I kind of forgot about National Parks for a while to be honest, since they are natural, and the notion of them disappear behind all of the in-your-face advertisements of today's world. But being a graphic designer, I have recently rediscovered the vintage National Park Service Posters, and re-fell in love with the idea of these parks.
These posters are not so much advertisements, as scenic depictions, that perhaps fill people's hedonic need, or feed their subconscious longing for nature. The issue is, in order for natural places to sustain their beauty and purpose, they must try and avoid commercialism and corporations. In fact, National Parks are a place to go to escape all of this, as Jack Drury "our parks are a refuge from the constant barrage of media, advertising, and overstimulation we deal with every day. To extend these influences into our parks and landmarks doesn't just miss the point, it goes against their very purpose and shows a lack of respect and consideration for all of your visitors" (Drury, 2016). People are mostly driven to the parks based on affect-feelings, rather than cognition, and changing that would defeat the whole purpose. Not only that, but because all national parks are owned by the National Park Service, it is a form of monopoly, and there is no competition needed through advertisement.
Much of the parks' value is experiential. According to Sunil Gupta, experiential value is defined as "branding, unique product design, superior customer service, and/or emotional bonds a company may build with customers" (Gupta, 2014). National Parks have this value not in terms of customer service, but in terms of how one feels in the parks- "emotional bonds". Their value also comes with the park's beliefs, and people support the parks because they support what the park stands for, which is environmental sustainability and beauty. As explained in Experiential Reciprocity "cross-sectional data of people's experience and perceptions of the United States National Park Service and their values and beliefs related to the park system indicate that a direct experience of a park increases the intrinsic value of the park, even for those who are already environmentally conscious" (Russell, 2010).
Now that I'm aware of their marketing strategy, which appears absent, but actually is intentionally subtle, I have a lot more respect for the National Parks. I would encourage everyone to spend some time there, and get away from the advertised society we surround ourselves with daily. Here is a list of National Parks for you to enjoy:
Bibliography
Design Group, A. (n.d.). [Painting found in Illustrated National Parks]. Retrieved October 1, 2017, from https://www.andersondesigngroupstore.com/a/collections/american-national-parks
Gupta, S. (2014). MARKETING READING: CREATING CUSTOMER VALUE. doi:Harvard Business Publishing
List of National Parks [Digital image]. (2017). Retrieved October 1, 2017, from https://state.1keydata.com/national-parks-by-state.php
Russell, D. W., & Russell, C. A. (2010, September 15). Experiential Reciprocity: The Role of Direct Experience in Value Perceptions. Retrieved October 1, 2017, from http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10548408.2010.507157?journalCode=wttm20
Jack Drury. The Public Says NO to Corporate Advertising in National Parks. (2016, September 27). Retrieved October 01, 2017, from http://www.commercialfreechildhood.org/public-says-no-corporate-advertising-national-parks
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