Hypermediation and commercial regionalism in the era of digital capitalism: interrogating the promotional discourses of Kerala tourism

Consumerism and advertising became more prominent in the second half of the twentieth century, and, with neoliberalism, advertising came to function as a culture in itself. In this context, the paper analyses the promotional discourses of Kerala tourism, which gained widespread global attention within a short period, resulting in increased tourism in the region and making it one of the most important revenue sources for this southern Indian state. The paper critically analyses the branding and advertising strategies employed by the tourism department and scrutinises two narratives recurrent in the promotional discourses of Kerala tourism: a narrative of inclusivity in terms of class, religion, and gender, and a narrative of environmental nostalgia. The paper looks into the hypermediated nature of these signifiers to understand how promotional discourses influence the way we perceive regions. I argue that the promotional advertisements of Kerala tourism are examples of commercial regionalism in the wake of digital capitalism and have been successful in creating a simulacrum of the region as ‘God’s own country’. This hypermediated image of Kerala, foregrounded in the promotional discourses of Kerala tourism, becomes a site of capital accumulation.