Brand Israel

Brand Israel is a public relations campaign run by the Israeli government to improve Israel's image abroad. By showing Israel's "prettier face", downplaying religion, and avoiding discussing the state's conflict with the Palestinian people, it hopes to counter foreigners negative attitudes towards Israel. The goal of the campaign is to establish Israel as a cosmopolitan, progressive, Westernized and democratic society, contrasting it with the Islamic, homophobic and repressive surrounding nations.

Responsibility for the Brand Israel campaign is shared by three Israeli ministries; the Foreign Ministry, the Tourism Ministry, and the Strategic Affairs Ministry.

Omar Barghouti, co-founder of Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, argue that the Brand Israel campaign is designed explicitly to hide Israel's violations of human rights and international law under a guise of artistic and scientific glamour.

Israel's bad reputation

Because of Israel's long-running conflict with the Palestinian people, foreigners hold negative views of Israel. In surveys the state is frequently ranked as one of the least well-liked. For example, a brand survey from 2006 found that:

In a similar vein, 52% of respondents in a BBC survey from 2012 thought that Israel had a negative influence on the world and a 2003 Gallup poll among EU citizens found that Israel was seen as the biggest threat to world security. Israel has also, as a result of its policies against the Palestinians and the activities of the BDS movement, increasingly come to be associated with apartheid and war crimes. Rhys Crilley and Ilan Manor predicts that the Israeli right-wing government will worsen Israel's reputation.

History

Israel's efforts to rebrand itself began unofficially in 2003 at the initiative of American business people and media experts. One advertising executive suggested that Israel's bad reputation in the U.S. stemmed from a lack of knowledge about the state. At the same time, the Foreign Ministry set up a new '' hasbara'' department to promote Israel's achievements and positive activities.

The Brand Israel campaign was launched in 2005 and managed by Ido Aharoni at the Foreign Ministry. A conference was convened in Tel Aviv in 2007 which kicked off the campaign with a four million dollar budget awarded to the Foreign Ministry and an eleven million dollar awarded to the Tourism Ministry. In 2010, the Foreign Ministry allocated more than 26 million dollars in branding for the coming years.

Strategy

Brand Israel's strategy is to treat culture as a form of propaganda and to promote Israeli culture workers for audiences abroad.

Brand Israel requires "service providers" - artists and writers - to sign a contract to receive state funding as part of the campaign. The contract stipulates that:

Activities

An Brand Israel campaign in July 2007 showcased scantily clad female soldiers of the Israeli Defense Forces in the American men's magazine ''Maxim''. Under headlines such as "The Chosen Ones," ''Maxim'' approvingly described the women as "drop-dead gorgeous and can take apart an Uzi in seconds." The campaign's stated purpose was to show Israel in a context other than that of war. Not everyone was pleased with the Foreign and Tourism Ministries campaign; Israeli parliamentarian Colette Avital slammed it as "pornographic" and she wondered "if the best way to encourage tourism is by advertising sex." The Israeli consulate in New York who designed the campaign defended it by stating that "Israel's image among men aged 18-38 is lacking ... so we thought we'd approach them with an image they'd find appealing."

In 2008, Brand Israel staged a $1 million campaign in the Greater Toronto Area. The campaign featured ads highlighting Israeli medical developments and technology, including testimonials from patients who had benefited from Israeli medical innovations. It specifically targeted Toronto's Asian communities. According to Israeli Consul General Amir Gissin, Toronto served as a test bed for the campaign. Brand Israel was also present on the 2009 edition of Toronto International Film Festival. Ken Loach, Jane Fonda, David Byrne, and John Greyson condemned the festival's cooperation with Brand Israel.

In 2010, Brand Israel launched "Out in Israel" in San Francisco, a month-long festival to showcase LGBT scene for Californians. As with the ''Maxim'' campaign, the stated aim was to show Israel in a context not related to politics or war. Another purpose was to counter negative perceptions stemming from the previous year's fatal gay centre shooting in Tel Aviv. Critics condemned it as a form of pinkwashing.

In 2016, 26 Oscar-nominated celebrities were offered gift bags with 10-day trips to Israel funded by the Israeli government. Among the actors and actresses offered the gift bags were Leonardo DiCaprio, Sylvester Stallone, Mark Rylance, Cate Blanchett, Jennifer Lawrence, Matt Damon, and Kate Winslet. The Israeli Tourism Minister said that the celebrities were "leading opinion-formers who we are interested in hosting" who would get the chance to "experience the country first-hand". According to media reports, the trip's value was about $55,000 each but Israeli officials said that it was only about $15,000 to $18,000. Pro-Palestinian activists urged the celebrities to refuse to take the gift bags. According to Catherine Rottenberg, not a single celebrity took advantage of the free trips.

In 2017, the Israeli government sponsored free "Holy Land" tours for eleven National Football League players. The Israeli Tourism Minister said that, by visiting Israel, the players would serve as "ambassadors of goodwill" and Strategic Affairs Minister, Gilad Erdan, that "hosting influencers and opinion-formers of international standing in different fields, including sport" was part of the fight against the BDS movement. Six of the eleven players pulled out of the trip. Michael Bennett who was one of the players who refused to go tweeted a picture of Martin Luther King Jr. and wrote that he wasn't aware that the purpose of the trip was to make him "in the words of a government official, an 'influencer and opinion-former' who would then be 'an ambassador of good will.'"

The Round Tables Chef Series is an annual food festival in Tel Aviv sponsored by American Express in partnership with the Foreign Affairs Ministry which invites chefs from around the world. BDS activists have argued that Round Tables is part of the Brand Israel campaign to normalize its ongoing denial of Palestinian rights. In 2018 over 90 food industry professionals signed an open letter urging chefs to withdraw from the event.

Related concepts

Crilley and Manor describes a branding strategy they call "un-nation branding" which they argue could serve as an alternative for Israeli entities. To avoid the state's tarnished reputation the entity downplay its associations with Israel.

Joy Ellison views "Brand Israel" as a rhetorical genre. In her view, the rhetoric includes exploiting women's rights and gay's rights to argue that Israel is superior to Palestine.

See also

* Public diplomacy of Israel
* Ministry of Strategic Affairs
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External links

No2BrandIsrael.org
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Video

Ido Aharoni on: Nation Branding: Some Lessons from Israel

Brand Israel Brief History by Ido Aharoni (July 2020)

What is Brand Israel? (captioned)

Sasha Strauss , Nation Branding and how to Brand Israel

Protest Asks Restaurant Not To Participate In Brand Israel

2005 establishments in Israel
Foreign relations of Israel
Propaganda in Israel
Public diplomacy