How might we

erase stereotypes

and

misconceptions

about emerging

countries?

Why did I made this research?

This research I made as an application proposal for Kaospilot, based on the idea to erase negative stereotypes and stigma against countries/places around the world through marketing and positioning.

Although nation branding is not that hottest concept, there are still many challenges to solve regarding this topic, especially in the case of developing countries. Personally, it’s an opportunity to match my passions for travel and discover different cultures to a career.

Moreover the proposal, I intend to share the insights obtained and contribute for relevant discussion on break stereotypes about countries. I believe travel and exchanges can connect countries, cultures and people.

Firstly, thanks to everyone!!!!

Firstly, I have to thank everyone that contributed to this research during the interviews and all the friends who gave me nice insights to carry on this work!

By skype, e-mail, inbox – all the answers were important to inspire me to take this research day and night. I won’t mention names to don’t be unfair, as there are a lot of persons who contributed. Without your time and attention, it wouldn’t be possible!

I hope, with this initiative, to inspire more discussions about erase negative stereotypes about places we don’t know and contribute to connect different cultures around the world.

In the last 3 years, I could travel to 14 countries:

living in India, in Egypt and in Serbia, plus

backpacking through Eastern and Central Europe.

Many incredible places, amazing experiences and a

lot of awesome people along the road that helped

me to discover their countries and cultures, totally

different from what I’d see through the news.

Not all Indians are rapists, Egypt wasn’t in a civil

war, Serbia, Bosnia, Ukraine and Russia don’t

resume by wars and conflicts and so on. Would I

have all the discoveries if I had considered all the

negative news and lack of proper information? I’m

sure I wouldn’t.

How did this idea start?

And would you travel to...

Iran?

Pakistan?

North Korea?

Israel?

Kurdistan?

Colombia?

And so on....

WHY?

Why not erase negative

stereotypes?

I had great experiences in countries carried out by negative news and I’ve been seeing that the negative image and lack of proper information inhibit people to travel to these places.

So, why not help to break prejudices against unknown places? Why not help to more people discover exotic countries as they really are?

As we travel more and more, we not only discover different cultures, people and opportunities, but we also discover many similarities as human beings and feel more connection to humanity and to the whole universe.

How was the research?

The research was conducted in 2 simultaneous

phases: Qualitative phase and Semiotics phase.

In the Qualitative phase, it was made interviews

with XX persons, among travelers, expats, NGOs

representatives, natives and government’s

representatives. The purpose of this phase is to

understand the several perspectives into promote

countries carried out with stigma.

In the Semiotics phase, studies about nation

branding, travel trends and analysis based on the

answers obtained throughout the interviews.

Details about interviewees

44 persons from 15 countries

21 women, 23 men

Ages: 18 to 56 years old

Interviees from: Brazil, Germany, India, USA, Portugal, Ukraine, Lebanon, Russia, Argentina, Bosnia, Pakistan, Iran, Afghanistan, Australia, Kazakhstan

They traveled to/lived in/worked in: Bosnia, Morocco, Colombia, Egypt, Israel, Malaysia, Vietnam, Myanmar, Indonesia, Turkey, Iran, North Korea, Pakistan, Paraguay, Ukraine, Russia, Jordan, Bahrain, Kazakhstan, Kyrgystan, Ghana, India, Tunisia, Latvia, Estonia

Part I: Semiotic phase

Before analyse the answers given by the

interviewees, it’s important to pay attention to some

concepts to understand the context of the proposal.

More than marketing and positioning, brand a place

– especially when carried out with stigma – requires

understand the deep drivers that are critical to

engage societies within a whole nation or in a

certain region.

History, culture, religion, arts, national icons, places,

politics are a little bit of the many factors that

influence the image of a place, and that make the

work of branding exciting and complex.

Identity x Image

Identity: what the country really is

Image: how a place is noticed

externally

x

Work to do,

my baby!

Correct the gap

Erase stereotypes

Align image and identity

Facilities and opportunities

Globalization and higher competition

Easier access to information

Cheaper flight tickets

People travelling more

More demand for authentic travel experiences

Opportunities to market exotic places

Opportunities to position to niches

Facilities

Opportunities

But...we still feel some barriers...

It’s never been so easy to travel as nowadays, especially to non-clichéd places. In addition, the same to get to know with different cultures. Even with all the facilities and opportunities available, what is still necessary to do?

