Iulian Boldea, Dumitru-Mircea Buda (Editors) CONVERGENT DISCOURSES. Exploring the Contexts of Communication Arhipelag XXI Press, Tîrgu Mureș, 2016 ISBN: 978-606-8624-17-4 Section: Communication, Public Relations and Journalism 219 NATIONAL STEREOTYPES IN COMMUNICATING MIGRATION.“WHY DON’T YOU COME OVER?” Alexandra Crăciun, Assoc. Prof., PhD, University of Bucharest Abstract: The inclusion of the migration issue on the public agenda is affecting the perception of the national stereotypes. We will try to investigate how identity stereotypes of the Brits and Romanians have been modified over a decade (2005-2014), a decade when nationalist issues have emerged, challenging the concept of globalization. Our paper compares results of an extended inquiry carried in 2005 among the students living in Bucharest, with a research developed in 2014 among over 200 students in communication studies, exposed to the “Why don’t you come over?” (WDYCO) campaign. The campaign run by the Romanian newspaper “Gândul”, was a reaction to “The Guardian’s” idea to crowd-source posters for a negative advertising campaign trying to persuade Romanian and Bulgarian immigrants to stay away from Great Britain. Our working hypothesis was that a campaign “fighting discrimination with humor” - as the WDYCO campaign was presented at the Eurobest Festival - generates positive associations in mapping national identities. A comparison between the two researches proved that the working hypothesis was just partially true. The result was demonstrating that: Romanians were capitalizing positive associations after the WDYCO campaign, but, in the same time, negative features were starting to map the national stereotypes of the Brits. As a result, the research puts forth that anti-discrimination campaigns could display a hidden face. They are producing cultural changes, but sometimes, they are “repositioning” the discriminators in the mind of the public, generating the premises for creating other “embedded” discriminations. Key words: migration, strategic communication, stereotypes, national identity, discrimination. Context. 1st of July 2014. Sorin Moisa, a Romanian member of the European Parlament is answering through an Open Letter to a message of Sajjad Karim, the British Conservative Party MEP asking for his vote to become President of the European Parliament. “Dear Saj, Thank you for your message congratulating me on my election to the European Parliament and asking for my vote in your bid to become President of the European
Transcript
Iulian Boldea, Dumitru-Mircea Buda (Editors)
CONVERGENT DISCOURSES. Exploring the Contexts of Communication
Arhipelag XXI Press, Tîrgu Mureș, 2016
ISBN: 978-606-8624-17-4
Section: Communication, Public Relations and Journalism 219
NATIONAL STEREOTYPES IN COMMUNICATING
MIGRATION.“WHY DON’T YOU COME OVER?”
Alexandra Crăciun, Assoc. Prof., PhD, University of Bucharest
Abstract: The inclusion of the migration issue on the public agenda is affecting the
perception of the national stereotypes. We will try to investigate how identity stereotypes of the Brits
and Romanians have been modified over a decade (2005-2014), a decade when nationalist issues have
emerged, challenging the concept of globalization. Our paper compares results of an extended
inquiry carried in 2005 among the students living in Bucharest, with a research developed in 2014
among over 200 students in communication studies, exposed to the “Why don’t you come over?”
(WDYCO) campaign. The campaign run by the Romanian newspaper “Gândul”, was a reaction to
“The Guardian’s” idea to crowd-source posters for a negative advertising campaign trying to
persuade Romanian and Bulgarian immigrants to stay away from Great Britain. Our working
hypothesis was that a campaign “fighting discrimination with humor” - as the WDYCO campaign was
presented at the Eurobest Festival - generates positive associations in mapping national identities.
A comparison between the two researches proved that the working hypothesis was just
partially true. The result was demonstrating that: Romanians were capitalizing positive associations
after the WDYCO campaign, but, in the same time, negative features were starting to map the national
stereotypes of the Brits. As a result, the research puts forth that anti-discrimination campaigns could
display a hidden face. They are producing cultural changes, but sometimes, they are “repositioning”
the discriminators in the mind of the public, generating the premises for creating other “embedded”
discriminations.
