“The transformation of goods and services (or things that may not normally regarded as goods or services) into a commodity.” (Kadijk, 2009).
This is a definition of the term commodification Kadijk also add that commodification is not only about good and services, but it has also to do with rituals, ceremonies, folk arts etc. Commodification can be classified into three types of values; which are use value based on the usefulness of a commodity; the value and original purpose for the community. Secondly, the exchange value which is related to the amount of tourist who would like to pay for it. Furthermore, there is the sign value which includes the personal perception of the tourist (Kadijk, 2009).
Commodification can be related to the term authenticity and is often seen as negative. Because it causes devaluation experiencing the real culture it included the loss of intrinsic value of a culture. Nevertheless, is has also advantages for local communities, the interest of tourist in the culture will grow and the existence of traditional crafts is affected by this phenomenon. Tourism results in commodification of cultural aspects; which are produced and performed only for the tourists.
(Halewood, 2001).
To conclude both terms can be related to tourism. Authenticity describes the traditional culture, like staged authenticity shows the old traditions to the tourists. Commodification means the transformation of good, services as well as rituals etc. within a commodity. It has often disadvantages, like the devaluation of the real culture.
The tourism product of Berlin
After visiting Berlin and its attractions, it can be concluded that there is great variety of hot spots in the city. However, this paper focuses on five of them, and each will be explained. These hot spots are as follows: Reichstag, Brandenburg Tor, Checkpoint Charlie, Alexanderplatz and the Olympia stadium.
To begin with, one of the most famous hot spots in Berlin is Reichstag. It was build between 1884 and 1894, and it was the first German Parliament. Later on, in 1933 the building was almost destroyed in a fire and it was renovated in the late sixties. From the late sixties the building is used for different purposes and by different organisations. Since 1999 the building is again the seat of the German Parliament. The exterior of the architecture of Reichstag differs from the interior. The exterior architecture is Renaissance, while the interior has modern design. An interesting part of the building is the glass and steal dome.
The next hot spot is the Brandenburg Tor which was symbol of the division of Berlin. It was built in 1791 by Carl Gotthard Langhans. The Brandenburg Gate used to be the main entrance to the city, but today it is only the gate that is still there. The gate is situated in the centre of Berlin, and it is close to many attractions of the city. The architecture of the gate is classicism and it is influenced by the Acropolis in Athens. The gate consists of six columns, which forms five entrances, and it was used only by famous people. The other entrances, on the both sides of the main five entrances were used by the ordinary people.
The next astonishing attraction of Berlin is Checkpoint Charlie, situated at the historic Mitte district, which is symbol of the separation of the Berlin. Moreover, it was the place where people crossed the boundary between the West and East part of the city. Checkpoint Charlie is the only place in Berlin which is still authentic. The evidence for the authenticity of the place still exists and it is the sign „You are leaving the American sector”. The sign is written in four languages, namely German, English, Russian and French. The Checkpoint Charlie is easy to access, and many other attractions can be visited in the surrounding.
The following hot spot of Berlin is the Alexanderplatz. It is situated at the historical centre of Berlin. The site was named on the Russian king Alexander I, who visited Berlin in 1805. However, many buildings at the square were destroyed in the Second World War Later on, in the 19th century it became modern shopping centre. In the surroundings of the Alexanderplatz is the TV tower, which is one of the tallest structures in Europe.
The last hot spot, which will be described in this paper, is the Olympia stadium. It is situated far from the centre, but it is still preferred destination for the tourists and especially for the soccer fans. The Olympia stadium is place for sport activities and events and it has 74,500 seats. The stadium was opened in 1936 and reconstructed in 1974. The Olympia stadium was host for the Summer Olympics in 1936 and FIFA World Cup in 2006, where the teams of France and Italy played the finals. The stadium offers guided tours in which the visitors have the opportunity to see the VIP lounges and the changing rooms of the soccer players.
Authenticity in advertisements and marketing
Nowadays, advertising to attract more tourists is less focused on the product information, but more about the experiences of tourist and mainly the authentic experiences. This can be seen in the brochures which describe Berlin.
To promote a certain tourist destinations, always the hotspots are used in advertisements and marketing. To promote Berlin as an international tourism destination the Branderburger gate is mainly used in advertisements.
It can already be found in the logo of the Berlin Tourismus Marketing Organisation which is responsible for the world-wide promotion of Berlin as an international tourist destination.
Or the Berlin wall is a good example, because almost all the tourist know something about the history and which role the Berlin played in the Second World War
To highlight the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, a TV spot is made to promote Berlin worldwide on CNN in this sport Berlin is promoted as an extraordinary city. Berlin has a lot of opportunities like they build a whole new modern train station, but also have old historic buildings.
In a brochure about the art museum in Berlin called in German the Gemäldegalerie, which collection one of the biggest from art between the 13th and 18th century a picture of a modern building is showed on the front of the brochure. The brochure is decorated with pictures of old painting made in the 13th and 18th century.
Examples of commodified culture in Berlin
There are several examples that illustrate the commodification of the culture in Berlin.
To begin with, one of the examples of commodified culture is the Christmas markets. These markets were created many years ago for the local people only and they offered to the residents only products that are made in the region. However, nowadays these markets sell not only regional products, but also products made in other regions. For example, tourist can find hats, products made by glass and much more products that are not made in the area. Furthermore, these products are made mainly for tourists, and that makes the markets no longer authentic, but rather commodified.