Facilities

x Opportunities

Erase negative stereotypes

and misconceptions

Showcase unknown potentials

and attractives

Part II: Qualitative phase

On next pages, it’s presented the data collected

through the interwiews.

Along the research, it was possible to identify

common drivers among the interviewees and

insights of what was decisive for their

experiences in non-clichéd countries.

Travelers/Expats/Natives

In the next section, it’s presented the

insights interviewing travelers, expats

and natives in countries carried out

with negative stereotypes.

Reasons to travel

+ 2

persona

Trip

Backpack

Work

Interesting job description

Project

Tired of the trivial

life/routine

To experience a different

culture

New experiences

A different place!

Get out of my comfort zone

Curiosity for the unknown

Challenge myself

See historical places

Humanitarian work

Meaningful experience

Common

reasons

How was the experience?

o Prejudices

o Discomforts and schocks

o Discoveries

o Women’s rights

Regarding the

experience of the

interviewees, it was

noticed these

drivers beside as

the core insights

• Drivers

Prejudices

Felt prejudices existent on local societies under skin

Sexism is common among women

For being foreigner

Desmitifying prejudices about the country and its peoples

Discover other cultures through daily life

During their experiences, the

interviewees showed to face prejudices

on a double way: in one side to live it for

being different in another place and, in

the other side, to break previous

prejudices as put in direct contact with

the real situation

Break previous prejudices

Lived prejudices

Discomforts and shocks

Sexism/sexual harassments

Fear of what is unfamiliar

Challenging personally

Differences on mindset

Discomforts and schocks are

common aspects of living

abroad, as expats/travelers are

exposed to challenging and

unfamilar situations, as well as

to different mindsets.

Among women, harassments

were appointed as a common

cause of discomfort.

Causes of discomforts

and schocks:

Discoveries

“It was different of

everything I’ve seen before”

“Most different and

interesting experience”

Learning about other

cultures as a source to

comprehend, a first step

for respect and tolerance

and change perceptions

were appointed as core

aspects of discover

unknown countries.

While discovering the

place, notice how

concepts and

misconcepts can be

transmitted by media.

Some phrases that

resume the discoveries

mentioned:

*Women’s rights*

Considering the cultures in many developing countries are mostly conservative and sexist, women’s rights was noticed as important factor

for women travelers and expats.

Among the interviewees, it’s evident the concerns about

the women role in local society and the experience of

face harrassments.

*Main concerns about

women’s rights*

Women’s safety

Degree of liberty for women

How women’s rights are respected

Dress code

Degree of strictions

How they’re going to fit into local

culture

Hesitations

o Safety and security

o Health

o Cost of living

o Gender and sexuality

o Concern of their

quality of life

Regarding what

would hesitate

travel to certain

place, safety and

security were the

main answers, with

other topics

decisive to enjoy a

reasonable quality

of life.

• Drivers

Safety and security

Military conflicts

Wars

Lack of safety

Extremist

movements

Interviewees showed

concern with safety and

security when deciding a

destination. In case of

countries carried out with

negative publicity, travelers

show concern about

violence statiscally

comproved, not that one

showed on the news.

Factors that would

make hesitate:

Health

Diseases

Virus

Epidemics and outbreaks

How hygien is taken

Another factor that was

appointed by interviewees

is health. Situation that are

threating to their health

such as virus and diseases

– Ebola outbreak as

example – are also

detractors when choosing a

destination.

Factors that would

make hesitate:

Costs and quality of life Cost of living and

cost of travelling

were also mentioned

as decisive about a

destination,

especially to

developing

countries. Beside,

it’s presented other

aspects considering

what quality of life

travelers/expats

would have in the

place.

Women’s rights: concerns

about strict rules, violence

against women, social

freedom of women

Acceptance and positioning

regarding homossexuality

Another aspects

considered:

What is essential to know?

o It depends on what kind of

trip

o Get to know about the

culture

o Costs

o Extra: safety, language,

hospitality

• Drivers When asked about the

most essential

information about a

destination, the answer

were closely related to

what would hesitate to

travel.

It depends on what kind

of trip, which determine

what information is

critical.

It depends!

Each case is relative!

Depending on factors

like the purpose of the

travel, the political

convictions, the sexual

preference, informations

such as openness to

homossexuality, religion,

political situation of the

country, diet and food

are important to decide

the destination.

