Blog Post 3: Critiquing the National Brand

          Sometimes what is expected is not always what occurs. In my first blog post, I attempted to Dutch national identity and in my second blog post, I tried to analyze recent Dutch Eurovision entries and what they say about Dutch views towards diversity. In this blog post, I will examine the alignment or misalignment of the Netherlands’ main national identity (discussed in my first blog post) with how they represent themselves at Eurovision (discussed in my second blog post) and reflect on how the Netherlands views not only Eurovision, but nation branding.

            I should first start by clarifying and revisiting a few topics. Professor Anna Triandafyllidou characterizes national identity by its “capacity of defining who is a member of the community but also who is a foreigner” (Triandafyllidou 593). In blog post one, I gave an example of how the United States promotes it ideals of justice and liberty as part of its national identity. Professors Göran Bolin and Per Ståhlberg define national branding as “the phenomenon by which governments engage in self-conscious activities aimed at producing a certain image of the nation state” (Bolin and Ståhlberg 82). National branding, which will either be present or absent at Eurovision, is more of purposeful image constructed for a specific reason or message. In blog post one, I ended by describing Dutch national identity as expressing liberal ideals, tolerance, secular politics, and distancing from Germans. In blog post two, I concluded that the Netherlands, through its Eurovision entries from 2010-2014, implied that it appreciates diversity, but does not make a point to showcase it. This suggests that either diversity was not a very important part of Dutch national branding at Eurovision or that there was not much nation branding at all.

            Between Dutch national identity and Dutch representation at Eurovision, there is some overlap, particularly concerning diversity and attitude towards Germans. In blog post one, I referenced that 84.4% of the Netherlands is either Dutch or from elsewhere in the European Union (“The World Factbook: Netherlands”). When compared to the Eurovision performances from 2010-2014, this statistic matches fairly well. Out of all the performances, only one had a main performer who was not fully Dutch. Joana Franka (2012), mentioned in an interview that she is half Turkish (Adams 2012). Anyone onstage who was not Dutch or from another part of the EU was a back-up singer. This ratio of Dutch/from the EU to non-Dutch/not from the EU seems to be within reason of the given statistics. In instances like in Anouk’s “Birds” (2013), where all the back-up singers were people of color, the ethnicity of the people on stage might be intentional, but that was the only performance from 2010-2014 in which something like that occurred, so it is most likely not connected to any specific message from nation branding. Another similarity between the national identity and representation at Eurovision is the distancing of Germany. In blog post one, it was established that many Dutch people have a strong dislike for Germans. This can be clearly seen in the voting at Eurovision. In both 2013 and 2016, the Netherlands gave German a total of zero points in the finals (Hulluna 2013) (Akkoc 2016). This also occurred in both 2014 and 2015 (“Full Split Results” 2014-2015). While it is not quite a part of national branding because it is not overtly showcased like the performances, it is clear from the voting that Dutch dislike for Germans extends into the realm of Eurovision.

            While there is some alignment between Dutch national identity and representation at Eurovision, there is also some misalignment, particularly concerning music style and liberal ideals/tolerance/secular politics. Of the five performances analyzed in blog post one, two of them were pop (2010) (2011), two were country (2012) (2014), and one was rock (2013). A recent study showed that in the Netherlands, 42% of people like pop music the most, followed by 20% for rock, 9% for both classical and dance/house, 7% for both world and hip hop/soul, and 6% for jazz (Research… 2015). If the Dutch entries from 2010 to 2014 had corresponded more to the tastes of Dutch people, there would have been less country and more pop. This difference is most likely because several of the Dutch entries, at least all from 2013 to present, have been chosen internally (Sixty Years… 2015). This means that the Dutch broadcaster could have picked artists because their genre did well at Eurovision in previous years and not because it represents the Dutch preferences as a whole. Another disconnect involves liberal ideals, tolerance, and secular politics. Since Eurovision is supposed to be as non-political as possible, Dutch entries cannot include direct reference to liberal and secular politics, and tolerance, while possible to express subtly, also has political connotations and would be harder to express. None of the entries from 2010 to 2014 focused on themes of tolerance either, instead focusing more on the themes of love and hope versus despair mentioned in blog post two. This could mean that ideals like liberal beliefs and tolerance are just not a part of Dutch national branding.

            To recapitulate, Dutch national identity and Dutch representation at Eurovision align concerning diversity and a dislike of Germans, but misalign concerning musical styles and more political stances like liberal beliefs and tolerance.

            Based off the alignments and misalignments between Dutch national identity and the Dutch representation at Eurovision, the Netherlands views the Eurovision Song Contest more as a competition to win rather than a platform for self-promotion. All the alignments, or lack thereof, do not really say anything definitive about the Netherlands or work towards national branding. The distaste for Germany is not blatantly showcased, the alignment with diversity statistics could be coincidental, and the more political stances would be hard to express on stage. What seems like a lack of national branding could be considered more national branding to represent the Netherlands as a nation that is comfortable and confident with their national identity so that they do not feel the need to promote it. The misalignment of music styles might contribute to making the Netherlands appear more competitive if they were chosen by the Dutch broadcaster based off previously successful genres, but that is not known for certain. It has recently been discussed that internal selection, like that seen in the Netherlands, might be more successful at choosing a winning entry than holding a sort of national final, like Melodifestivalen in Sweden, where artists are slowly picked off by the public until only their chosen entry for the Eurovision Song Contest remains (Robertson 2015).  This information does make it seem more likely that the Dutch broadcaster in charge of internal selections is choosing artists who might have higher chances of winning. An important question to ask after “how are the artists chosen to represent the country” is “who is being chosen and how well known are they”. If the artists who are chosen are not well known and not very experienced, they are less likely to win, which then that implies that the country who chose them does not place a very high priority on winning. On the other hand, if a country picks a very well-known and liked artist, that implies that the country takes Eurovision more seriously and has a stronger desire to win. In an article by the Eurovision website, it is briefly mentioned that the Dutch artists for 2017, OG3NE, won The Voice of Holland in 2014 (Eurovision.tv 2017). The Common Linnets (2014) were also a more popular and experienced group chosen by the Dutch broadcaster (Robertson 2015) (Sixty Years… 2015). This implies that the Netherlands does try to win and selects artists in a competitive manner, adding competitiveness to the Dutch national brand. The subtle use of nation branding, if that is indeed what it is, suggests that the Netherlands views nation branding as most useful when used quietly.

