What about using reality TV for nation branding? By reality TV I don’t mean the “beautiful” TV shows, but I mean the footage from daily life, interviews with people… Will it help with nation branding?
I was searching YouTube to find such videos, however I couldn’t find any… Let me present the two videos I have found.
Looks nice, doesn’t it? Well, bad news, there are no flying ships or semi-ghost emperors riding horses or mermaids in Turkey. Tourism is a part of nation-branding and public diplomacy, but these messages are not enough. In order to present our “society”, our “country”‘; we need -what I tend to call- Reality TV.
Here we go, footage from daily life. Turkey is associated only with the Muslim identity. The majority of Turkish population is indeed Muslim, but we are also proud of the fact that Turkey is a secular democratic country.
This footage proves the point that the opposite of successful nation-branding is not a nation without any brand. If a nation does not brand itself, other entities will do it.
So, time for a YouTube channel? I guess so.
Reaching the Public 