Sexuality

Food and diet

Lifestyle

Religion

Political ideology

Cultural values

Some factors that are

also influential when

deciding a destination:

Know about the culture

What and how to dress?

How to behave?

What is socially accepted and what’s not?

History and customs

Women’s social role

Get to know about the

culture is always among

the main questions of

travelers, especially to

those non-clichéd

destinations.

Women show bigger

concern regarding dress

codes and the social role

of women in local

society.

Mentioned

concerns about

local culture:

Other essentials

Aligned to what would

hesitate choose a

destination, get informed

about financial aspects

as cost of living and

currency/exchange were

also mentioned as

essentials.

Safety

Language: do local

people speak English?

Any other language?

Openness to foreigners

Other aspects

mentioned as

essentials:

Politics, economy, society

o Understand before arrive

o It depends on what kind of travel

• Drivers When asked if they take

into consideration the

political, economic and

social aspects of the

place they’re going to, it

was pointed out that it

depends on their

objectives and the

situation

Understand before arrive

Comprehend the gravity of the situation in case of conflicts and instability.

Understand the risks related to the local’s situation

Concerns with factors that can risk individual safety

The answers given by

interviewees can be synthesized

on the following topics:

It depends on what kind of travel

Short time: trend to not consider deeply the political aspects and economic stability

Business travel, for example, tend to require attention to factors like corruption and bureaucracies

Lifestyle and cultural values: determinant for those who care about have their sexuality and political ideology respected

Depending on the length

and on the purpose of

the travel, as well as

personal values of the

traveler, some aspects

can be taken into

consideration while

others not.

Get informed

o Internet

o Friends and

networking

Easier and abundant

information, especially

by internet, is decisive

when searching about

non-clichéd countries. In

the other side, it

represents a great

source of opportunities

to promote and brand

unknown places.

• Drivers

Internet

Google

Websites in general

Recent news about the place

Videos/movies

Books

Cultural life

Travel guides

*Contents about the places: develop and curate relevant content is one key activity to connect with travelers and promote the place!

Difficulties faced in the trips

o Visa

o Find the right

information Long time to process

Bureucracies

How to extend/renew the visa

No representation in my country

Immigration proceedments are confusing

• Drivers

Difficulties related

to visa issues:

What helped?

Contact with someone who have already been in the place

Information is abundant, the questions is to use the right tools to find the right informations

What were the surprises?

o Broken previous

stereotypes

o Schocks

o Fascinating places

o Discoveries

Among the surprises,

discover the places by

themselves was the main

aspect, seeing what they

woudn’t imagine and

what is not so known.

• Drivers

Broken stereotypes

Desmistifying the negative publicity transmitted by the news

Breaking misconceptions and generalizations

Along their experiences, interviewees pointed out the discovery of what the countries/places really are in comparison to prejudices and stereotypes.

Main surprises

regarding previous

stereotypes:

Schocks

Sexual harassments

Fear due to

stereotypes

Extorsions and

overcharging prices

Negative associations

of islamism to

women’s rights

Among the schocks

and negative aspects of

their experiences,

interviewees pointed

out the following

aspects:

Discoveries

Fascinating places

Self-discovery: news horizons

and perspectives to approach

life

Development of soft skills and

of flexibility

Open new horizons

Discover new places,

develop soft skills while

out of comfort zone and

self-discovery are

mentioned as most

remarkable aspects of

experience, especially in

non-clichéd places.

Main discoveries

mentioned:

How to promote?

o Promote more the

attractives

o Access to content

and information

• Drivers

Promote the attractives

Increase awareness of what attractives there are in the place is critical for erase stigma and promote places out of global stage, let the world know cool things happening in the country regarding cultural life, music, cinema, innovations and creativity

Natural beauty

Architectonical patrimonies

Recent history

Culture

Cost of living

Transportation facilities

Security, although stereotypes

Examples to be promoted:

Content and information

Facilitate the access to

proper information about the

place

Promote more the good

things!

Informations shared by

travelers are critical to a

bigger reach out

What could be improved to erase

negative stereotypes?

Organizations

In the next section, it’s

presented the insights

interviewing NGOs and

government

representatives, as well as

native citizens from

countries carried out with

misconceptions.

Why people hesitate to come?

