Seeing past international affairs

The article by S. C. Jansen that I read on nation-branding opened up my eyes to an aspect of public relations that I was never previously aware of - the commoditization of individual countries.  According to the article, the phenomenon pervades much of the modern world.  I was surprised that the mention of nation-branding caught me so off guard; previously in this class, I had never been completely in the dark when my classmates mentioned other phenomena of mass and consumer culture (i.e. certain brands, the image of the single woman, etc.).

Yet the manifestations of nation-branding outlined in the article were not foreign to me - just the labeling of such activities as "nation-branding."  I was always aware that each country had a certain identity and certain traditions (food, clothing, religion, etc.) that others associated with it.  However, I had always thought of these as part of an original and organic culture - something that had no known source and simply evolved over the centuries.  The same applied to the diplomatic and trade-related interactions that I had observed and heard about in the past.  I thought of these as international politics and trade affairs.

In short, the concept of "nation-branding" had simply never occurred to me.  And how does Jansen define "nation-branding"?  It is the promotion of a country purely for commercial gain.  My notions of culture and international politics were certainly my reactions to the promotions of all of the countries of the world.  I simply did not recognize that all (according to Jansen, at any rate), were under the guise of commercial benefit.

Reflecting on this now, I wonder why this occurred to me.  Although it is still a question to ponder, I think that the commercial undertones were so imbedded in the world around me (or as promoted by these national and international masterminds) that I simply saw them as political affairs.  This deception is understandably unsettling.