The next example of commodified culture is the tourism offices and the products they sell. These offices used to provide the tourist with information about the region and the attractions that can be visited. Nowadays, the tourism offices not only provide with information the tourist, but they also sell products with the logo of Berlin. For example lighters, t-shirts and pens.
Walking throughout the Berlin the tourist can see many souvenirs shops. These souvenirs are created only to sell them to the tourists and they are just commodities. Examples of the souvenirs representing Berlin include key holders, pens and even small stones from the Berlin wall. The products that are sold in these shops are typical example of commodification, because they do not show the culture of the city.
The last example of commodified culture in Berlin is the guided tours with buses through the city. These tours are absolutely created for the tourists. The visitors just sit in the bus in listen to a guide who explains the history of the city. This is commodification because the tourists cannot feel and see the real Berlin. It is impossible to understand the culture of a city by going on a tour with a bus, because visitors cannot see how local people behave and they cannot understand what their values and beliefs are.
Tourists about the ‘authentic’ Berlin
Authenticity and commodification are the concepts which difficult to distinguish, particularly in tourism field. During the time spend in Berlin and after several kinds of research have been made, as a consequence, the group experienced the city and identified the “authentic” Berlin.
The study was conducted in Berlin by walking; visitors were required to provide information on the authenticity of their opinions about Berlin. A lot of tourists said that the most authenticity in Berlin was by visiting the historical sightseeing. Because of the historical events were really took place there. Most of the tourists in Berlin understood that there were many very authentic Berlin such as Brandenburg Gate, Berlin Wall and the museums of Berlin. However, not only the sights represent authentic Berlin but also the culture events, like Christmas markets and the precious architecture of the buildings. Referring to some of details of the attractions such as the Brandenburg Gate that people reflect on that it is typical and authentically in Berlin. Talking about old and famous in Berlin, Berlin Wall cannot be ignored because of the history is too profound impact on the city, even though it was rebuild but which is still effective. Additionally, some of famous architect buildings which were visited by a number of tourists are commodified but also authentic. On the other side, visitors feel that many sights in the city have changed for attracting more tourists; these might reduce the authenticity of Berlin. The increasing number of Hotels, souvenir shops and the large-scale billboards will take over the image of the city into commodification to tourists. Moreover, as mentioned before, authentic or commodified is a choice of independent subjective and Berlin represent both of the concepts.
In short, it can be said that there are two opinions upon request the interviews of tourists passing by. Berlin does have the authentic parts representing by the historical sites, such as Brandenburg Gate, and also traditional culture like Christmas market. However, Berlin is a commodity, because of the changing of the city and some ‘man-made’ atmosphere for tourists.
From the research of Berlin, not only authenticity but also commercialization can be highly controversial, authentic or not is up to the individual and perception.
Respondent profiles
Analysis of survey
The research was take place in the sightseeing of Berlin. As a consequence, visitors included mainly elderly people and a small group of students. The interviewees were selected out of these two target groups. The elderly visitors claimed as a reason to visit Berlin, amongst other things, the interest in get to known deeply of Germany Culture and History; one claimed as a reason to did a business trip or visiting someone in Berlin. The reason of the students, visiting the city included mainly cultural and historical aspects.
Interestingly, most of interviewees were having been visited Brandenburg Gate and Berlin wall. According to the interviews, most of tourists think the hotspots can most represent Berlin is the Brandenburg Gate. All interviewees are have the same opinions about the hotspots they visited do represent the culture in Berlin, and the “authentic” experience is important to them.
Conclusion
In conclusion, this paper showed main issues concerned with the authenticity and the commodification of Berlin. First of all, different definitions of authenticity and commodification were given and related to Berlin. Then the tourism product of Berlin was identified and the most famous hot spots were explained. The most famous hot spots that were explained are Reichstag, Brandenburg Tor, Checkpoint Charlie, Alexanderplatz and the Olympia stadium. The next parts of the assignment explain how the authenticity is used to promote the hot spots of Berlin and which cultural aspects have been transformed into commodity. The cultural aspects, transformed into commodity are the traditional Christmas Markets, tourism offices, souvenirs and last but not least the bus tours through Berlin. At the end of the paper, a research made in Berlin was analysed.
After making the research in Berlin by asking tourists for their opinion and after analysing it, the problem statement “In what sense can the tourism product of Berlin be considered as authentic?” can be answered. As a result, it can be said that the tourist experience authenticity in the attractions they are visiting.
References
Books
Dann, M.S., ed., (2002) The tourist as a metaphor in the social world. CABI publishing, New York, 2002. (Module Book)
Halewood , C., & Hannam, K., (n.d.). Viking heritage tourism: authenticity and commodification. (Module Book)
Kadijk, H., (n.d.). Authenticity, commodification and tourism: Are all authentic tourism products commodified? (Module Book)
WebPages
Berlin.de (n.d.). Alexanderplatz. Retrieved December 7, 2009 from
Gilmore, J. H., & Pine II, B. J. (2007). Authenticity: What consumers really want. Retrieved December 5, 2009, from
HP Corfu (n.d.) The Reichstag Building. Retrieved December 7, 2009 from
Smed, K.M. (2006). Session 5: Authenticity & Modernity. Retrieved December 5, 2009, from
Dictionary
Soanes, C., Hawker, S., & Elliot, J. (2006). Paperback Oxford English Dictionary (6th ed.). New York: Oxford.
