Britain to Immigrants: You Won't Like it Here

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By: Dwayne W. Waite Jr.

Advertising is a key element in nation-building; the act of supporting, creating, and spreading the causes, ideas, and beliefs of a specific nation or country. Placing advertisements in different countries gives other citizens a chance to see a different perspective, and drawing people in gives them an opportunity to view another way of life.

But what if people choose to stay? Apparently, that's a problem.

Immigration is a hot topic for more than a few industrial nations, but the United States and Britain are the countries making headlines about their "woes."

What is it on Twitter? Ah yes, #FirstWorldProblems.

Here in the States we have seen little to no progress on immigration reform. The current administration has made some effort to give current "undocumented workers" the chance to change their status if they came to the States before they became a certain age. As for legal immigration, that topic has not had a decent, worthwhile conversation.

Across the pond, our English cousins are getting a little more...creative.

The Guardian revealed that the British government is mulling over the idea of creating ads about how much Britain sucks and placing them in Romania and Bulgaria, with the hopes of deterring potential immigrants from coming over to the Isle.

The newspaper is calling it "anti-nation branding."

Brilliant.

Apparently these wily Brits have done it before. The source brings out that in 2007, Eurostar ran ads in Belgium that starred a "tattooed skinhead urinating into a china teacup."

We wish we were making this up.

Imagining the kind of sheer fervor here if the U.S. tried to advertise how bad the U.S. would be is hilarious. Borderline chaos.

But, at least the Brits are looking at every solution to their immigration question. We thought, what if Britain went positive, and promoted the benefits of going to Germany or Italy? Shine a positive light on its EU neighbors? Perhaps they don't want to draw other countries in, or they would be fearful of some advertising retaliation.

Either way, wherever the British government decides to go, we look forward to seeing the advertising.

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About the Author

Dwayne W. Waite Jr. is partner and principal at JDW: The Charlotte Agency, a marketing and advertising shop in Charlotte, NC. He enjoys consumer behavior, economics, and football.

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