Representations of Women and Gender relations in Jamaican Tourism Promotional Marketing: An analysis of visual images on Jamaica’s national DMO website.

Abstract: Tourism images and representations depict women in a stereotypical way where men and women are represented differently. Like much advertising, women in tourism promotional marketing are sexualized and exoticized. Destinations are promoted through the use of the female body. There are racial differences in how women are represented in tourism images where black women are exoticized. A country with a history of these types of representations is Jamaica, where the marketing of the country has had a gendered nature historically. These representations are conscious choices from agencies and they are meant to appeal to a certain gaze. Therefore this study is using Gaze theory and the ‘Other’ to explore how women and gender relations are depicted in photographs on the Jamaican Tourists Board’s website. The purpose is to reveal how women and gender relations are depicted in the photographs as it has effects on the social world. Through a visual content analysis this study finds that women are still being sexualized and objectified and black women are still exoticized. White women are overrepresented in couple and romance settings which continues to portray them as the true recipients of luxury and marriage. Even though there are continuities found from previously found representations that are based on gender and ethnic stereotypes, there are glimpses of change and inclusivity. Black women are increasingly being represented as tourists as well and both men and women are active agents in the images.