The Puerto Rican rapper Unhealthy Bunny is among the greatest stars of the tune international. After turning into Spotify’s most-streamed artist for 3 years in a row – the primary and best artist ever to take action – he bought out all 49 dates of his 2024 U.S. excursion, netting US$211 million.
Previous this yr, after Unhealthy Bunny co-hosted “The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon” and introduced a 21-show residency in Puerto Rico, the lately reelected mayor of San Juan, Miguel Romero, quipped that the artist had carried out a greater process of marketing Puerto Rico than the island’s legitimate vacation spot advertising group.
That company, Uncover Puerto Rico, used to be based in 2017 to marketplace the island to each vacationers and traders. Established all the way through the management of Gov. Ricardo Rosselló, it used to be a part of a broader effort to professionalize Puerto Rico’s position branding and underscored the significance of tourism to the island’s economic system.
As a pupil of Puerto Rican politics and position branding – and a local Puerto Rican – I believe this example learn about raises attention-grabbing public coverage questions: Who will get to logo Puerto Rico? Why does it topic if a spot has a logo anyway? And if political leaders are upset with an company whose sole objective is to marketplace the island, what comes subsequent?
It’s now not only a position – it’s a logo
Traditionally, place-branding campaigns were led via governments looking for to draw tourism and funding. One of the crucial iconic examples used to be the “I Love New York” marketing campaign, introduced in 1977 as a collaboration between New York Town and personal companions. Equivalent public-private fashions was extra commonplace within the a long time that adopted.
A Works Growth Management advert selling Puerto Rico, circa 1940.
Library of Congress
Puerto Rico has observed quite a lot of branding efforts through the years. Early boosterism efforts emerged all the way through the primary part of the 20 th century, and in 1970, the Puerto Rico Tourism Corporate used to be created to advertise the island as a
vacationer vacation spot. Through the Nineteen Nineties, many Puerto Rican municipalities had begun adopting other position branding methods.
All over Puerto Rico’s deepening fiscal disaster within the 2010s, branding efforts remained a bipartisan precedence. However the two dominant political events – the pro-territory Partido Well-liked Democrático, and the pro-statehood Partido Nuevo Progresista – every rebranded the island each time a brand new management took place of work, elevating considerations about consistency. The ultimate primary government-led initiative prior to Uncover Puerto Rico used to be the “Isla Estrella” marketing campaign, which integrated a sponsorship handle Spain’s Sevilla FC football crew.
The ‘Discover Puerto Rico’ technology
In 2017, Uncover Puerto Rico took keep watch over over the island’s place-branding efforts. On the other hand, its efficiency has been polarizing, with critics pointing to important blunders. As an example, an early advert in its “Live Boricua” marketing campaign sparked backlash for that includes a circle of relatives that didn’t seem like maximum Puerto Ricans.
Past its advertising blunders, Uncover Puerto Rico has struggled to navigate Puerto Rico’s politically charged place-branding panorama. If truth be told, it’s been contested from the beginning, and stays so, as lately elected Gov. Jennifer González evaluates its long term. It stays unclear to what extent potency and financial building will function the primary standards for comparing its luck, and to what extent celebration politics will affect the decision-making procedure.
Only a day prior to Mayor Romero made his observation about Unhealthy Bunny, Uncover Puerto Rico’s CEO, Brad Dean, resigned, taking a identical position in St. Louis. Dean has argued that all the way through his tenure, Uncover Puerto Rico has pushed important will increase in tourism and tourism spending. Whilst those self-reported figures recommend luck, they don’t deal with a crucial factor – the long-standing political controversy surrounding Puerto Rico’s branding.
Popular culture carries the burden
On the identical time the way forward for Uncover Puerto Rico stays unsure, the island has won unprecedented global consideration because of standard tune.
Reggaetón, an city style that originated in Puerto Rico within the Nineteen Nineties, has accumulated an enormous world fan base, extending past Puerto Rico and Latin The usa to the remainder of the arena. In 2017, Daddy Yankee and Luis Fonsi’s video for the global hit “Despacito” grew to become L. a. Perla, a working-class barrio in Previous San Juan, right into a magnet for vacationers from in all places the arena.
“Despacito” triggered a surge of visits to L. a. Perla, because the French information company AFP famous.
Extra lately, in January 2025, Unhealthy Bunny launched his newest album, “Debí Tirar Más Fotos,” which faucets into conventional Puerto Rican tune genres corresponding to bomba, plena and música jíbara that aren’t in most cases related to reggaetón. It charted at No. 1. Unhealthy Bunny additionally introduced a Puerto Rico-exclusive live performance collection, with some dates reserved for locals and others open to lovers international.
The luck of Puerto Rican reggaetón artists raises the most important query: Why have those natural cultural actions been so efficient – in all probability much more so than the legitimate expert-driven place-marketing company – in selling Puerto Rico as a logo?
I believe the solution almost certainly lies in authenticity. In contrast to government-led projects, reggaetón’s world attraction stems from its cultural resonance and emotional reference to audiences international, without reference to politics.
At this crucial juncture for the island’s tourism company, in all probability Uncover Puerto Rico will have to rebrand itself as “Discover the Birthplace of Reggaetón.”