Key words: migration, strategic communication, stereotypes, national identity, discrimination.
Context. 1st of July 2014. Sorin Moisa, a Romanian member of the European
Parlament is answering through an Open Letter to a message of Sajjad Karim, the British
Conservative Party MEP asking for his vote to become President of the European Parliament.
“Dear Saj, Thank you for your message congratulating me on my election to the
European Parliament and asking for my vote in your bid to become President of the European
Iulian Boldea, Dumitru-Mircea Buda (Editors)
CONVERGENT DISCOURSES. Exploring the Contexts of Communication
Arhipelag XXI Press, Tîrgu Mureș, 2016
ISBN: 978-606-8624-17-4
Section: Communication, Public Relations and Journalism 220
Parliament. (…) You have been elected an MEP once more as a candidate of the British
Conservative Party, of which you have been (again) a member since 2007. The Conservative
Party has unfortunately, in its recent years in government, chosen to, paraphrasing Nigel
Farage, play on UKIP's pitch. That included ideas such as extending the ban on Romanian
and Bulgarian workers on the UK labor market to 2018, put forward by dozens of
Conservative backbenchers late last year, and resumed earlier this year. Or the continuous
search for a way to block or limit migration from within the EU, by means of caps, quotas or
wealth thresholds. All that, when there is clear evidence that immigration has brought
undoubted net benefits to the UK, when the open British economy, and UK nationals take full
advantage of the single market in all its dimensions, including by living, working, retiring and
benefiting from welfare states elsewhere in Europe. But worse than all, you, the
Conservatives have if not directly contributed, then definitely not opposed an insulting
atmosphere in the UK towards Romanians, as well as towards Bulgarians, Poles, and other
EU nationals. Stereotypes, gross generalizations, simply untrue facts and figures, have
roamed freely, while, for example, 2,200 'readymade' Romanian doctors, whose training was
paid by those poor Romanians back home, form 0.8% of your NHS doctors. (…). Regards,
Sorin Moisa MEP”.1
The answer was coming immediately:
“Sorin, During my address to your Group, and in an email I sent subsequently after
my address, I spoke of the letter I had published in the Financial Times where I criticize the
'mass hysteria' surrounding immigration into the UK from Romania and Bulgaria. For your
perusal, I have included the letter again here. You may also be interested in this Huffington
Post article written by Romanian Ambassador to the UK, Dr Ion Jinga, at an event in my
constituency where I said: "I apologize for what the UKIP said about Romanians. It was
disserving both the UK and Romania. It was something one never does to friends and
Romania is a long standing friend of the UK". (…) Kind regards, Saj.”2
After three years since the online edition of The Guardian has launched the
controversial “call” mentioning that “Ministers are considering a negative advertising
campaign to deter would-be migrants from coming to the UK” and inviting the readers to send
1 The whole text of the Open Letter is available at the following address: http://www.euractiv.com/sections/uk-europe/open-letter-sajjad-karim-did-tories-lose-their-memory-303187, consulted 26th of July 2014; 2 Idem;
CONVERGENT DISCOURSES. Exploring the Contexts of Communication
Arhipelag XXI Press, Tîrgu Mureș, 2016
ISBN: 978-606-8624-17-4
Section: Communication, Public Relations and Journalism 221
posters aiming to “put people off Britain” (online edition, 28th January, 2013) - the above-
mentioned Open Letters (written by two members of the European Parliament) prove once
more that migration is still a very sensitive issue, generating ethical debates at the highest
political level.
Reports issued by the European Commission regarding the citizens’ mobility within
Europe are pointing out the importance of the phenomenon:
“Migration is already of key importance in the EU, with net migration contributing
0.9 million people or 62% of total population growth in 2010(…). Migration is now firmly at
the top of the European Union’s political agenda.”3. while articles like the CNN’s: “Why
Europe's immigration nightmare is only beginning” are pointing out: “Immigration has
become a toxic political issue; especially as high levels of unemployment and the economic
crisis have fuelled a growing anti-immigration sentiment across Europe.” (Khalid Koser,
special for CNN, October 30, 2013)4
But beside the figures, and political consequences new challenges are coming from the
level of cultural change and mentalities.
