This is my research, folks. You won’t be able to read this anywhere else, and I think it’s fascinating stuff.
In 2012, a royal decree established in Spain the creation of a committee charged with promoting the image of Spain as a brand. The committee believes that national identity should be formed by companies associated with the nation, and all citizens are supposed to adopt and practice these values.
This means that control over national identity is handed over, in its entirety, to business interests. Which are notoriously fickle in their national allegiances and pick up and leave whenever it is more profitable. This is a very open and clear effort to destroy the concept of national identity. This privatization of national identity is sponsored by the governments of many Western European nations, so it’s not just a Spanish thing.
The Spain as a Brand committee is chaired by Carlos Espinosa de los Monteros y Bernaldo de Quirós, the IV Marquis of Valtierra. When I heard his name, I knew there had to be something really nasty in his past. So I went digging around and discovered that this gentleman’s uncle and father were present at the famous meeting between Franco and Hitler in 1940. The Espinosas belonged to a faction that was pushing Franco in an even more pro-Nazi direction.
Franco repaid the Espinosas’ loyalty to the ideals of national-socialism. Carlos Espinosa had a job in Franco’s Ministry of Commerce that he later parlayed into positions as a CEO of Inditex and Mercedes-Benz Spain. At the height of the crisis, Espinosa is chairing the Spain as a Brand committee and promoting his deeply neoliberal ideas on every corner. The conclusion we can draw is clear: those who inherited their power and riches from the Franco era are trying to destroy the nation-state because that’s the last obstacle in the way of complete freedom of capital flows.
Am I super cool, or what?
In any case, a German photographer and a group of Spanish poets got together to create artwork that questions the validity of the Spain as a Brand idea. Its great photography, great poetry, and it’s extremely impressive that artists in Spain are so engaged in discussing the crisis, the collapse of the nation-state, the economy, politics, etc. There is nothing even remotely similar happening in the increasingly irrelevant and navel-gazing US art.
Title: Marca(da) España
Year: 2014
My rating: 9 out of 10
Clarissa's Blog 
One observation / hypothesis i might have is that the most “successful” companies by financial means identify pretty heavily with their country.
1) US companies have been the most successful in the last 100 years pretty unquestionably (now what that says for inequality is a separate discussion)
2) Japanese companies seem highly nationalistic, and they have been very financially successful (probably the biggest leap foward in the 20th century right?)
3) Chinese companies are pretty aligned with their govt, mainly due to tight govt. control
The 20th century is really a narrative of europe going from dominant force in world to the third step child: vastly behind the super power US, and losing ground to the rapidly growing asia story.
Perhaps these govts. are hoping to emulate their more successful older siblings?
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“the most “successful” companies by financial means identify pretty heavily with their country”
“The 20th century is really a narrative of europe going from dominant force in world to the third step child: vastly behind the super power US”
“and losing ground to the rapidly growing asia story.”
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I went to their website, which is kind of horrifying and bizarre (and very Spanish they have seperate Catalan and Valenciano versions but the only foreign language is English, no German or French or Italian or Russian or Polish…..
for the morbidly curious
http://marcaespana.es/
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It’s a totally creepy thing led by this totally creepy guy. The whole thing is just weird.
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Americans and English are likely to fall for the claptrap of a branded Spain. All Germans want is a warm beach to sit on, not someplace with flamenco music 24/7 and Spanish cooking on tap. Are there any good Spanish beers, BTW?
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The site reads like a class project for Business Spanish. I snorted when I got to the “Somos” section, especially “Integradores”. Spain is so diverse, don’t get into the reasons why! Let’s all forget about history: the Inquisition, the Reconquista, the conquest of the New World and tapas (pig in so many dishes!) to talk about gay bars, curb cuts and holiday vacations.
In 2012, a royal decree established in Spain the creation of a committee charged with promoting the image of Spain as a brand. The committee believes that national identity should be formed by companies associated with the nation, and all citizens are supposed to adopt and practice these values.
Companies nowadays are about as nationalistic as a plastic cup.
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Actually, hey, great idea. I might start using it as a resource for Business Spanish.
This is what the government of Spain is doing to address the crisis. They are such geniuses.
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My favorite page so far:
http://marcaespana.es/actualidad/yo-soy-original
I’m so original I only buy name brands!
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“When I heard his name, I knew there had to be something really nasty in his past. So I went digging around and discovered that this gentleman’s uncle and father were present at the famous meeting between Franco and Hitler in 1940.”
The sins of the father are visited onto the son.
‘The LORD is slow to anger and abundant in loving and kindness, forgiving iniquity and transgression; but He will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generations.’
Numbers 14:18
And so it is with the Donald.
“In an article subtitled “Klan assails policeman”, Fred Trump is named in among those taken in during a late May “battle” in which “1,000 Klansmen and 100 policemen staged a free-for-all.” At least two officers were hurt during the event, after which the Klan’s activities were denounced by the city’s Police Commissioner, Joseph A. Warren.
“The Klan not only wore gowns, but had hoods over their faces almost completely hiding their identity,” Warren was quoted as saying in the article, which goes on to identify seven men “arrested in the near-riot of the parade.”
http://boingboing.net/2015/09/09/1927-news-report-donald-trump.html
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Rehashing the francoist Spain is Different brand.
You are writing about fascinating stuff.
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Yes, I’m finding some really cool things. I might even teach a course on this stuff.
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FYI
http://www.acla.org/seminar/perversions-national-identity-cultural-recreations-and-reactions-%E2%80%9Cmarca-espa%C3%B1a%E2%80%9D
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