Digesting the Milan Expo, 2015

A new editorial by Nicholas Cull, Professor of Public Diplomacy and Director of the USC Master of Public Diplomacy program, appeared in the August 2015 issue of the journal Place Branding and Public Diplomacy. The piece, Digesting the Milan Expo, 2015, explores the interplay of nation branding and public engagement at the "slow motion soap opera of international image making" known as the World Expo. One hundred and forty five nations are participating in this year's mega event, each of whom have contributed pavilions and other branded spaces on the theme "Food: Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life." Cull's article offers a look inside several national pavilions, including those organized by Italy, Korea, Thailand and the UAE in order to "tease apart the countries that were actually making a difference on the issue of food from those merely talking a good game." While Cull notes the individual successes and stumbles of the pavilions he visited, he concludes that the collective "willingness to listen, learn and collaborate" on solutions to sustain and improve global food supplies often trumped "a narrow desire for national recognition." 

The full editorial is available here.