That’s why the present paper will refer to a campaign proposed by a Romanian
newspaper, Gândul, under the headline “Why don’t you come over?” (WDYCO) as a reaction
to The Guardian idea to crowd-source posters for a negative advertising campaign trying to
persuade Romanian and Bulgarian immigrants to stay away from Great Britain.
Our goal is to identify how the inclusion of the migration issue on the public agenda is
affecting the perception of the national stereotypes, and more precisely, we will try to
investigate how this campaign modifies the cultural representations of the Brits and
Romanians among the students of the Bucharest University.
Regarding the methodology, the research compares some results of an extended
inquiry carried 11 years ago, with a survey developed in 2014, after the students have been
exposed to the WDYCO campaign.
3 The Global Approach to Migration and Mobility, Communication From The Commission To The European Parliament, The
Council, The European Economic And Social Committee And The Committee Of The Regions, Brussels, 18.11.2011
COM(2011) 743 final, p. 2; 4 Khalid Koser, Why Europe's immigration nightmare is only beginning, CNN October 30, 2013, online edition, http://edition.cnn.com/2013/10/30/opinion/europe-immigration-debate-koser/;
Iulian Boldea, Dumitru-Mircea Buda (Editors)
CONVERGENT DISCOURSES. Exploring the Contexts of Communication
Arhipelag XXI Press, Tîrgu Mureș, 2016
ISBN: 978-606-8624-17-4
Section: Communication, Public Relations and Journalism 222
There are several reasons we have decided to focus on this very special target. First, as
we have mentioned, this was one of the core targets of the WDYCO campaign based on a lot
of viral activations, online debates and crowdsourcing.
Moreover this is probably the most “vulnerable” target in terms of considering the
“brain drain” phenomenon, and I remember some years ago trying to poll the last year
students about “where will they be after 20 years”, 90 percent of them were answering that
they will be out of Romania. According to the data supplied by the National Institute of
Statistics for 2012, most of the emigrants leaving Romania are coming from the age group 15
-24 y.o., while the age group of the students that were part of the inquiry was 18-24 y.o..
0-14 y.o 15-24 y.o 25-64 y.o. 65 y.o. and over
Figure 1. Number of migrating people in Romania during 2012
Our working hypothesis was that a campaign “fighting discrimination with humor” as
the WDYCO had been described in the presentation prepared by the advertising agency for
the Eurobest Festival, should generate positive associations in mapping the national identities,
while specific activations: as the website offering “free couches for British citizens willing to
travel” in Romania, may generate “good will” and back up positive national stereotypes.
WDYCO campaign. In 2013, Gândul - a leading Romanian newspaper - has
launched a campaign against The Guardian’s initiative to use crowdsourcing in order to find
ideas trying to persuade Romanians and Bulgarians to stay out of UK. The context of the
campaign was related to the fear that, starting with the 1st of January 2014, UK labor market
will be flooded with Romanians and Bulgarians, while the transnational border control would
be lifted. The situation is probably best explained post factum by an article issued in May
Iulian Boldea, Dumitru-Mircea Buda (Editors)
CONVERGENT DISCOURSES. Exploring the Contexts of Communication
Arhipelag XXI Press, Tîrgu Mureș, 2016
ISBN: 978-606-8624-17-4
Section: Communication, Public Relations and Journalism 223
2014 by The Guardian under the title : “Number of Romanian and Bulgarian workers in UK
falls. Treasury chief secretary Danny Alexander says figures 'give the lie to Ukip's
scaremongering on immigration”:
“The number of Romanians and Bulgarians working in Britain has gone down since
border controls on them were fully lifted in January, according to the Office for National
Statistics (ONS). The first official numbers of Romanians and Bulgarians in the UK workforce
undermine predictions that hundreds of thousands would come to Britain once the doors were
fully open to them. One ex-Ukip MEP even claimed 1.5 million would come looking for work.
