Every year over 190,000 students study abroad each year. Continuously many students if not all, come back home from these experiences with changed thoughts and perceptions about the countries they visited.
On June 16, 2009, over 700 students enrolled in the University of Virginia’s semester at sea program embarked a two month voyage abroad; porting at eight different countries around the Mediterranean before returning home in Virginia on August 23rd. After nearly every country students were already starting to view the world a little differently in addition to the country itself.
What entity in this civilization is powerful enough to provide such false ideas about different countries and types of people to the point were it would turn into a concrete perception.
Peggy Kreshel a media studies professor of the University of Georgia says “it’s due to nations branding”.
“Nations branding is similar to brands such as Nike and or McDonald’s both have an image and attached some type of slogan that everybody knows.”
For example, McDonald’s has the golden arks as the symbol and the “I’m loving it”. In additions Nike’s symbol being the check and the slogan being “just do it”. Countries in this aspect have the same thing, such as America having the nation brand of the flag with the slogan “Land of the Free”, but such things can be altered by global media. Such media are the news, movies, history books, and more importantly television.
Shanae Strachum, a sophomore fashion design major said “Bulgaria is a country that has a negative nation brand, they are known for human trafficking according to the media and the movie “Taken” only built more superstition.”
“But after spending a couple days in the country there seemed to be a different perception, it turned to just be a party city with a lot of entertainment it nothing like the stereotype.”
Brittney Simon, another student enrolled in the semester at sea program said “my perception was definitely based on television and sometimes even history books.”
“Before I got to Egypt, I thought of it being this beautiful desert sand with pyramids, but after viewing it for myself I seen how impoverished Egypt is and how it’s not well cleaned up.”
Today’s study abroad experiences are more than just education abroad; it brings students to a level of truth. Truth of the media and how it portrays different people, and countries, and how much it affects out perception.
By Giancarlo Spells
Special thanks to Shanae Strachan, Peggy Kreshel, and Brittany Simon
For more information go to Nation Branding.
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