Spain's nation branding project Marca Espana and its cultural policy: the economic and political instrumentalization of a homogeneous and simplified cultural image

Cultural diplomacy is being increasingly considered the medium in which nation states can instrumentalize their cultural production and accomplish soft power goals. Analysts have repeatedly underlined the importance of culture in place branding in globalized economies, where culture can singularize products and assign them greater value. Both foreign and cultural policy have made the international projection of cultural industries a strategic goal, and this has simultaneously transformed the goals and networks of these policies. Although the literature addresses this phenomenon, certain effects of brand policy-making have become evident and require further attention: the simplification of cultural diversity, the elimination of non-coherent characteristics within brands and the limitation of internal dissension and participation. In this paper, Spain's nation branding project Marca Espana (Spain Brand) is critically analysed as a process of economic and political instrumentalization conducted by large companies who promote a simplified and homogeneous image of national culture.