Towards a New Model of NarrativeTransformation: From the American Mythto the Green Myth
Eli Avraham1 & Anat First2
1 Department of Communication, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel2 School of Communication, Netanya Academic College, Netanya, Israel
In this paper, we suggest the ‘‘Narrative Spheres of Performed National Identity’’ theoreticalmodel, regarding the way ad narratives negotiate national identity in the globalizationera, and use it to demonstrate how narrative is transformed. Israeli print ads serve as atest case in this qualitative study to demonstrate a transformation from the narrative ofAmericanization—which has dominated Israeli ads during the 1990s and throughout thebeginning of the 21st century—into the ‘‘green narrative,’’ during the mid-2000s. Themodel, which is comprised of four performance spheres—national, geographic, economic,and cultural—helps in analyzing the transformation of the national identity narrative ofa small country under siege by both global and local pressures.
doi:10.1111/comt.12002
In this article, we suggest a model regarding the way advertisement narrativesnegotiate national identity in the globalization era, and use it to demonstrate hownarrative is transformed. Most of the noteworthy scholars who wrote on narrative andnational identity focus on ‘‘high’’ and ‘‘official’’ culture (Edensor, 2002); only a fewhave looked at ads, which are among the most prominent products of popular culture(First & Avraham, 2009). Moreover, advertisements are a form of discourse that makean important contribution to our understanding of the ways in which we constructour identities; at the same time, they must contain commonly shared codes and signthat enable us to understand them (Goldman & Papson, 1996). Nevertheless, there isa lack in studies that use ads as a mirror for tracing national identity. This qualitativestudy presents a model that assists in mapping the ways myths and symbols which fuel‘‘banal nationalism’’ (Billig, 1995) operate in various domains, within small nationstates that are heavily influenced by globalization. In other words, we are offeringa new model that aims to examine the transformation of narratives in ads. Israeliprint ads serve as a test case to demonstrate a transformation from the narrative ofAmericanization—which dominated Israeli ads during the 1990s and throughoutthe beginning of the 21st century—into the ‘‘green narrative’’ during the mid-2000s.
Towards a New Model of Narrative Transformation E. Avraham & A. First
National identity in the era of globalization
There is broad agreement that the beginning of the 21st century can be characterizedas an era of ‘‘glocalization,’’ a contradictory combination that both enfeebles thenation-state (Ram, 2005) and promotes the mutation of national identity (Edensor,2002). Identity is always a process; it is always being reconstructed in a process ofbecoming according to sociopolitical, temporal, and spatial contexts (Edensor, 2002).Thus, identity is becoming ‘‘nationally deterritorialized, and locally and globally, evenvirtually reterritorialized’’ (Edensor, 2002, p. 28), and a globalization process mayeither diminish a sense of national identity or reinforce it. Moreover, nationalism isstill central to the maintenance of what Giddens (1987) calls ‘‘ontological security,’’the routine and taken-for-granted trust that individuals have in the stability andcontinuity of their social environment. That is, in large-scale societies, where rou-tinization has substantially replaced tradition, the sense of commonality of languageand belonging to a national community contributes to ontological security.
Appadurai (1990), who shares the notion of glocalization, has suggested that glob-alization is characterized by a dynamic of disjunctive flows of people (ethnoscapes),technology (technoscapes), money (financescapes), information (mediascapes, whichconsists of images and narratives), and ideas and ideologies (ideoscapes). When exam-ining advertising, researchers often look at the ways in which well-known narrativesand myths are used by advertisers to promote their products, ideas, and places(Avraham & First, 2003, First & Avraham, 2007; 2009).
Ads, popular culture, and myth
Mediascapes, which refer to both the distribution of and the electronic capabilitiesto produce information, and ideoscapes, which refer to various ideologies andworldviews, are closely related (Appadurai, 1990); this is because both construct andreconstruct the images of the ‘‘imagined world’’ and the ‘‘imagined community’’(Anderson, 1991). These images, which compose both the global and the localculture, are carried by a variety of instruments, one of which is advertising.Moreover, because advertising is one of the most visible loci of popular cultureand serves as a meeting point for producers, commodities, and consumers, itmanifests the interrelations among the various landscapes. It is understood not onlyas economically significant, but also as socially and culturally central to individuals’experiences in contemporary capitalist societies.
Advertising is ascribed as a central role in homogenizing dominant ideologies(Barthes, 1978; Williamson, 1978), and in restructuring and redirecting humandesires, aspirations, experiences, and needs (Williams, 1980), especially through thedisplacement of use-value and utility by aestheticized exchange-value and sign-value.In addition, advertising manages the relationship of taste, cultural capital, and socialdistinction (Bourdieu, 1984), and creates a homogenized ‘‘promotional culture’’(Wernick, 1991). Thus, we look at ads for consumer goods as exercises in signconstruction of a myth. ‘‘Ads ask us to choose and construct our identities out of
E. Avraham & A. First Towards a New Model of Narrative Transformation
our consumption choices’’ (Goldman & Papson, 1996, p. 6). As mentioned, we willconcentrate on print ads but since TV and online ads also use texts, colors, andsymbols, the model we suggested here can also be applied to them.
In summary, analyzing the meaning of advertisements provides a way of betterunderstanding society’s political processes, aesthetics, dreams, and morals—thatis, its central values at a given moment, that is, its narratives (Frosh, 2005).Advertisements make use of symbols that connote much more than factualrepresentation (Avraham & First, 2003) and that naturalize a certain myth and imageof the world (Barthes, 1977).
The narrative spheres of performed national identity: A model
To examine the narrative shift in Israeli ads in the last 2 decades, we propose a modeltitled ‘‘Narrative Spheres of Performed National Identity,’’ which is comprised offour performance spheres—national, geographic, economic, and cultural—wherethe national identity narrative of a small country under siege by both global and localpressures is performed and expressed. Each sphere comprises several symbols/signsthat evolve from the nation-state framework and are challenged by globalization. Theadvertisement constitutes a stage for the performance of national identity. As such,it unifies the various spheres into one entity/organizing narrative. Since our mainaim is to provide a codebook for examining the national identity of small nations asreflected in popular culture, we specify the major variables that are displayed in thisdiscourse (Figure 1).
