Contesting the brand: a media analysis of the image of Rio de Janeiro as host of the 2016 Summer Olympics in Dutch language newspapers

Abstract

Cities worldwide consider the hosting of sport mega-events such as the Olympics as a strategy to improve their global image through strengthening the local ‘brand’. This image construction is strongly influenced by how the event and the host city are covered in the media worldwide, both in the run-up to and during the event, and goes beyond what is covered in relation to sports. To gain insight into how mega-event imaginaries and their associated ‘image value’ travel through written media, we present a critical thematic analysis of the portrayal of Rio as the host city of the 2016 Summer Olympics in the Dutch language press. This analysis shows that besides financial, environmental, infrastructural, and safety aspects, media coverage abroad also includes a focus on the social context and effects of the mega-event on the local population. We conclude that despite the main city promotion and branding objectives of the mega-event host, there is little evidence of positive ‘image value’ of the Olympics for the city of Rio de Janeiro.

Keywords:

• Mega-events
• media coverage
• city branding
• Olympics
• Rio 2016

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 Pan American Games 2007, World Military Games 2011, FIFA Confederations Cup 2013, FIFA World Cup 2014, 2016 Summer Olympics.

2 The only national newspaper that was not included is NRC.Next, a spin-off publication of NRC Handelsblad. This exclusion was based on the reasons of overlapping content. Of the 49 initially collected articles of NRC.Next in line with the selection criteria, 76% were a copy of articles published in NRC Handelsblad, either identical or with negligible editorial adjustments. In order to avoid bias in the analysis caused by duplicate cases, NRC.Next articles were discarded.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Research Foundation Flanders (FWO) under Grant number G075914N.

Notes on contributors

Sarah Van den Broucke

Sarah Van den Broucke has a background in Political and Social Sciences and specializes in migration, development and humanitarian aid. She has conducted this research as research associate at HIVA Research Institute, KU Leuven, Parkstraat 47 - PO Box 5300, 3000 Leuven, Belgium.

Luana Gama Gato

Luana Gama Gato is PhD candidate in Anthropology at the Interculturalism, Migrations and Minorities Research Center (KU Leuven). Her doctoral research deals with internal labor mobility in the context of sports mega-events, with a special focus on the 2016 Rio Olympics. Interculturalism, Migrations and Minorities Research Center, KU Leuven, Parkstraat 45 – Box 3615, 3000 Leuven, Belgium; Email: [email protected]).