Now that we've discussed the what and why of nation branding, let's move on to the how. For this discussion, we'd like to start by looking at America's historic branding efforts. The first post examines the American National Exhibition.
The American National Exhibition opened in Moscow in 1959 to a curious Soviet public. The event provided a window into American life to millions of people who filed through the doors. The visitors saw examples of contemporary American life, from cars to homes to art. Young American guides led the curious Soviet public through the American story as well as their own personal stories of life in the United States and, in many cases, how their immigrant families became American citizens. The American exhibit organizers created this cultural exchange in the hopes that greater cultural understanding would decrease tensions between the 2 nations.
The video clip below allows a peek into the event as well as the famous impromptu "Kitchen Debate" that took place between then Vice President Nixon and Premier Nikita Khrushchev during the event.
Interestingly, according to Sergei Khrushchev, son of Premier Nikita Khrushchev and currently a professor at Brown University, he and his friends found the the handouts at the event (pamphlets, books, samples of American drinks and food) to be the most memorable aspect of the expo. He remembers that the cars, model American home, and other displays were out-of-reach to the average Soviet citizen, and, thus they assumed, were also out of reach to the average American citizen.
What image do you think America was trying to portray? Given the state of world affairs at that time, do you think this was an effective strategy?
The US applied a very effective strategy by starting an American Fair in the USSR, where American food (cup cakes), scientific work and artistic and information exhibits were introduced. In addition, the US did an excellent job to arrive with a big group of Americans to present an "All American" culture to the Soviet citizens. As for the USSR politicians, I would not think that the strategy was effective as from the video one could tell that they were insulting VP Nixon by making bad comments about the USA. America was trying to portray the image of American products, American technology and American education by showing the Russians how skilled Americans were in different industries: such as Science, Literature, Foreign language and etc.
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