• Drivers

o Culture

o Security

o Stereotypes/Misconceptions

o Lack of known attractions

When asked about

why people hesitate

people to visit the

place, interviewees

answers converged

to the drivers

Culture, Safety,

Stereotypes and

Lack of known

attractions

Culture

Some interviwees showed

concerns regarding

misconceptions people outside

have about the local culture,

normally regarding how is the

culture in relation to dress code,

alcohol comsuption, women

social role, etc.

In some cases, negative PR by

media, movies or any political

incident can contribute for

misconceptions about how open a

place is for foreigners.

Communicate clearly

how open is the

local culture:

Dress code

Alcohol consumption

Women’s social role

Gay friendly or not

Receptiveness for foreigners

Security In the case of post-conflict

countries and those associated to

conflicts, like Lebanon, Serbia,

Bosnia & Herzegovina, Israel,

Afghanistan – it’s common the

challenge to desmistify the

associations of violence for

citizens and tourists, even tough

when the places show a high level

of safety. Even when security

level is low, as mentioned by one

interviewee, “it doesn’t mean the

whole country is inside a huge

trouble of having no security at

al”.

Common

misconceptions

regarding safety:

Ask about the safety

Impression of a place as full of violent and hostile people

Impression of danger about a place

Generalization to the whole country as violent when it’s concentrated in limited areas

Stereotypes

Erase stereotypes is, of

course, one of the

challenges to promote a

place as a destination.

Stereotypes and constant

negative news feed

erroneous perceptions

about a place, making

people ignore the existent

attractives it offers.

Some

misconceptions

mentioned by

interviewees:

“(...) some think Lebanon is

in a desert(…)”

“(…) I suppose they believe that in Siberia there would be more kind of traditional rural society(…)”

“Of course it is not nice of Media to spread really wrong information about Afghanistan. Well, they think only by having one or two workers inside a country they can find out what is really going on there”

Lack of known attractions

Due to the challenge of

erase stereotypes and

misconceptions, it was

noticed through the

interviews the necessity to

invent new ways to export

local legends, values and

ideas to play a role in a

bigger sphere – regional,

national and international.

Moreover, raise awareness

of the past and history of the

local to showcase its unique

attractives.

Challenges to promote

• Drivers

o Political issues

o Security

o Raise awareness

Regarding the

challenges to promote

places carried out with

stigma, interviewees

mentioned to handle

negative publicity

around political

issues, security and to

raise awareness about

what the place has to

offer.

Political issues and Security

Political issues and security represent

a complex challenge to promote a

destination as they represent sources

of negative publicity and exaggerated

news. Defeat statistics and news as a

place of conflict and war were common

answers mentioned by the participants.

Related to the questions about what

make people hesitate to go to a place,

generalizing violence to a whole

country/region when concentrated in

limited space is also a big challenge.

Raise awareness

Raise awareness of the

attractives the place has to

offer is another common

challenge pointed out, as if

people outside don’t know

what there is to do/visit,

why go there?

This point is critical for

those places out of

destination routes and

those far away from central

regions such as capitals.

Why raise

awareness?

erase strong

stereotypes about the place

People discover what are the attractives

Promote experiences and innovations that could be shared

Offer the right information

What could be improved to

promote?

When asked about what

could be improved to

promote their places,

interviewees pointed out

answers converging to

brand awareness. As one

participant told: “(...) it’s all

about the brand(...)” People

go to places because of the

image they have in their

minds.

How to reach

awareness?

Better media

coverage

Highlight the positive aspects

Invest in digital marketing

Develop contents for specific niches

What else to improve to promote?

Improve a place’s image doesn’t

limit to work on its brand. It also

involves complementary work on

issues like security, corruption

degree, more involvement of local

public and private sector.

Facilities for foreigners travel,

work and live are also important

steps as expats and travelers can

act like ambassadors when

having great experience in a

counry.

What else to promote

awareness?

Partnerships between

public and private

sectors

Combat corruption

Facilities for

foreigners work and

live in the country

What attractives are currently

ignored?

• Drivers

o Touristic and

economic appeals

o Human aspects

When asked about

what attractives

and attributes are

ignored because of

misconceptions, it

was possible to

identify 2 groups of

drivers:

Touristic/economic

appeals and Human

aspects.

Touristic and economic appeals

Beaches, nature, historical

places, scientific structures,

start up and entrepreneurship

are among the attributes

obscured by misconceptions

regarding the nations of

interviewees.

Human aspects

The cultural diversity and

receptiveness to foreigners

are the main human aspects

mentioned among the

answers. Many unknown

places have intense cultural

life and, in some cases,

offer gay friendly and young

environment.

