Day of the Dead and tourism. The 12th edition of the Mega Procession of the Catrinas, which will take place this weekend in Mexico City, will once again be a great opportunity to promote Mexico and its culture, both nationally and internationally, according to its founder and producer, Jessica Esquivias.
“The day after last year’s procession, we already had emails from tour operators in China and Russia asking for the date of this edition to book flights and bring tourists. Many people are also coming from the United States, and there are confirmations from Japan and South Korea,” she explains.
The number of sponsors is also growing. This time, for example, University Tower, Gayosso, Alpura, Nescafé, Capital Bus, El Salón Tenampa, and the destination in Val’Quírico, Tlaxcala, where a version of the procession is held.
The Chinese technology company OPPO didn’t want to miss the opportunity to establish a closer connection with Mexican culture and decided to join for the first time with a contingent (even some global executives will be present next Sunday, wearing makeup) who will be holding their new cell phone models and broadcasting live.
In this effort to generate identity, they created a character named Ollie Tlazopilli as a tribute to Mexico.
“We will be recording the procession to send content to OPPO globally, and they will also broadcast it on their different channels. One complication will be the schedule change, but we know there will be an audience because it’s a major event that brings together thousands of people. Implicitly, we will be promoting Mexico, as we have done previously with festivities in India, Thailand, and Indonesia,” explains the brand’s Digital Media Manager, Mónica Narváez.
For now, there are already various promotional activities on their social media featuring their character, who hopes to become an icon in the context of the Day of the Dead.
Having gained the strength to maintain her event, Jessica Esquivias asserts that her mission is to empower Mexican makeup artists and the catrina, while continuing to spread a message of love, joy, and sharing Mexican art and tourism with the world.
“I am a cultural manager who seeks to rescue and promote everything Mexican. We have the Body Panting Mexico association, which has some 2,000 great makeup artists, and this year we will have 250 performing on Paseo de la Reforma,” she tells El Economista.
Another strength of the procession is that it attracted the interest of UN Women, and its representative in Mexico, Moni Pizani, affirms that parading alongside thousands of catrinas affirms that equality is a right in life, since traditions can also be spaces for reflection, empathy, and collective action.
The central message of the event is: in Mexico, we laugh at death because we celebrate life. La Catrina makes us equal, unites us and reminds us that art is eternal.
Source: eleconomista