The national sphereContrary to those who mourn the nation-state, we agree with Edensor (2002) andSchirato and Webb (2003) that it is still a vital entity. Moreover, in focusing on a sitewhere popular culture operates in the everyday life of a small nation in the global-ization era, our analytical unit is the nation-state with its core concept of nationalidentity. Therefore, we turn now to elaborating some components of the nation-stateand national identity that have treated culture as fundamental to the nation.
The flag: One of the most popular uses of flags is to symbolize a nation orcountry. In modern times this venerable symbol is associated with nationalismbecause nationalism is needed to create a framework of unifying factors. The nationalflag represents pride, belonging, and identification, and imbues the place where it flieswith special importance. Thus the flag is flown at various events, both in symbolicforms and in the everyday routines (Billig, 1995).
Language plays a central role in unifying the public on a cultural level. Anderson(1991) maintains that by creating a common field of communication, language isone of the foundations for creating a national consciousness in the process of anation’s rebirth. Researchers subscribing to the view of cultural imperialism, andtheir successors, complain that English is becoming the dominant language aroundthe world and thereby subverting original languages, as the state is flooded withproducts of American pop culture.
Towards a New Model of Narrative Transformation E. Avraham & A. First
Fl
ag
Flag
LanguageTerrit
oryNational Leaders
Geographical Sphere
Sites & ViewsCitiesNaming
Labor &ProductionConsumption
Technology
Real Estate
Borders
Currency
Cultural Sphere
Economic Sphere
National Sphere
LifestyleCultural Heroes
Language
La
ng
ua
ge
Flag
Figure 1 The narrative spheres of performed national identity.
National leaders are a cornerstone in nation building because they take partin achieving and sustaining loyalty by inspiring nationalism and its perpetuation.Moreover, as Held (1996) concludes: ‘‘nation-states became supreme because theywon at war, were economically successful and subsequently, achieved a significantdegree of legitimacy in the eyes of their populations and other states’’ (p. 84). Thenation-state is also, however, an object that is governed by political leaders.
Territory: Most researchers agree that territory is the keystone of the nation-state.Held (1996) underscores a number of the crucial innovations of the modern statesystem and the territoriality as the first innovation. He claims that while throughoutWestern history all kinds of political entities (empires, polity of estates, absolutiststates) have made demands for territories, it is only with the modern state systemthat exact borders have been fixed. The ideological load that adheres to territory,in changing it from just ground to a ‘‘homeland,’’ is exposed in the context ofits borderlines, which are supposed to symbolize simultaneously the border ofsovereignty of the collective and the border of its identity. On the other hand,precisely territory, which is the cornerstone of the nation-state concept, becomes thereason for its cancellation in the global era. The first argument in the growing slopeto irrelevancy of the nation-state is the difficulty of the state to defend its territory
E. Avraham & A. First Towards a New Model of Narrative Transformation
by itself from a flow of information, images, and capital/wealth that burst its borders(Schirato & Webb, 2003). As noted earlier, globalization is characterized by a changein the concept of space and time, and the discussion of harm to territory is related tothe diminution of space. This concept is the basis for directly and clearly challengingthe rest of the variables that we will present.
The geographical sphereThe concept of borders connects between national territory and geographic space,since it is also defined in geographic terms.
Borders: The sociopolitical definition of borders emphasizes the political powerthat they represent (Krasner, 2000). A geographic definition views the border as thegiven physical borderline, but this definition limits the concept (Vila, 2003). Here wefocus on the distinction between the borders of the nation-state and of the nationalidentity. This entails differentiating between the construction of borders as part ofthe process of state-building and the establishment of identity, which is viewed asnation-building. Thus, borders are regarded as the ‘‘hardware’’ of the nation-statewhile identity remains its ‘‘software’’ (Kemp, 2003). Yet, the border concept also hasa cultural significance. Ever since the founding of the nation-state, there has beena struggle over the collective identity between groups and communities within thestate itself, and sometimes between the nation and the state.
It is precisely in the era of globalization that the debate over the border concepthas become acute, since one aspect of globalization is the cancellation of physical,political, as well as cultural borders and the growth of global politics along withbureaucratic, economic, and cultural organizations (Beynon & Dunkerley, 2000). Werefer here, however, to those components of geography that exist within the territory,within the borders, and often have a tangible physical presence, and to the danger oftheir eradication as a result of the cancellation of the borders. In popular culture, thelandscape becomes part of the national context by adjusting the national symbols tothe land, cities, residential neighborhoods, and roads.
Naming a place or a building project is important in establishing ‘‘reality.’’ Wesuggest that the politics of naming in advertisements is part of the mechanism thathelps to reconstruct sentiments toward a place.
Landscapes and sights: We share the view that ‘‘most of us live in recognizableworlds, distinguished by distinct material structures, distribution of objects and insti-tutional arrangements. Within these inhabited realms, surrounded by familiar things,routes and fixtures, we make our home . . . .’’ (Edensor, 2002, p. 50). Nevertheless,one must take into account the postmodern nature of globalization, which reducesspace and relocates known spaces and sights beside or within the daily spectacles.
Cities: Globalization appears to have a home, namely, the new ‘‘global cities’’(Giddens, 1990). Global or world cities are the place where the local meets the global,and they are crucial actors and points of contact for the new networks. The globalcities are part of the change in the perception of space (Castells, 1996), and thereforethey are viewed as forces that erode the nation-state. However, cities are also part of
Towards a New Model of Narrative Transformation E. Avraham & A. First
the national landscape and serve as coordinators of the local geography. They usuallyare also a center of residence for the national organizations.
Real-estate discourse: The search for identification between political and ethnocul-tural borders is central to sovereign political existence, in which secular concepts suchas ‘‘real estate,’’ ‘‘ground,’’ or ‘‘area’’ become sacred ideas such as ‘‘homeland’’ and‘‘fatherland’’ (Smith, 1981). Yet, globalization involves a reordering of the relationshipbetween the territorial and the economic, thus resecularizing ‘‘homeland’’ into ‘‘realestate,’’ ‘‘ground,’’ or ‘‘area.’’
