In late May, Simon Anholt wrote a short essay about negative public diplomacy for Africa that’s posted at the USC Center on Public Diplomacy’s site. In it, he argues that well-intentioned pleas by charities and celebrities like Bono and Bob Geldof have created a “continent brand effect” for Africa. Rather than being seen as 53 distinct countries, someone like Bono pleading on behalf of an entire (suffering!) continent perpetuates the idea that it’s all one big basket case:
... Because there is so little public awareness and knowledge of the individual countries, every country on the continent apart from South Africa ends up sharing the same reputation. Even a relatively prosperous and well-governed nation like Botswana ends up sharing perceptions of violence with Rwanda, of corruption with Nigeria, of poverty with Ethiopia and of famine from Sudan.
The major exception to this may be Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt’s recent stay in Namibia while awaiting the birth of their daughter; despite an economic slump, officials in Windhoek can hope for a jump in Northern Hemisphere tourism and perhaps some resulting brand differentiation from the surrounding nations.
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