six categories (tourism, exports, governance, investment and immigration, culture and heritage, and people) offered an analytical framework for national brands of 50 countries, developed and developing ones alike, in 2009 (GfK Group, 2009). To brand national images is believed to gain a favorable image of at least the three major stakeholders of a country: its people, society and certainly government (including its institutions). Here, it is implied that the branding of government image is an integral part of the branding of national image.

International mega or hallmark events, either sports tournaments such as the Olympics, or cultural and trade shows like the World Expo, can facilitate country's image branding. The term “mega-event” characterizes “large events of world importance and high profile which have a major impact” on the hosting country or place (Law, 1993). In explaining why a growing number of countries show interest in hosting such events despite the high costs and complexity of the bidding process and actual event hosting, several studies have identified economic growth, infrastructure upgrading, and image promotion as chief benefits to hosting countries (Kim et al., 2010, Kim and Petrick, 2005, Matos, 2006). Such events are not only pleasurable in themselves but attractive to money-spending visitors who are likely to forge positive images about places rich in culture, spirit and value (Horne and Manzenreiter, 2006, Therkelsen, 2003).

Recently, China hosted three such mega events: the Beijing Summer Olympics in August 2008, the Shanghai World Expo in May–October 2010, and the Guangzhou Asian Games in November 2010. Still an authoritarian system, the Chinese government fought vigorously in bidding for the permits to host these events and worked hard in organizing them. With enormous resources invested, the government believed that every penny spent was worthy, particularly as a necessary expenditure for public diplomacy. Along with new opportunities for urban development, Chinese officials have claimed that the images of China's three largest cities are branded nationally and internationally, and so is the image of the Chinese government via hosting these three mega events (Hong, 2010, Zhang, 2010). While many try to characterize the actual impact of the mega events on the country's image abroad (Berkowitz et al., 2007, Lamberti et al., 2011, Wang, 2010), some find that the branding of the Chinese government has achieved only limited results (Rabinovitch, 2008).

Whether or not mega events help brand a nation and/or government image remains an interesting and important issue, both academically and policy-wise. Applying Gwinner's model of image creation/transfer in event sponsorship as a frame of reference, and approaching the issue from a government public relations perspective, this investigation focuses on a substantial set of research questions and hypotheses.

Section snippets

Literature review, research questions and hypotheses

Event sponsorship is believed to generate effects on image building. When striving to hold a mega event, the decision making of a sponsoring organization is often based on the assumption that sponsorship, like any promotional efforts, produces positive effects on the image that a target audience may have of the sponsors, hence, promoting the sponsoring organizations (Nelson, 1990).

With this assumption in mind, Gwinner (1997) proposed a theoretical model to explain the mechanisms by which image

Research methods

This study employed both qualitative and quantitative analyses. They included examination of the information retrieved from the government websites of the State Council Information Office (SCIO) and the hosting cities, in-depth interviews of Chinese government officials, and a questionnaire survey.

To provide a context, this work treated official information with care. Keenly aware of the power of the Internet, the Chinese government created official websites for the Beijing Olympics, the

Descriptive findings

Among the 323 respondents, 28.2% were males (n = 91), and 71.8% females (n = 232). This heavily female composition somewhat matched the reported gender ratio in comprehensive research universities in China and, to less degree, the ones in Hong Kong and Macau. Most are well-educated: 77.7% (n = 251) with BA/BSC degrees, 18% (n = 58) with MA/MS degrees, 1.9% (n = 6) with a doctoral degree, and only 2.5% (n = 8) having high-school diplomas.

All had heard of 2008 Olympics and 2010 Shanghai Expo. Only a few (n = 

Implications and conclusions

This study explored China's image-building efforts through hosting such mega events as the 2008 Beijing Olympics, 2010 Shanghai Expo, and 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games. It has particularly addressed the questions of whether the event images could be transferred to that of the host country and government – a belief that many countries and governments seem to have harbored when bidding for and executing international mega events with huge public expenditures.

While it is generally assumed that

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