The economic sphereThe principal reason for the supposed irrelevance of the state is to be found in theeconomic sphere. Castells (1996) offers various examples, from states’ inability towithstand pressure from powerful financial institutions to their dependence on globalcapital markets to finance their fiscal deficits. Schirato and Webb (2003) argue thatstates, especially rich ones (first and foremost the United States), have the ability tocontrol their economy. We accept Schirato and Webb’s position. Since our main aimis to offer a codebook for examining small nations’ own national identity as reflectedin popular culture, we suggest the primary variables that play a part in this discourse.
Technology is the facilitator of globalization. Here we are interested in technology’sreputation. Who produces the technology and where, as well as who uses it, can be asource of national identification.
Labor and production: The country of origin’s influence on the marketing of acertain product is termed ‘‘product-country image.’’ The country of origin has a majoreffect on a consumer’s decision whether to buy a particular product (Papadopoulos,1993).
Consumption: Although technology is the great facilitator of globalization, itsmost eminent outcome is the ritual of consumption. Moreover, shopping is an actof excitation that enables entering other habitues as well as articulating a sense ofidentity (Bocock, 1994). Both consumerism and lifestyle involve bonding with thenation-state where the product is made, and, moreover, thrive on the promotion ofbrand names. Hence, Beynon and Dunkerley (2000) conclude that ‘‘Transnational,trans-cultural aspirational clusters, based on what people would like to be rather thanwhat they are, come into existence as a result of commercial lifestyling and are more‘real’ to people today than the surviving vestiges of class solidarity’’ (p. 15).
Currency: The currency used by advertisers in order to represent financialtransactions or ‘‘money.’’ In the global world, there are many currencies we can usein order to make any transaction. The main currency advertisers use tells a great dealabout the centrality and the importance of a currency among the target audience.
The cultural sphereThe cultural sphere contains two components: lifestyle, and popular heroes or heroines,which refer to materialistic versus postmaterialistic lifestyles (Inglehart, 1977). In fact,the very nature of advertising limits the discussion of this sphere to popular culture,
E. Avraham & A. First Towards a New Model of Narrative Transformation
since both advertising and popular culture tend to address broad populations. Theidea here is to analyze who the cultural heroes are (such as athletes, musicians, filmstars, etc.) as part of the cultural industry (First & Avraham, 2009).
Taking into account the abovementioned theoretical aspects, the rationale behindour suggestions may be summed up as follows: (1) All the spheres—as illustrated bythe arrows—interact with each other, which indicates the model’s fluid structure.For example, if we apply this model to the narrative about America (First & Avraham,2009), borders are the signs of the national territory as well as geographical signs,which are defined in geographical, sociopolitical, and cultural terms; (2) The nationallanguage and the national flag are the two main symbols. In their function as visualelements, they are the fundamental components of the national sphere, and thusserve as ‘‘ribbons’’ that ‘‘wrap’’ the entire model, and are integrated within eachsphere and its respective variables.
National identity and globalization: The Israeli case
We argue that from the 1990s and to the present day, two main narratives arediscernible in Israeli advertising: One revolves around the American myth and theother is its successor, the green myth.
The American mythSince its inception as a socialist-oriented state, Israel has moved substantially towardsbecoming a neoliberal, capitalist state. Thus, ‘‘Israel’s New Face,’’ or ‘‘The Ameri-canization of Israel in Various Spheres’’ are typical titles of the many articles on theglobalization—mostly meaning Americanization—of Israeli society (Liebes, 2003).Researchers differ about whether this is a deeply rooted and far-reaching process, oran organic process that has been occurring for years while only peripherally affectingIsraeli society. Yet, most researchers agree that the process of the Americanization ofIsraeli society began in the late 20th century (Azaryahu, 2000).
The reasons for the dominance of the American image at that time were (1) Thecollapse of the USSR and the perception of America as the most prominent power inthe world’s markets; (2) The ‘‘special relations’’ between the United States and theIsraeli political systems, which were characterized by exceptional trust; (3) Duringthe 1990s cable TV and commercial TV started broadcasting and brought the ‘‘imageindustry,’’ including advertising, to levels previously unknown in Israel; (4) Overtime, Israeli advertising agencies increasingly became incorporated in global, mostlyAmerican, advertising conglomerates (First & Avraham, 2009).
The Green mythOwing to several developments in Israel and the United States during the secondhalf of the last decade, America’s image among Israelis began to change. In hisbook, Ben Zvi (2011) describes the erosion of the ‘‘special relations’’ in Americanpublic opinion regarding Israel. It can be understood that the political processand U.S. President Obama’s attempt to improve America’s relations with the Arab
Towards a New Model of Narrative Transformation E. Avraham & A. First
and Muslim world have led to the perception among some Israelis of the Obamaadministration as less supportive of Israel than its predecessors. Concurrently, in thewake of the economic crises, the U.S. dollar is no longer the main currency in theIsraeli real-estate market; it has been repeatedly devaluated while the Israeli shekelretained its value and Israel’s economic situation continues to show healthy growth.In addition, Israel began to achieve considerable success in international sports,culture, art, technology, agriculture, and thriving hi-tech ventures (Avraham, 2009).The changes in the United States and the positive developments and achievementsin Israel have changed both the image of the United States and the Israeli self-imageand perception, forcing Israeli advertisers to look for another narrative.
This alternative new narrative is the environment; it rests on the reasonsmentioned above as well the growing global attention to environmental issues,global social responsibility, and the notion that practices that are unfriendly to theenvironment could also be toxic to profits. Moreover, in the United States duringthe 1980s, environmental politics had created an environment-friendly culturalclimate; this meant that in order to gain public legitimacy, the advertising industryhas had to embrace the ‘‘green narrative’’ and advocate the consumption of ‘‘green’’commodities (Goldman & Papson, 1996). The use of environmental issues was notnew to the advertising industry, but until recently, it was relatively rare and limitedprimarily to ads by energy companies (Donahue, 2004).