The Liberal Democrat chief secretary to the Treasury, Danny Alexander, said the figures
"give the lie to Ukip's scaremongering on immigration", while the chairman of the Commons
home affairs committee, Keith Vaz, claimed that those who "predicted the end of the world on
1 January" – such as Nigel Farage – now owed the public an apology.
Romania's ambassador to the UK, Dr. Ion Jinga, wrote on the Huffington Post UK website:
"The Romanians' flood to the UK is over even before it started." The labour force survey
figures show that there were 122,000 Romanian and Bulgarian nationals working in Britain
in March this year – a fall from 125,000 in December, just before the last of the seven-year
transitional controls were lifted on the new EU members on 1 January.” (…) But Vaz said:
"Those, including Ukip, who promised the end of the world on 1 January, now owe the public
and those from Romania and Bulgaria a full apology." He said the figures were unsurprising
to him as he had been at Luton airport on 1 January and seen how the supposed flood was
little more than a trickle. (…) Barbara Roche of the Migration Matters Trust and a former
Labour immigration minister, said: "Today's figures show it would take 90 years for
migration from the EU to get near the 26 million figure Ukip have used in their poster
campaign." In November, Mark Harper, the then immigration minister, said there would be
no mass migration of Romanians and Bulgarians to Britain when the labour market curbs
were lifted in January. He said there would not be repeat of the mass arrival of Poles in 2004
and suggested people were more likely to go to work in Germany, Italy or Spain than come to
Britain. A BBC Newsnight poll of Romanians intending to work in another EU country last
April showed 30% wanted to go to Italy, 24% to Germany and 16% to the UK. “5
5 Number of Romanian and Bulgarian workers in UK falls. Treasury chief secretary Danny Alexander says figures 'give the lie to Ukip's scaremongering on immigration', Alan Travis, home affairs editor The Guardian, Wednesday 14 May 2014, online edition http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/may/14/number-romanian-bulgarian-workers-falls-border-controls;
Iulian Boldea, Dumitru-Mircea Buda (Editors)
CONVERGENT DISCOURSES. Exploring the Contexts of Communication
Arhipelag XXI Press, Tîrgu Mureș, 2016
ISBN: 978-606-8624-17-4
Section: Communication, Public Relations and Journalism 224
One year before, The Guardian was publishing the famous article: “Immigration:
Romanian or Bulgarian? You won't like it here Ministers consider launching negative ad
campaign in two countries to persuade potential immigrants to stay away from UK, written in
27 January by Rajeev Syal. The article that was anticipating the initiative to use
crowdsourcing in order to sustain the ministers initiatives to develop a de-marketing
campaign in order to reduce the number of immigrants coming from Romania and Bulgaria.
“Please don't come to Britain – it rains and the jobs are scarce and low-paid.
Ministers are considering launching a negative advertising campaign in Bulgaria and
Romania to persuade potential immigrants to stay away from the UK. The plan, which would
focus on the downsides of British life, is one of a range of potential measures to stem
immigration to Britain next year when curbs imposed on both country's citizens living and
working in the UK will expire. A report over the weekend quoted one minister saying that
such a negative advert would "correct the impression that the streets here are paved with
gold". There was no word on how any advert might look or whether it would use the strategy
of making Britain look as horrible as possible or try to encourage would-be migrants to wake
up to the joys of their own countries whether Romania's Carpathian mountains or Bulgaria's
Black Sea resorts. With governments around the world spending millions on hiring London-
based consultants to undertake "reputation laundering" there would be a peculiar irony if
Britain chose to trash its own image perhaps by highlighting winter flooding of homes or the
carnage of a Saturday night A&E ward.6
Following this article, several posters were produced by crowd-sourcing under the
headline “You won’t like it here”, focusing on the idea that life in UK is awful, and trying to
persuade Romanian and Bulgarian immigrants to stay away from Great Britain.
The Romanian newspaper Gândul, has reacted by launching a campaign based on the
following creative idea: “We may not like Britain, but you will love Romania”.