Inspiring initiatives

On the next pages, it’s

presented some awesome

initiatives to erase stereotypes

and increase awareness about

stigmatized places discovered

during the research and the

interviews!

AFREAKA began in Brazil, in August

2012 through a crowdfunding initiative

on the website, Catarse.

The idea was to completely get away

from the ‘Africa’ stereotype of hunger,

poverty, war and so on.

AFREAKA aims to focus on

individual and collective expressions

of local culture and the values that tie

them together, using text, video,

photography and infographs.

The founders interviewed numerous

artists, intellectuals, and

environmentalists; learned about

innovative initiatives; visited

contemporary art galleries; and

frequented inspiring traditional

communities.

Website:www.afreaka.com.br/english/

Being aware of the fact that Iran has a

relatively negative image abroad which

does not correspond at all with the reality

they have encountered throughout their

trips through Iran, Cristian and Audrey

with their kids Emilia and Lucas have

considered initiating an informational and

promotional campaign – Iran is Great -

in Europe starting April 2014 introducing

Iran’s rich culture and civilization,

promoting the cultural, historical, natural

and tourism potentials by motorhome.

Currently, they’re travelling around

Arabic peninsula to continue the

campaign.

Website: www.iranisgreat.com

Serbia4Youth is an organization

with an accent on development

of youth travel in Serbia. The main

idea is to present destinations of

Serbia in a new and creative way, to

recreate touristic products and to

offer to young people in order to

encourage more frequent travel in

Serbia. Therefore development

of incoming tourism with the target

group – youth.

Website: www.serbia4youth.org

Bem-vindo à Sérvia – Welcome to

Serbia, in Portuguese – was

created in 2011 by Thiago Ferreira,

a Brazilian who was born to live in

Serbia, and he speaks Serbian

fluently!

Living in Belgrade and studying

tourism, he created the blog to show

the touristic attractions existent in

Serbia and to erase misconceptions

many Brazilians have about the

country and other Balkan neighbors.

Nowadays, his blog is the only one

in Portuguese with rich information

about Serbia and the Balkan

countries.

Website: www.bemvindoaservia.com

I’m siberian, a campaign inspired

by the legend of Siberia, the most

wild and frosty place in the world.

Acting intuitively and creatively,

inventing new ways to

make Siberia as a symbol entered

the actual important level.

It aims to raise awareness

in Siberia as a place for travel, as a

totally unique place.

Website: imsiberian.com

INPRO was an initiative embraced

in 2013 by different people from

different countries, and established

in Poland as a juridical person in

2014.

INPRO aims to educate people and

to make them believe that

international experiences bring

added value to the community.

Its motto is “To live in a smarter

community”.

Website: www.goinpro.org

Visit Afghanistan is an awesome

initiative to promote tourism in

Afghanistan throughout their

website and their Facebook page

sharing photos describing the

afghan history and culture, as well

as the daily life in the country.

Website: visitafghanistan.co

Facebook page: Visit Afghanistan

Everyday Afghanistan is another

initiative which aims to share the

exact image from Afghanistan and

the real life if its people, created by

the afghan photographers Aryan

Musleh and Naib Beig.

The requirements to post on the

Facebook page are:

1- Only photos taken by mobile

2- Photos must be daily life, urban

street and humanitarian.

Facebook page:Everyday Afghanistan

Challenges ahead!

Assess small and emerging countries coordinate

creatively their assets for branding in absence of

diplomatic, economic and military power

Help small and emerging countries access the global

stage!

How to position to women and attend their necessities,

as well as to other niches (explorers, gays/lesbians,

etc.)

How to inovate on nation branding and cultural

diplomacy for small and emerging countries?

We are all one!

Unicity principle: as described by Wayne

Dyer, when we learn this principle and apply

on our daily lives, we begin to feel as part of

humanity, instead to fight against it. We

start to feel we are all connected and that

each individual behaviour affects someway

the whole humanity.

For feedbacks,

questions,

whatever...feel free to

contact me in English,

in Portuguese and in

Spanish!

André Fernandes

I was born in Brazil to be a

nomad around the world. I

guess I’m only going to

settle down when I get

married, LOL! I’m always

ready for new horizons. My

dream job: to connect

people, countries and

different cultures!

About me E-mail: andref.anjos@gmail.com