In the last decade, however, the volume of ‘‘green’’ advertisements has multiplied(Catenaccio, 2009). Gillespie (2008) claims that this is due to consumers’ demandsto buy green and the considerable increase in public awareness to ecological issues,such as land conservation, recycling, and energy/water consumption (Donahue,2004). Corporations found it beneficial to tell their potential consumers that theywere ‘‘going green’’ even if they were not (Gillespie, 2008). The result was a growinguse of the concept of ‘‘Greenwashing,’’ begun in the United States during the 1990s,and which was defined by Gillespie (2008) as ‘‘advertising or marketing that misleadsthe public by stressing the supposed environmental credentials of a person, companyor product when these are unsubstantiated or irrelevant’’ (p. 79).
By using the proposed model of the narrative spheres of national identity,our goal is to suggest a mechanism that can help researchers to identify changesin the narrative of national identity and to trace the transformation of myths inadvertisements. In our opinion, this model could help other small nations and placesto trace changes in their collective identity and to expose the ways in which thecapitalist system ensures/secures its own survival.
Methodology
To trace the change in the Israeli narrative, we used qualitative analysis based ona semiotic interpretation of advertising texts. The sample comprised 381 full-pageadvertisements that appeared during the last 5 years (2007–2011) in three major Israelidaily newspapers (Ha’aretz, Yediot Achronot, and Ma’ariv); the ads that were selected
E. Avraham & A. First Towards a New Model of Narrative Transformation
used at least one component of the green myth and were for cars, banks, financial ser-vices, building companies, and furniture. Ads in these fields were analyzed in a similarprevious study (for more details, see Avraham & First, 2003; First & Avraham, 2009).
We endorse the ideas proposed by Barthes (1977) and Williamson (1978) anddeveloped further by Goldman and Papson (1996): Advertisements can be analyzednot simply as vehicles for the promotion of consumer goods, but as ‘‘texts’’ thatboth perform and express cultural values. Moreover, most (print) advertisements arepictorial–verbal ensembles, and hence they are analyzed here through their languageand images as multimodal assemblages (Kress & van Leeuwen, 2006). In fact, verballanguage has a triple role: as an expressive resource of the collective, as a symbolictotem of the imagined community (‘‘Hebrew’’/‘‘Ivri’’ designates both a language anda national-ethnic identity), and as a graphic-semiotic feature of the advertisements,framing and underscoring the visual image.
The codebook
We used the model’s components in the sampled ads as follows:
The national sphereFlag: the presence of a flag, use of flags’ colors, stars, green stripes, flowers, and trees;Language: use of language or letters in English, Hebrew or other languages; Nationalleaders: names and photos/images of political leaders and their nationality; Territory:any reference to a state or ‘‘the land.’’
The geographical sphereBorders: deleting and blurring of physical borders; Naming: use of English or Hebrewnames, foreign names (American and others), or names for building projects that sym-bolize America or nature; Sites and views: use of global/Israeli landscapes and sights,nature, road signs, and monuments; Cities: use of global/American/Israeli cities andtheir characteristics; Real-estate discourse: use of investment /lifestyle/environmentaldiscourse.
The economic sphereTechnology: who produces the technology and where; Labor and production: thecountry where a product is made; Consumption: use of symbols and myths ofconsumption, such as health, keeping the environment clean, economizing, saving.Currency: which currency was used in order to represent financial transactions or‘‘money.’’
The cultural sphereCultural heroes: a distinction can be made between popular-culture heroes ofinternational fame and local heroes. Lifestyle: analyzing the lifestyle with whichadvertisers chose to associate their products—American, European, or healthy.
Towards a New Model of Narrative Transformation E. Avraham & A. First
Findings: Old codes, new signs
We used the four spheres of the proposed model in order to illustrate the transfor-mation of the prevalent myth in Israeli advertising narratives.
The national sphereThis sphere includes the components of flag, language, territory, and national leaders.
The flag: From the early 1990s until the first half of the 2000s, the American flaghad been a ubiquitous feature of Israeli advertising (Avraham & First, 2003). Duringthat period, the Israeli flag was not completely absent in ads, but it appeared mostlyduring times of crisis and wars, or around Independence Day (First & Avraham,2009). During this ‘‘American Period,’’ Israeli advertisers displayed remarkablecreativity in their use of the American flag. It was incorporated alternatively in itsentirety or in parts, using its colors, stars, stripes, and various combinations thereof(Avraham & First, 2003). Contrarily, in the ‘‘Green Period,’’ the American flag hasnearly disappeared, and was replaced in Israeli ads by the ‘‘Green Flag’’: a nationalflag that is mostly represented by extensive use of the color green.
We used a series of ads for an annual food festival in Tel Aviv to demonstratethe transformation. ‘‘Taste of the City’’ festival is a public event in which restaurantsserving food from around the world showcase their menus, offering visitors a ‘‘globalexperience.’’ In the ad for the 2005 festival (see Figure 2), at least half of the pagewas taken up by the American flag (its stripes appearing as luncheon meats), and thelogo for the festival had the colors of the American flag, although only two or threeof the restaurants that took part in the festival actually served American food (First& Avraham, 2009). In the ad for the festival in 2010, its components and colors werereplaced by the color green, environmental elements, and green messages, such aswaste separation and ‘‘green thinking’’; the center of the ad featured a bicycle madeof candies and cookies. The 2011 ad featured the same bicycle, but this time it wasmade of foods that are identified with different countries (see Figure 3).
The change in the identity of the flag featured in ads is no less striking in carmarketing, as we shall see below. While in the American Period, cars such as Honda,Chevrolet, Toyota, and Kia were marketed with the ‘‘help’’ of the American flagdespite not being American cars, in the Green Period the same cars were now beingmarketed without any mention of America or its flag, featuring instead leaves, trees,green pastures, and birds; the background and the lettering were also green. Skodaand Fiat featured a green car, with the price displayed in green as well. In additionto the actual colors, the slogans conveyed a green message as well: ‘‘Fiat —Israel’sgreenest car brand’’; ‘‘Toyota: Green in any color you pick.’’