A series of posters based on simple and straight headlines, using red or blue
backgrounds - the colors of the UK flag have been developed. Headlines were based on
different cultural stereotypes as for example: the beauty of the Romanian women (“Half of
the women look like Kate. The other half, like her sister.”), the diversity of the food (“We
6 Immigration: Romanian or Bulgarian? You won't like it here. Ministers consider launching negative ad campaign in two countries to persuade potential immigrants to stay away from UK, Rajeev Syal, The Guardian, Sunday 27 January 2013, online edition, https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2013/jan/27/uk-immigration-romania-bulgaria-ministers;
CONVERGENT DISCOURSES. Exploring the Contexts of Communication
Arhipelag XXI Press, Tîrgu Mureș, 2016
ISBN: 978-606-8624-17-4
Section: Communication, Public Relations and Journalism 225
serve more food groups then pie, sausage, fish, chips”) insights of the daily life („Your
weekly rent covers a whole month here. Pub nights included”, „Charles bought a house here
in 2005. And Harry has not been photographed naked once.” „We have the most beautiful
road in the world according to your top motoring show.” )
Figure 2. Gândul campaign posters
Interesting activations were crowdsourcing the messages using an application where
the internet users were able to upload their own headlines using the campaign template. A
special website was dedicated to people willing to offer their couches to the coming Brits, was
gathering over 300 offers of free coaches in less then 2 days.
The "Why don't you come over?” cheeky response campaign that invited British
citizens to mass migrate to Romania is going into a more practical stage as the initiators are
putting their couches where their mouth is. A recently built website
www.whydontyoucomeover.co.uk offers British citizens access to ordinary Romanian
coaches. The website aims to turn the slogan into reality, by bringing together Romanians
willing to share their couches with a British visitor and – hopefully - British nationals with a
Iulian Boldea, Dumitru-Mircea Buda (Editors)
CONVERGENT DISCOURSES. Exploring the Contexts of Communication
Arhipelag XXI Press, Tîrgu Mureș, 2016
ISBN: 978-606-8624-17-4
Section: Communication, Public Relations and Journalism 226
sense of adventure. The site uses an interactive map that provides location, address and even
pictures of the available couches.7
The campaign, was generating - according to the presentation developed by
Gândul.info and GMP Advertising Agency for the EUROBEST competition - over 2 mil.
EUR of free media, winning some of the most important awards for PR and communication
during 2013 in Europe: Grand Prix - PR at Eurobest; Grand Prix - Digital Campaigns, Gold -
PR Campaigns, Silver - Integrated Campaigns at Golden Drum 2013; Gold - Best of PR,
Silver - Online at ADC*RO, best regional campaign - European Excellence Awards.
Effies for impact, as well as The Guardian Witness campaign crowdsourcing pictures
of Romania, coordinated by Caroline Bannock under the slogan What is Romania like? - were
proving once more the impact of the campaign:
"There is a myth in the UK, that after January 1, 2014, we will be invaded by a huge
number of Romanians. I realized that it is fair and that no one in this country knows how
Romanians are. I wanted thus to fight this myth and we wanted to invite Romanians to tell us
about their country and about them." Caroline Bannock - Community Coordinator for
Guardian Witness said.8
Stereotypes of identity: before and after WDYCO. As already mentioned, in order to map
the national stereotypes of the Brits and of the Romanians, we are going to compare some
results of a research conducted in 2005, with an enquiry developed in 2014, after the people
were exposed to the WDYCO campaign. The pool of the research in 2005 was consisting of
1000 students from different Universities in Bucharest (including the Academy of Economic
Studies, the Polytechnic University, and other private universities) while in 2014 was focused
on 200 students from the University of Bucharest, previously exposed to the WDYCO
campaign.
7 Romanians extend their "Why don't you come over?" campaign with free couches for British citizens willing to travel, Gândul online edition, 03.02.2013, http://www.gandul.info/english/romanians-extend-their-why-don-t-you-come-over-campaign-with-free-couches-for-british-citizens-willing-to-travel-10540369, 12.06.2014; 8 The Guardian campaign coordinator: The pictures show how beautiful Romania is and that people are proud of their culture, 20 November, 2013, http://www.antena3.ro/en/romania/the-guardian-campaign-coordinator-the-pictures-show-how-beautiful-romania-is-and-that-people-are-235463.html.
