Study Program
The target destination chosen is Hawaii. It is ranked as one of the top ten tourist destinations in United States hence the need to investigate how this island is marketed. Hawaiian Islands can be divided into six islands namely Hawaii, Maui, Lanai, Molokai, Oahu, and Kauai. This content analysis sought to investigate how people, animals, land, and sea are used to describe Hawaii as a tourist destination. After reading about the island, a single website was chosen to provide different forms of advertising describing the different parts of Hawaii. The marketing material (pictures and text) used by Go Hawaii website was investigated. The content on this site was selected because it encompassed all the places chosen. Further, it had both images and text hence making it easier to analyze the content (Go Hawaii 2014).
The material was coded so as to provide information about the usage of people, animals, land, and sea in marketing materials for places such as Hawaii, Maui, Lanai, Molokai, Oahu, and Kauai. Images depicting each place were inspected for the appearance of each aspect. In addition, the text used to market each place was inspected for the mention of these aspects directly or indirectly. In most cases, photos depicted more than one aspect. For example, a photo would depict land, sea and people. In such a case, the content was categorized as depicting people, where, in most cases, their activity was also recorded. For example, if a photo such as one described above, had people riding horse along the beach, the activity was entered as “riding horses” (Go Hawaii 2014).
There were five photos for each place chosen for investigation. For the Hawaii Island, the photos showed people, animals, land, and sea each appearing different number of times. There were six photos of this island and one text. The text depicted land and sea only, which also appeared in most of the photos. This shows that Hawaii Island is mostly marketed for its land and sea features. The second place was the Kauai Island. The photos depicted people, land and sea while the text depicted land and sea alone, indicating that Kauai Island is marketed for its land and sea features too.Oahu is also marketed as a place of fun due to its land and sea features. However, people or fun activities are also marketed. This can be deduced from the number of photos depicting people, land, and sea as well as text related to the same aspects (Go Hawaii 2014).
Molokai Island is marketed as place of Hawaiian traditions and culture according to text and images analyzed. All aspects were mentioned in both text and images. Lanai Island is depicted as a place where golfers and explorer converge. It is marketed for its people or activities they do, and land and sea features. Maui is the last place in Hawaii Islands that was investigated. Images and text related to this place showed the presence of all aspects in consideration. However, it can be deduced that the place is marketed for the art and culture of its people, scenic land and sea features including sea animals such as whales (Go Hawaii 2014).
In conclusion, Hawaii is marketed as a place with scenic landscape and exceptional sea features such as beaches, Sea Mountains, and sea animals. Culture and food are missing in the content used to market Hawaii. In addition, the presence of native Hawaiian is not evident in the images and text used by Go Hawaii website (Go Hawaii 2014).
Reference List
Go Hawaii 2014,Hawaii: The Big Island.Available from:<http://www.gohawaii.com/big- island>. [8 March 2014].
Go Hawaii 2014,Kauai: Hawaii’s Island of Discovery.Available from: <http://www.gohawaii.com/kauai>. [8 March 2014].
Go Hawaii 2014,Lanai: Hawaii’s Most Enticing Island.Available from: <http://www.gohawaii.com/lanai>. [8 March 2014].
Go Hawaii 2014,Maui: The Valley Isle.Available from:<http://www.gohawaii.com/maui>. [8 March 2014].
Go Hawaii 2014,Molokai: Hawaiian by Nature.Available from: <http://www.gohawaii.com/molokai>. [8 March 2014].
Go Hawaii 2014,Oahu: The Heart of Hawaii.Available from: <http://www.gohawaii.com/oahu>. [8 March 2014].
