Beavers, Maple Leaves and Maple Trees - A Study of National Symbols on Localised and Domestic Websites

Because a national symbol appeals to the sense of collective identity shared by the members of a nation, its use in localised websites by companies from outside the nation merits reflection. In this paper, a case study of thirty of the largest American corporations is used to explore how common it is for national symbols to be incorporated into websites localised for Canadian users. The results are then compared to the use of national symbols on the websites of thirty of the largest Canadian corporations to determine whether national symbols are adopted more frequently by domestic or international companies. The paper ends with some reflections on the inclusion of national symbols within a localised website and the ambiguity of their meaning.