The language: Until the mid-1990s, Hebrew had been the main language ofIsraeli advertising, but in later years, English became the advertisers’ language ofchoice. English was used in various ways: strictly English, a combination of Englishand Hebrew, and Hebrew words written phonetically in English letters. Many adscontained English product names and slogans, as well as a mix of English and Hebrew
E. Avraham & A. First Towards a New Model of Narrative Transformation
Figure 2 An ad for the 2005 annual ‘‘Taste of the City’’ Food Festival.
words and phrases. Interestingly, products and services that were made in Israel orin other countries were also rechristened in English or had English slogans (First &Avraham, 2009).
Generally speaking, during the Green Period, the Hebrew language has returnedto Israeli ads, although English captions are still very common, alongside the Hebrew.We believe that English has not disappeared completely from Israeli ads because theEnglish language, as Hall (1991) observed, has become an international languagethrough which members of different cultures communicate with each other. It
Towards a New Model of Narrative Transformation E. Avraham & A. First
Figure 3 An ad for the 2011 annual ‘‘Taste of the City’’ Food Festival.
seems that Israeli advertisers still believe that the English language is a vital key forcharacterizing a product as ‘‘global’’ and linking it to the rest of the world.
The territory: During the American Period in Israeli advertising, Americanterritory featured heavily in ads, in both private and public spaces, whereas in theGreen Period, the emphasis of Israeli ads seemed to ‘‘move’’ to other continents.During the American Period, America was to be found in various personal spaces:‘‘GMC’s Jimmy 4X4. America on the ground’’ and ‘‘America in your bedroom’’(Avraham & First, 2003). Conversely, in the Green Period we see a difference inthe representation of territory, which is most visible in the ways in which Israelibanks chose to encourage investments. For instance, during the American Period,an ad for Bank HaPoalim promoting investments in the bank said: ‘‘Your chance toride American success without risking your investment fund;’’ the main visual wasa cowboy riding a horse (reminiscent of rodeo shows, which do not take place inIsrael and are only familiar to Israelis from watching Hollywood movies), waving the
E. Avraham & A. First Towards a New Model of Narrative Transformation
American flag. Israel Discount Bank ran a similar ad, promising a high return oninvestment rate with the slogan ‘‘And the return? America!’’ (First & Avraham, 2009).
In the Green Period, the advertising of investments changed radically. Americaand its national symbols were replaced by elements of the green myth, along withother countries and national symbols. For instance, in a Bank Leumi ad, a green fieldis featured with the caption ‘‘Saving Products’’ shaped like a train in blue lettering.In another ad, a kangaroo is standing by the road in a wood, with his hands in hispockets. The slogan is ‘‘Leumi offers a range of green loans for the preservation ofthe environment.’’ At least in its ads, Israel now seems to blend in with the rest ofthe world, and not just with the United States as before. Israel’s new ‘‘love affair’’with other countries is illustrated in a Batuha investment company ad, which showsa globe with Australia, China, and the United States painted on it. At the bottom ofthe ad, there is a small visual image of the state of Israel, with the slogan: ‘‘We willturn the world upside down for you to find the best investment.’’
National leaders: In general, during the American Period in Israeli advertising,national leaders made only rare appearances. Photos of Israeli leaders were strippedfrom advertisements, replaced by images of American leaders such as Ronald Reagan,George Bush, and Bill Clinton. Advertisement for Chrysler, for example, displays ahuge photograph of President Clinton saying, ‘‘The only problem with other cars isthat they’re not American.’’ The leader’s power is communicated both by the size ofClinton’s photograph and the forcefulness of his words. The advertisers convey theassumption that what matters is where the car is made, not its features or qualities(Avraham & First, 2003). In contrast, in the Green Period, no national leaders, Israelior American, were featured. The only political figures found in ads in that periodwere Ghandi (in an ad for financial markets conference), Che Guevara (in ad forHOT cable TV), and Prince William (in an ad for an antibalding preparation).
The geographical sphereThis sphere includes the components of borders, naming, cities, sites and views, andreal estate.
Borders: Israel’s territorial borders are controversial and there is disagreement,including within Israeli society, regarding the desired borderline. Therefore, the use ofthe term ‘‘border’’ or of border visuals in Israeli advertising poses a challenge to adver-tisers, as they prefer symbols that enjoy maximum consensus among target audiences.Thus, as Avraham and First (2003) noted, when advertisers wanted to use the conceptof borders (for instance, in order to convey a sense of ‘‘limitless/infinite quality’’)—while avoiding its controversial connotations in Israel—they used the visual imageof the U.S.–Canadian or the U.S.–Mexican borderline. Other ads attempt to ‘‘erase’’the ‘‘border’’ between Israel and the United States through the use of slogans, suchas ‘‘America in Modi’in,’’ ‘‘America in Carmiel,’’ or ‘‘America in Israel.’’
A comparison between ads in the two periods studied indicates that in the GreenPeriod, images of American borders have been replaced by pictures of other countries.For instance, ads selling TV sets (Sony, Sanyo) which in the American Period used
Towards a New Model of Narrative Transformation E. Avraham & A. First
distinctly American visuals, began to use visuals from other countries, as in an adfeaturing the Great Wall of China to support the slogan ‘‘TV without frontiers.’’ Inother words, Israeli advertising has shifted its focus from American borders to ‘‘aworld without frontiers.’’
Naming: In the mid-2000s, the discourse and naming practices in the geographicalspace, which is now a ‘‘borderless territory,’’ is transformed. First and Avraham (2007)demonstrated that until the mid-2000s, English names were widely used in the real-estate market and these names were printed in English, Hebrew, or a combination ofthe two. Some examples include the ‘‘American Colony,’’ ‘‘Holy Land Tower,’’ and‘‘Manhattan Tower.’’ In addition to English names being given to building projects,teasers and slogans in English are also employed in advertisements. Some notableexamples were slogans such as ‘‘If you dream it,’’ ‘‘Art of living,’’ ‘‘Tel Aviv way oflife,’’ and ‘‘Location, Location, Location’’ (First & Avraham, 2007).
