It is that time of the year when people start slapping on suncream and the tourism industry revs up its advertising, but this year the campaigners have been given a leg up by the social media.
A cocktail of videos and articles – from a young sunburnt farmer proud of his potato harvesting heritage to a CNN piece about the beauty of Valletta – have done the rounds in the past week.
The week started off on a positive note when CNN posted an article about a new $1.5 million holiday offering travellers the opportunity to see all 962 World Heritage Sites. When Valletta was included among the “most beautiful” 20 sites of all, the feature made the rounds.
Only a few days earlier, the Italian newspaper La Stampa had published an online article called La Valletta, La Regina del 2013 (Valletta, the 2013 queen) which described the Maltese archipelago as a jewel between Europe and Africa.
On its mobile site tgcom24.it, Mediaset published an article called La Valletta, Migliore Destinazione del 2013 (Valletta, best 2013 destination), highlighting the Mattia Preti exhibition launched on Saturday at the President’s Palace in Valletta.
These articles served as a welcome boost for the island after a slide-show on BBC’s portal featured migrant birds illegally shot in Malta and the release of Chiara Siracusa’s single Żarbun two days later fuelled criticism over the choice of lyrics.
But the bubble soon burst when a video about the heritage of potato harvesting in Malta, carrying the Air Malta logo, went viral in the middle of the week, reaching 120,000 views yesterday.
The clip, by Duerinck Productions, was produced for Jansen Dongen, one of the top suppliers of vegetable products for supermarket chains in The Netherlands and Germany.
In it, a young farmer romanticises about the cultivation of potatoes, going to lengths to explain that potato harvesting runs in his family’s blood, and each crop is grown with so much passion that it breaks their heart to part from it.
He tries to put into words the authenticity of this home-grown hand-picked vegetable which tastes of the sea, the church and the sun – distinctive Maltese features.
The initial reaction, mostly from Maltese viewers, generated a series of memes, picking on the young farmer for his broken English and for making a fool of the Maltese.
The reaction, which surprised the producers themselves, soon shifted however when foreigners praised the Maltese crop and fellow islanders challenged the critics.
The producers uploaded another clip called Malta Derby Potatoes, without the subtitles, but this boosted criticism, prompting them to excuse themselves for posting“a preproduction version with errors in the subtitles”.
Another video which picked up nearly 100,000 views in less than a week, called Come To Malta, was uploaded by a Maltese man brought up in the UK.
Marcel Melito dubbed an American Southern Comfort advert called Whatever’s Comfortable, which at first seems to be taking a dig at the Maltese accent.
In the video, “Charlie from Malta” walks along a beach in tight briefs with his dog Rover. He goes to Golden Bay to “see thepeoples”, warning viewers that “the sun it is danger”.
At one point Charlie walks out of the screen shot, only to return with a shot of whiskey, and tells the viewer that Malta is the place to come to for the “drinks, sun, and of course the peoples.”
Unlike the harvesting video, this clip was received quite positively. Mr Melito initially uploaded it to have a laugh with his friends and never expected it would go viral.
Born to Maltese parents from Sliema, he told Times of Malta that he put a Maltese twist to the accent but said it was not meant to be offensive, admitting that he does not speak perfect Maltese.
“I’d be offending myself because Malta is my home,” he said, adding that he would release another clip this week.