            Overall, it seems that the alignment and misalignment of Dutch national identity and Dutch representation at Eurovision demonstrates that the Netherlands views the Eurovision Song Contest as a competition to win and a way to promote themselves as a calm, confident, and collected country with a bit of a competitive spirit. This in turn implies that the Netherlands views nation branding as a good tool when used subtly.

Works Cited

Adams, Lee William. “Q&A: Joan Franka on the Indian Headdress and Her Turkish Roots,” Wiwibloggs, 14 March 2012. http://wiwibloggs.com/2012/03/14/qa-joan-franka-on-the-indian-headdress-and-her-turkish-roots/15300/. Accessed 04 Feb. 2017.

Akkoc, Raziye. "Eurovision 2016 Results Explained: Who Voted for Whom in the New System?" The Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group, 15 May 2016. Web. 16 Mar. 2017. <http://www.telegraph.co.uk/tv/2016/05/15/eurovision-2016-results-explained-who-voted-for-whom-in-the-new/>.

Anouk. “Birds,” music and lyrics by Anouk Teeuwe, Tore Johansson, and Martin Gjerstad. The Netherlands, Eurovision Song Contest, 2013. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5iazXvMw5o. Accessed 27 Jan. 2017.

Bolin, Göran and Per Ståhlberg "Between Community and Commodity: Nationalism and Nation Branding". Communicating the nation: national topographies of global media landscapes. Göteborg: Nordicom, Göteborgs universitet. 2010. pp. 82.

Eurovision.tv. "OG3NE to Represent the Netherlands with 'Lights and Shadows'."Eurovision.tv. Eurovision Song Contest, 07 Mar. 2017. Web. 16 Mar. 2017. <http://www.eurovision.tv/page/news?id=girl_group_og3ne_to_represent_the_netherlands_in_kyiv>.

Franka, Joan. “You and Me,” music and lyrics by Joan Franka and Jessica Hoogenboom. The Netherlands, Eurovision Song Contest, 2012. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JCc0Iiu3DiU. Accessed 27 Jan. 2017.

"Full Split Results." Eurovision Song Contest, 2014-2015. Web. 16 Mar. 2017. <http://www.eurovision.tv/page/results?event=1893&voter=NL>.

Hulluna. "The Netherlands: Jury Votes Revealed." The Eurovision Times. N.p., 31 May 2013. Web. 16 Mar. 2017. <https://eurovisiontimes.wordpress.com/2013/05/31/the-netherlands-jury-votes-revealed/>.

"Research: Pop Music, Most Popular among the Dutch." BNP Paribas Netherlands. BNP Paribas, 29 June 2015. Web. 16 Mar. 2017. <http://www.bnpparibas.nl/en/2015/06/29/research-pop-music-most-popular-among-the-dutch/>.

Robertson, Ben. "Does A National Final Help To Find The Best Eurovision Song?" ESC Insight - Home of the Unofficial Eurovision Song Contest Podcast. ESC Insight, 15 May 2015. Web. 16 Mar. 2017. <http://escinsight.com/2015/05/15/does-a-national-final-help-to-find-the-best-eurovision-song/>.

Sieneke. “Ik Ben Verliefd (Sha-la-lie),” music and lyrics by Pierre Kartner. The Netherlands, Eurovision Song Contest, 2010. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HdA2SsM3BLI . Accessed  27 Jan. 2017.

"Sixty Years of the Dutch at Eurovision: All You Need to Know." DutchNews.nl. DutchNews, 15 May 2015. Web. 16 Mar. 2017. <http://www.dutchnews.nl/features/2015/05/sixty-years-of-the-dutch-at-eurovision-all-you-need-to-know/>.

The Common Linnets. “Calm After The Storm,” music and lyrics by Ilse DeLange, JB Meijers, Rob Crosby, Matthew Crosby, and Jake Etheridge. The Netherlands, Eurovision Song Contest, 2014. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ggBPAm5XLA. Accessed 27 Jan. 2017.

"The World Factbook: Netherlands." Central Intelligence Agency. Central Intelligence Agency, 12 Jan. 2017. Web. 19 Jan. 2017.

Triandafyllidou, Anna. “National Identity and the ‘Other’”. Ethnic and Racial Studies, vol. 21, no. 4, Routledge, July 1998, pp. 593.

3JS. “Never Alone,” music and lyrics by Jaap Kwakman, Jan Dulles, and Jaap de Witte. The Netherlands, Eurovision Song Contest, 2011. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJ6T43D82KY. Accessed 27 Jan. 2017.

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