In the Green Period, we found a marked return to Israeli names in ads forbuilding projects, residential complexes, and neighborhoods. This return was oftenaccompanied by a ‘‘green’’ adjective, used in a wide variety of derivatives, as in‘‘Green Yanuv,’’ ‘‘My home in Green Kfar-Saba,’’ and ‘‘A home in Nature.’’ Buildingprojects were now ‘‘greenly’’ named, such as ‘‘EcoTower,’’ and ‘‘Green Hill.’’ Buildingcompanies added green epithets to their names and logos: the Azouri Bros. Companyadded ‘‘a green business community’’ to its name and logo. Another companyrenamed itself ‘‘Green Constructions,’’ with the logo in green.
Cities: Cities are a key component of the geographical sphere. In the AmericanPeriod, Israeli cities were attired in the colors of the American flag, painted in red,white, and blue. In the Green Period, the attire changed to green. Israeli cities, whichwere ‘‘Americanized’’ in the 1990s (at least in ads), have shaken off the Americanlook in the mid-2000s and dressed in green, which featured most prominently in thenaming of new building projects and neighborhoods. During the American Period,marketers competed for the title of ‘‘the most American product,’’ by displaying‘‘the real America’’ or its symbols, and associating their product directly with ‘‘theAmerican dream’’ (First & Avraham, 2009). The most intriguing campaign was‘‘American City.’’ During the years 2002–2005, an advertising campaign announcedthe establishment of the new ‘‘American City’’ in the city of Rechovot. In this seriesof advertisements, the symbols, colors, stars, and stripes of the American flag werefeatured prominently, along with prices quoted in dollars and images of dollar bills(First & Avraham, 2007).
In the Green Period, ‘‘American City’’ disappeared from Israeli advertising.Nowadays, an increasing number of ads by cities proclaim to be ‘‘green, promisingand keeping its promises’’ (which in Hebrew connotes ‘‘sustainable’’ in the ecologicalsense as well) as in the ads for the cities Kfar Saba and Netanya. The city ofHod Hasharon boasts its winning the title of ‘‘Green City’’; its slogan is ‘‘A greencommunity town’’; a building company markets the prestigious ‘‘Avisaror Heights’’in the city of ‘‘Green Yavneh.’’ In these ads, the cities promise to provide cleanliness,a continuum of ‘‘green lungs,’’ park development, river reclamation, green building
E. Avraham & A. First Towards a New Model of Narrative Transformation
practices, and bicycle trails. Concurrently, in an ad for the city of Ashdod, the title is‘‘Ashdod, the Israeli city,’’ suggesting a return to Israelicity in the geographical sphereas well, only now it is painted green.
Sites and views: This component of the geographical sphere, which focuses onlandscapes, environment, and views, has also undergone a marked transformation.The American Period witnessed extensive use of American sites and views in Israeliadvertising. Structures and landscapes such as the Twin Towers, the Empire StateBuilding, the Statue of Liberty, Times Square, Arizona deserts, and the Manhattanskyline with frames and captions in the colors of the American flag were a permanentvisual feature of Israeli ads. The ads use breathtaking American sights and landscapesprimarily to create a sense of the vastness of a monolithic America (Avraham & First,2003).
In the Green Period, the green color is used extensively and ads are filledwith bushes, trees, grass lawns, and green landscapes of forests and parks. Theviews are mostly generic, not associated with any specific country. In this, the adscontinue the process of ‘‘reterritorialization’’ (Edensor, 2002), which is the hallmarkof globalization. At the same time, American views are gone, replaced by a widevariety of landscapes, flowers, and trees connoting other countries. For example, themain image, taking up most of the page in an ad for Credit Agricole, is a Japanesebonsai tree, with the caption: ‘‘Our commitment at Credit Agricole Swiss has deeproots of transparency and long-term vision.’’
Real estate: During the American Period, many ads claimed that a certain buildingproject offered ‘‘an American lifestyle.’’ Tel Aviv was often blended with New YorkCity. An advertisement for a building in a residential neighborhood of Tel Aviv, forexample, featured a photo of New York—the location identifiable mainly due tothe prevalence of yellow taxicabs. Manhattan and Tel Aviv seemed to have becomesomehow intertwined. The text underneath the graphic portion of the ad framed therelationship between the two cities: ‘‘Going for American standards? In FlorentineTower you’ll feel just like in SoHo.’’ In another ad, for the City Tower Residencebuilding project, the American flag was shown on every label attached to the imageof the building, to imply that it was constructed according to U.S. building codes.The slogan used for this project was ‘‘Live New York style . . . in Israel’’ (First &Avraham, 2009).
The new discourse in the Green Period began to emphasize ecological andsustainable construction practices. Real-estate ads began to underline green visualimages, symbols, and values that the advertised project would provide, such as ‘‘lifein green,’’ or ‘‘living with a sea view in harmony with nature.’’ At the same time, theads attempted to create linkage between the green myth and the marketed product,as in the slogan of Phenomena, a design shop, ‘‘where design and environmentmeet.’’ An ad for the Hanan Mor Group’s residential project is a conglomeration ofevery buzzword and element of the geographical sphere in the new green discoursein addition to the Hebrew words ‘‘A healthier, economical and greener residentialenvironment; family, health, savings, security, environment.’’ The main visual is a
Towards a New Model of Narrative Transformation E. Avraham & A. First
house, built from the English words ‘‘growth, bio, clean, ecosystem, water, air, earth,eco, health, environment, ecosystem.’’
The economic sphereThis sphere includes the components of labor and production, technology, con-sumption, and currency.
Labor and production: The changes here are similar to other components, bestobserved in the shift from American to green labor and production values. One of themajor findings by First and Avraham (2009) was the tendency of advertisers duringthe American Period to insert the word ‘‘America’’ and its derivatives into brandnames, even though the products were made solely in Israel and had no connectionwhatsoever to America. The emphasis shift in the country of origin component isclearly observed when analyzing older and newer ads for the same armchairs madeby American Comfort. In ads from 2000, the copy said ‘‘A variety of armchairs . . .
invite you to relax and enjoy American advantages: American-standard warranty andservice . . . .’’ (see Figure 4). In the ads in 2011, the American attribution of the arm-chairs is gone; the green color takes up half of the ad; the visual image of a leaf has beenadded, and the female model is pictured on a background of green grass (see Figure 5).
