One does not simply … project a destination image within a participatory culture

Abstract

This study examines how internet memes, as an increasingly relevant and conceptually distinctive type of user-generated content (UGC), represent Thailand's destination image and how such representation differs from established destination image sources. For this purpose, participatory culture is first proposed as an alternative conceptual framework, followed by empirical research, which upgrades visual content analysis (VCA) with semiotic analysis. The findings of VCA reveal that memes yield a markedly different representation of Thailand as they introduce an entire cluster of peculiar and controversial themes, which are not depicted on destination marketing organization (DMO) and TripAdvisor photos. Semiotic analysis, in addition, uncovers that memetic representation is evocative and conveys a layer of symbolic notions and alluding connotations. In this manner, findings attest that memes are a semantically rich format and genre of UGC, which expands existing knowledge about destination-image formation and representation on social media. Managerial implications, limitations, and recommendations for future research in this domain are also discussed. • Internet memes are a multimodal, intertextual and polysemic format of UGC. • Everyday culture is the most frequent theme through which memes represent Thailand. • UGC generated by online communities challenges existing frameworks of DI formation. • Managers are advised to use memes for analysis and dialogue with online communities.