An Analysis of Southern Advertising from the Jimmy Carter Era: The Origins of the Fragmented Image of the Tourist South

This article aims to highlight how the second half of the 1970s was a moment of enormous importance for the tourist image of the South, a pivotal moment when a series of factors converged for reshaping the overall promotional strategy of the southern states. These factors concern both the evolution of the American tourism industry and more complex historical processes related to the South and its relationship with the rest of the country. By analyzing the advertising material of four states (Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, South Carolina) and the documents produced by their tourism departments, it will be highlighted how the classic image of the antebellum South, which for a long time had represented the core of regional promotional activity, had now become only a part of a larger, complex and multifaceted whole aimed both at promoting the idea of a more friendly, modern South and the idea of a South abundant in all kinds of attractions. A trend that laid the foundations for the current image of the tourist South.