“Activism in paradise”: A critical discourse analysis of a public
Tracking number
relations campaign against genetic engineering.
ICA-15-10063
1
“Activism in paradise”: A critical discourse analysis of a public relations
campaign against genetic engineering.
Introduction
“The half-gallon quarter-acre pavlova paradise.” This is a phrase coined by author, Austin
Mitchell (1972), to sum up the lifestyle identity of New Zealand in the 1950s and 1960s. It
typified a country where people could own their own land and home; enjoy wholesome,
locally produced food and drink; and where pride in the pioneering spirit was strong.
“Paradise” meant the land of plenty, and was a source of immense national pride. In the
1950s and 60s, “New Zealanders both lived and believed in the dream of a bountiful land in
which all aspirations for work, leisure and material prosperity could be achieved under the
eye of a benevolent state.” (Archives New Zealand, 2002).
More recently, an identity has been constructed for New Zealand in conjunction with a brand
identity for export products and inbound tourism. This identity maintains the image of
“paradise” but re-articulates it in terms of New Zealand’s “clean, green image”, an
environmental paradise (see http://www.mfe.govt.nz/about/clean_green_nz.htm; and
http://www.purenz.com). This image of “paradise” exists in tension, however, with current
political and economic discourses, which suggest an identity for New Zealand as a
“knowledge economy” that depends on innovation and “cutting edge” technology, such as
biotechnology (Speech from the throne, 2002, August 27).
Although there is already considerable investment in biotechnology research in New Zealand
(Marsh, 2000), unlike in many other countries there have been no commercial field trials of
genetically modified products. In fact, a moratorium on commercial field trials has existed
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