The interplay of mediascapes and cityscapes in a sports mega-event: The power dynamics of place branding in the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa

Drawing on critical literature on the neoliberal practices of event and place branding, the article addresses the interplay of mediascapes and cityscapes in the making of the South African football spectacle in 2010. In analysing the world's biggest football mega-event, orchestrated by FIFA (Federation Internationale de Football Association) in collaboration with the South African hosts and mainly multinational sponsors, the article first addresses the manifestations of branding in the built environment, from flamboyant stadium architecture to transport and media technological infrastructures. Next, it scrutinizes people's expected and actual acts and roles in the urban stages of the tournament. Ordinary South Africans were exhorted to co-create the tournament brand in the role of wildly celebrating ideal fans. As the flipside to and prerequisite for the emotionally captivating images circulated in the global mass media, the event-led enclaves of the tournament in the urban space were actually cleansed of people, symbols and actions that threatened the harmonious place brand.