For years Israel has been struggling to re-brand itself, to improve its reputation in the world and for years it has failed. In the last quarter of 2006, the Anholt Nations Brand Index which measures the power and appeal of a nation's brand (based on 6 areas of national assets - tourism, exports, governance, investment and immigration, heritage and culture, people), Israel ranked #37 out of 38 countries. Israel was one above Iran, and that was already an improvement from previous rankings where they were last.
Image taken from www.Isrealli.orgThis is of course, after the weak (if not somewhat sexist) attempt by New York's Consulate General of Israel to sway American males in their favor with Maxim magazine's July 2007 pictorial of Israel Defense Army soldiers scantily clad in bikinis - as the sexiest soldiers in the world.
Image by Menahem Kahana/AFP/Getty
Image from "Stand with Israel"
Bar Refaeli on SI shoot - Image from Sports Illustrated
Simon Amholt, the guru of Nation Branding and advisor to many governments, thinks Israel is wasting their money. "Branding is not about communications, it's about doing real things to earn that positive reputation. There are no shortcuts to a better reputation." As long as Israel is constantly embroiled in conflicts with its neighbors, the country will always be associated with the 40+ years of occupation, violence and oppression. The extreme use of force in Lebanon in 2006 and more recently in the Gaza strip does not help promote tourism. And no amount of branding and glossy images can counter the recent IDF soldiers' damning admission of the "cold-blooded murder" (not my words but the soldiers) of unarmed Palestinian women and children in Gaza as they fled for their lives or the purposeless and the wanton destruction Palestinian property. In the 22-day military operation in Gaza, out of the 1,300 Palestinians who were killed, 440 were children.
Image taken from "Palestinian Think Tank"
a half years in the position. Next came Margaret Tutwiler, a former press spokeswoman. She stayed 6 months. And finally Bush hired his close confidant, Karen Hughes - who also resigned. During their tenures, the United States created Radio Sawa in 2002, to play top 100 American pop music in the Middle East with the hope that Britney Spears could change perceptions. When that didn't work, in 2003 they created HI magazine that presented the 'American lifestyle' to Arab youth. When that failed too, they tried a third medium, Al-Hurra (Freedom) TV station in 2004.These pathetic attempts to promote American society and culture overseas were largely unsuccessful because they were superficial and American policies which were the heart of the problem did not change. Instead these efforts were mocked by the Arab press and America's image continued to deteriorate further. It is now only recently, with a new administration and the reversal of many Bush policies that America's brand is getting the much needed resuscitation.
If Israel is genuinely interested in redeeming its reputation around the world, it will have to address once for all the repeated charges of war crimes and human rights violations by the UN, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty and other organizations. They will have face charges of apartheid-like practices and make sincere efforts to end the occupation of Palestine and make peace with its neighbors. If not, no amount of images of bikini clad bodies on sandy, salty beaches will be able to improve its reputation or raise its brand from the bottom of the pile.
Gaza - Image from the Washington Times
Image from the FT - Palestinian child at police officer's funeral in Gaza
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