For the midterm paper I will be analyzing a Jamaican Heineken commercial.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kR0C6CVAxU8
In the commercial, local Jamaicans are enjoying themselves and relaxing while drinking some Heineken in a small bar. Suddenly, they are warned that tourists are approaching so they need to quickly rearrange everything in order to appear more "authentically Jamaican" to be a more appealing place for the tourists to come. The Heinekens are switched out for fruity drinks, grandpa is told he can no longer be on the internet, and everyone puts on some stereotypically "Jamaican" clothing and and starts dancing and playing music.
This commercial brings up the idea of the identity of a place and the people who live there being defined by outsiders. Even though this imagined identity does not really play out in reality, it must be continually reproduced in order to keep attracting the kinds of people that create and distribute the stereotypes because the economy survives from attracting and welcoming in these people. Heineken is playing with the concept of what makes someone a true Jamaican in order to sell their product.
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