Concurrent with the decrease in American references there is an increased useof green elements, along with the use of symbols and products of other countries.For example a Hyundai car is pictured on the background of a red double-deckerbus, with the caption: ‘‘Britain’s best selling car.’’ Suzuki’s line of cars is marketedas ‘‘The green family,’’ and Toyota is ‘‘Green, whichever color you pick,’’ with ascale displaying specific CO2 emission/air pollution figures at the bottom of the page.Honda took the lead by placing a car on two trees in the midst of a green pasture andcovering it with grass, with the words ‘‘We’ve grown.’’ At the bottom of the page, thecaption said: ‘‘Honda Insight . . . Israel’s best-selling hybrid family car.’’
Technology: The shift is also discernible in the focus on the product’s underlyingtechnology. In the American Period, the perception of American technologicalsupremacy was expressed in many ads, and in automobiles and consumer electronicsin particular. For instance, ‘‘Buick: The American luxury car presents new models, yearafter year, to bring you the latest innovations in global state-of-the-art technology;’’‘‘The 1995 Chevrolet Corsica . . . More power, more America.’’ In the Green Period,American technology is replaced by ecology. Slogans illustrating the shift include:‘‘Only Suzuki can present such an impressive line of environment-friendly andfuel-saving models;’’ ‘‘In CO2 car emissions, the Prius has been awarded Level 2,which is the lowest in its category’’ (Toyota); ‘‘We save, and not just in fuel’’ (Nissan)(First & Avraham, 2009).
The Green Period is marked by a dramatic transformation in the marketing ofappliances and cars, as well as in the use of country-of-origin attributions. America,its landscapes and symbols have almost completely disappeared from ads, replacedby ads stressing petrol savings, environment-friendly engines, hybrid cars, or greentechnology-based products. All of these ads had a green background, with the cars
E. Avraham & A. First Towards a New Model of Narrative Transformation
Figure 4 A 2000 ad for American Comfort suggests ‘‘A variety of armchairs . . . invite you torelax and enjoy American advantages . . . American-standard warranty and service . . . .’’
featured near a forest, a field, or a grassy meadow (Kia, Honda, Jetta). A goodillustration of this point is an ad for a Haider refrigerator, featured on a greenbackground with the slogan ‘‘Haider’s green technology.’’ A Bosch dishwasher ismarketed with ‘‘green technology inside’’ and the Suzuki with ‘‘Start thinking green.’’
Currency: Israel’s national currency is the shekel (NIS), but for many years, espe-cially since the 1990s and until the mid-2000s, the dollar became the main unofficialcurrency. In banking ads, investments in dollars were most prominent and the dollar
Towards a New Model of Narrative Transformation E. Avraham & A. First
Figure 5 An ad for American Comfort in 2011 where green color and symbols have beenadded.
symbol featured in full or in parts. At least in their ads, all of Israel’s leading banks weredirectly associated with the United States as an economic entity, both by using theAmerican flag and the dollar. In other words, when banks, other financial institutionsand even government ministries wanted the theme of currency, money, investmentor financing in their ads, they all chose the dollar visual (First & Avraham, 2009).
In the winter of 2007, the value of the U.S. dollar began to decline in the worldand in Israel, resulting in a stronger Israeli shekel (First & Avraham, 2009). Naturally,this had an effect on advertising in Israel; suddenly there were ads in praise of theshekel. For example, an advertisement for the Yashir Investment House showed aphotograph of a one-shekel coin, which the caption ‘‘1 strong shekel’’ imprinted
E. Avraham & A. First Towards a New Model of Narrative Transformation
on it. In fact, one sees that when the local currency is stronger vis-a-vis the U.S.currency, it becomes a source of pride and stars in advertising. It should be noted thatregardless of the state of Israel’s relative economic stability, its economic system doesnot operate in a vacuum; it is part of a global system. This was manifest in an ad forthe Financial Markets Conference, run by the economic daily magazine The Marker.The ad’s central visual was a dollar note, with the face of George Washington replacedby that of Indian leader Ghandi, with the caption ‘‘The superpowers are changing,’’and in a smaller font, ‘‘Come and discover how this affects the Israeli market.’’
Consumption: Along with using American motifs in marketing United States,foreign, and Israeli products, advertisers used to portray America as a consumerparadise. Americans in the Israeli ads were portrayed as savvy/intelligent consumerswho can recognize good quality in products and services. The hidden message was,‘‘If an American chooses a product, then it must be good and the choice shouldalso be emulated in Israel.’’ For example, ‘‘Honda Accord, the hottest-selling car inthe USA;’’ and ‘‘The bestselling car in America’’ (Toyota Camry). As noted, in theseexamples the advertisers at the time seemed to expect the Israeli consumer to drawthe ‘‘right’’ conclusion and use a product because of the Americans’ preference for it(First & Avraham, 2009).
In the Green Period, advertisers seem to regard the Israeli consumer as sophisti-cated, aware and interested in greener, environment-friendlier and more economicalproducts. For instance, an ad for Zehavi-Atzmon tiling ran under the slogan ‘‘Design-ing today; Thinking of tomorrow,’’ and ‘‘Introducing the green index.’’ An ad for aHaider refrigerator notes that the refrigerator is produced using green technology,‘‘saving you energy and reducing electricity bills;’’ a Bosch dishwasher is marketed as‘‘water saving.’’ Suzuki’s ad for its Swift model says it is ‘‘an economical car.’’
