Semiotic dissonance in the representation of “Pha Daeng-Nang Ai” on rocket festival floats in digital media: Implications for cultural tourism destination marketing in Kalasin Province

Abstract

This qualitative research examined the semiotic paradox that emerges when the “Pha Daeng - Nang Ai” legend, a tragic Isan folk narrative, is re-enacted as a decorative parade floats during the rocket festival (Bun Bang Fai) and circulated through digital platforms such as YouTube and TikTok, while analyzing the marketing communication implications of this phenomenon for cultural tourism destination building. Employing a qualitative research design based on secondary data analysis of publicly available digital media, this study required no field interviews or interaction with human subjects. The analysis framework drew on Roland Barthes' semiotic theory of denotation, connotation, and myth; Stuart Hall's theory of representation; John Berger's concepts of visual composition and the gaze; and the conceptual frameworks of cultural marketing communication and destination branding . The findings revealed that the character of Nang Ai was reconstructed from a tragic figure who triggered catastrophic destruction into an aesthetic pageant icon, through a process termed “aesthetic sanitization, aligning with theoretical of “staged authenticity”. Concurrently, the visual hierachy of the parade float was systematically reordered Nang Ai occupies the apex position optimized for camera lens, and spectator gaze, Pha Daeng was relegated to a secondary visual prop, and the white squirrel (Krarok Don) was exaggerated into a visually dominant spectaclescape. When mediated through digital platforms favoring close-up framing, the legend's core moral didacticism was displaced by an aesthetic spectacle catering to visual capitalism and destination marketing logics, eclipsing the traditional folklore’s cautionary lessons on karmic retribution and environmental reverence. The study argues that this phenomenon reflects a cultural mutation wherein  digital media apparatuses and commercial marketing imperatives govern contemporary visibility, reception, and destination image formation.