of Rio, not something outside the city. Tourists in turn share pictures and stories on these same channels, showing it is a safe place to visit, not one where you need to be ensconced in a jeep for fear of what might happen if you step off. The new presentation of the favela is more truthful to locals’ visions of the ‘real’ Rocinha. It is a place of resilience and community, an integral part of the city. The underground station that once eschewed its name is now São Conrado/Rocinha, legitimising the favela as a borough of the city and bringing it close to world-renowned touristic sites. THE HOME OF SANTA The sunshine and beaches of Rio are a far cry from the snow and forests of Lapland. Here you have Santa Claus, reindeer, wilderness and the Sámi people, all involved in the marketisation of the region. The Sámi are the only indigenous people in the European Union. They inhabit the region of Sápmi, encompassing northern parts of Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia. There are around 10,000 Sámi in Finland, with their own parliament. Over the past 50 years, Lapland has been marketed as the home of Santa Claus, and tourism has become a key economic sector. Santa in the snow, reindeer and planes, the Sámi people welcoming guests, all were part of the picture painted for visitors in advertising. From the start, the Sámi and their homeland were part of marketing strategies. But the Sámi were stereotyped. Their outfits, crafts, reindeer and nature served up a semifictionalised version of reality; the culture was appropriated to sell the region, often in disrespectful ways. For example, fictional shamans performed ‘Lappish ceremonies’ to inaugurate visitors, and as recently as 2015 the Sámi were depicted as ‘wild forest creatures’ in a Visit Finland promotional video. Combining the snow, reindeer, Sámi and Santa created a version of Lapland as ‘Santa Claus Land’. But without the landscape, people, and wildlife there is no such experience. The Sámi homeland has been made to appear as wilderness rather than a cultural environment. It becomes a matter of what tourists can see and what (or whom) is concealed. This ‘wilderness’ is also the home and source of livelihoods for Sámi, who engage in fishing, hunting, reindeer herding, and producing handcrafts. None of this may be visible to tourists. RISING RESISTANCE The Sámi started to resist, writing pamphlets and books opposing tourism development in Lapland that they believed had a negative impact on their land and livelihoods. The Sámi’s concern about Visit Finland’s promotional video depicting fake Sámi outfits resulted in a new version which excluded these parts. In 2016, a marketing agency in Lapland asked for guidance on how to use images of the Sámi, and the new principles included any photographs depicting Sámi shows an actual Sámi person, and likewise any gákti, a traditional Sámi outfit, is authentic. In 2018, the Sámi Parliament released the ‘Principles for Responsible and Ethically Sustainable Sámi Tourism’, with both visual and textual guidelines showing wrongful and ethical ways to market Lapland. This aims to end the marketisation of Sámi people and change relationships to be more respectful. Sámi entrepreneurs become more visible and involved, and the relationships are symbiotic as the role of the people in the culture and landscape is shown rather than concealed. THE IMPORTANCE OF COMMUNITIES In both these locations, we can see how indigenous people take action to reshape tourist markets towards a market that they deem more respectful and acceptable. They want to ‘package’ their communities in ‘the right way’. The two communities strived to ensure they were not concealed or misappropriated, painted as ‘empty wilderness’ or ‘dangerous’ places. The resistance of local people to their framing by outsiders and to the reshaping of history and exploitation shows how more ethical forms of tourism and markets can be formed, whether it be in Rio or in Lapland. FIFTY FOUR DEGREES | 29 Dr Teea Palo is a Senior Lecturer in Marketing at the University of Edinburgh Business School. Her research spans marketing and organisation studies, with a focus on the organisation of markets and the marketisation of places. She is a former Lecturer in Lancaster University Management School. The paper A tale of two markets: Exploring the spatiality of market controversies, by Dr Josiane Fernandes and Dr Teea Palo, is published in the Marketing Theory journal. j.fernandes@lancaster.ac.uk Dr Josiane Fernandes is a Lecturer in the Department of Marketing at Lancaster University Management School. Her research interests cover market infrastructure, organisation and practice, including in relation to more ethical and responsible markets connected to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
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