The impact of cultural appropriation on destination image, tourism, and hospitality

• Date: 01 November 2019
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/tie.22068
• Author: Rosane K. Gertner
• Published date: 01 November 2019

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The impact of cultural appropriation on destination image,

tourism, and hospitality

Rosane K. Gertner

Marketing Department, School of Business,

College of Staten Island, Staten Island,

New York

Correspondence

Rosane K. Gertner, Marketing Department,

School of Business, College of Staten Island,

2800 Victory Boulevard, Building, Room

201, Staten Island, NY 10314.

Email: rosane.gertner@csi.cuny.edu,

rosane.gertner@gmail.com

Abstract

Harsh critics have relentless exposed myriad instances of misuse, exploitation, and

misrepresentation of values, customs, rituals, and religious objects, for example, by

different actors, such as designers and artists, and in myriad contexts, such as in art,

entertainment, and tourism. Instead of being perceived as the appreciation or preser-

vation of cultures, as claimed, they have been condemned as cultural appropriation.

Occasionally, they are deemed offensive by members of the culture of origin. In the

context of destination image, tourism, and hospitality, the matter can be even more

problematic as many places are economically dependent on tourism and hospitality

services. A growing number of critics believe place brands in general and tourist des-

tinations in particular have exploited indigenous groups for the commercial purpose

of entertaining visitors. This article represents a pioneer effort to build awareness

among place marketing scholars and practitioners, particularly in the context of tour-

ism, of the importance, implications, and risks of cultural appropriation to the future

of destination image, reputation, attractiveness, and sustainability and advances sug-

gestions for future research.

KEYWORDS

cultural appropriation, destination image, hospitality, place branding, tourism

1|BACKGROUND

Cultural appropriation is the unsuitable, unauthorized, or objection-

able use of cultural elements in a context other than that of the cul-

ture by outsiders who might lack understanding and/or respect for

the culture in question. This topic has been increasingly discussed in

social networks, as well as covered by leading media vehicles. The cul-

tural appropriation debate has multiple facets, including its ethical,

legal, and political implications (Young & Brunk, 2009). Some contend

that “[I]n human experience, borrowing and cultural mixture are wide-

spread. This is evident in language, religion, agriculture, folklore, food,

and other cultural elements”(Arewa, 2017, April 1, p. 26). Neverthe-

less, a growing number of detractors are questioning the “morality”of

the “misrepresentation, misuse, and theft of the stories, styles, and

material heritage of people who have been historically dominated and

remain socially marginalized”(Matthes, 2016, p. 343).

The boundaries between cultural borrowing and cultural appropri-

ation can be subtle and subjective, and the correctness of the utiliza-

tion of cultural elements out of context by culture outsiders has been

increasingly debated in myriad settings. In the arts, for example, cul-

tural appropriation is not unusual and can take the form of subject,

content, and object appropriation (Young, 2005).

The use of elements associated with a cultural group by outsiders

has been increasingly questioned. In 2016, for example, pop star Jus-

tin Bieber was harshly criticized and accused of appropriating black

culture because of his public appearances with dreadlocks. According

to a fan, “People are annoyed cause when black people wear this style

they are stereotyped as druggies and are ‘unkempt’” (Oppenheim,

2016). In addition, in 2016, a video with an African American San

Francisco State University employee confronting a white student with

dreadlocks and accusing him of cultural appropriation went viral

(Sivera, 2016). The video has been viewed by many millions of people.

DOI: 10.1002/tie.22068

Thunderbird Int. Bus. Rev. 2019;61:873–877. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/tie © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. 873