The cultural sphereAccording to our model, the cultural sphere includes the components of lifestyleand cultural heroes, which are used together to represent and promote an Americanor a greener/healthier lifestyle. In the American Period, alongside U.S. athletes,advertisers also used Israeli sportsmen, but these were invariably Israeli culturalsports heroes who had a U.S. dimension. A case in point are ads that paraphrasea remark by U.S.-born Tal Brody, a former basketball star in Israel. Brody, a localcultural hero, represents national pride on two levels: First, he immigrated to Israelfrom the United States, the very embodiment of Zionism. Second, he was captainof the Israeli basketball team that won the 1977 European Cup, defeating CSKAMoscow, the Russian ‘‘enemy,’’ in the finals. After winning the game, Brody said,in an American-accented Hebrew, ‘‘We’re on the map and we’re going to stay onthe map.’’ Advertisements for Fidelity Mutual Funds later showed Brody in hisbasketball uniform, holding a basketball and telling Israelis, ‘‘If you invest, you’llbe on the map. Big time’’ (see Figure 6). But this Israeli cultural hero underwent aradical situational transformation: the basketball he held was red, white, and blue,and the word ‘‘We’re’’ was excised from the quote (First & Avraham, 2009).
Towards a New Model of Narrative Transformation E. Avraham & A. First
Figure 6 A 1992 ad for Fidelity Mutual Funds showed Tal Brody in his basketball uniform,holding a basketball and saying ‘‘If you invest, you’ll be on the map. Big time.’’
Conversely, in the Green Period, Brody is promoting a healthier lifestyle. In a2011 ad for a supermarket chain with the slogan ‘‘On (the Jewish holiday of) Shavuothwe eat healthy,’’ he is featured with another cultural hero—basketball star DoronJamchi—at his side. The dominant color is green, and the pair are promoting TevaMarket, the supermarket’s own brand of ‘‘natural products,’’ with a green checkmark on their faces (see Figure 7).
E. Avraham & A. First Towards a New Model of Narrative Transformation
Figure 7 Tal Brody in a 2010 ad, with a green check mark on his face, promotes Teva NaturalMarket with the slogan: ‘‘Same as every supermarket . . . but healthy.’’
In the American Period, the use of athletes as cultural heroes was mostly limitedto Americans. An ad for Sealy Posturepedic mattresses in the early 1990s said, ‘‘TheUS Olympic team slept on Sealy mattresses to secure the Gold Medal,’’ implyingthat the secret of their success at the Games was its choice of mattress. Given thefact that Israeli athletes had won no great victories at the Games, the campaignunderstandably preferred to use American athletes. In recent years, however, quitea few Israeli athletes have won Olympic medals, bringing honor and pride to Israel.These accomplishments led advertisers to use Israeli athletes to promote variousproducts (Avraham & First, 2003).
In the Green Period, the use of Israeli athletes in various fields in Israeli ads hasbroadened, promoting a healthier lifestyle. In this respect, we find that the mostinteresting example is an ad for Aminach mattresses, which declares in a green captionthat they are ‘‘the official mattresses of the Wingate Institute’s athletes.’’ Wingate
Towards a New Model of Narrative Transformation E. Avraham & A. First
Institute, Israel’s National Centre for Physical Education and Sport, has educatedand coached the majority of the country’s professional athletes. Once again, it clearlyillustrates how the same product, in this case a mattress, is marketed differently inthe two studied periods: once promoted with the help of American athletes, it is nowendorsed by Israeli athletes.
Conclusion and discussion
In the concluding chapter of their book about the American myth that dominated theIsraeli advertising narrative, First and Avraham (2009) wonder whether occasionalone-off ads which began to appear in Israel in 2007, praising the Israeli shekel andmocking the declining value of the dollar, were actually heralding a shift in theattitude towards that myth. The current study confirms that the American mythin Israeli advertising has indeed been fractured and replaced by a new emergingnarrative that incorporates the green myth. This narrative shift has been achievedthrough negotiation with the national identity; and in order to better understand thenature of this shift we proposed the ‘‘Narrative Spheres of National Identity’’ model.Comprising four spheres, the model allows the analysis of continuity and change inthe national identity of small nations.
Gillespie (2008) argued that the worst offenders in their use of ‘‘greenwash’’were utilities (energy and water companies) and car companies. In Israel, there areno privately owned/independent utilities or automobile makers, but it is notablethat the first to embrace the green narrative in Israeli advertising have been banks,construction companies, and car dealerships. In other words, in the Israeli version of‘‘greenwash’’ it was the banks, which fuel the capitalist economy; corporations thatimpact the space in a direct and immediate manner, both on the ground and in theair, such as construction companies that uproot trees and pastures; and automobilemakers who pollute the air, who were the quickest to paint themselves green. TheIsraeli public has no way of ensuring that these supposedly green, healthy, andecological messages represent the actual reality. Consumers’ reaction to the use ofmyths in advertising is telling: During the American Period there were almost noobjections in Israeli society to the dominance of American values and symbols (at theexpense of Israeli ones) in local ads (First & Avraham, 2009). It is therefore highlyunlikely that green campaigns would garner a widespread public outcry in Israel, asthey did in the United States (Donahue, 2004).
Judging by Israeli ads, America, its landscapes and cultural heroes were actuallythe myth and the dream of Israelis. Naturally, the fading of this much-coveteddream could have precipitated a major crisis in the advertising industry and inIsraeli society as a whole, but, interestingly, it did not. When the American mythbecame less compelling, marketers, advertisers, and the capitalist system quicklyfound an alternative myth, which guided the development and production of newproducts, as well as the repackaging of old products accordingly. Because capitalists,like advertisers, are sensitive to changes in the sociopolitical environment, they
E. Avraham & A. First Towards a New Model of Narrative Transformation
must adapt to the times. Moreover, we propose to observe the capitalist processnot only as adaptation but as a construction of a ‘‘sociopolitical reality.’’ Therefore,borrowing from Hegel’s concept on the ‘‘cunning of reason,’’ we suggest naming itthe ‘‘cunning of capitalism’’: Instead of lamenting or trying to restore decrepit myths,it immediately embraces and relentlessly promotes new ones.
The model suggested in this article was tested on the Israeli case study andcannot necessarily be generalized to other societies. Therefore, there is need forfuture research that looks at other societies and small nations and analyzes howtheir national narratives undergo transformation by the forces of globalization. Inaddition, it would be interesting to expand the analysis of ads to other media suchTV, radio, social media, or Internet ads.
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