Tourism Fiji’s Shameless New Campaign Is a Reminder for Marketers Everywhere
Photo Credit: Actress Rebel Wilson features in Tourism Fiji's new campaign "Open for Happiness." Tourism Fiji / Courtesy of Tourism Fiji
Skift Take
Here's to hoping we don't see another one of these anytime soon. Host communities everywhere, irrespective of the destination's income level or racial makeup, are the face and the raison d'être of this global tourism industry — and they deserve better.
What happens when an all-white leadership team — tourism board, ad agency, production company and actress — comes together to design the tourism marketing campaign for an Indigenous archipelago?
You get Fiji's new “Open for Happiness” video — a shocking visual display of colonial tropes, in a narrative that centers the needs of the privileged tourist, portrays the country’s host communities and culture as a mere backdrop, and sells the stereotype of a "happy Indigenous" brown island as “paradise.”
https://youtu.be/2vZNLPTXg8QTourism Fiji’s campaign, which features Australian actress Rebel Wilson and was produced by ad agency Saatchi & Saatchi, tells the story of a white female drifting in a raft off the shores of Fiji, in search of happiness. The campaign was launched to coincide with the reopening of Fiji’s borders to the world on December 1.
In the story line, Wilson spots a tropical island in the distance through
