Critical Review of La Tomatino: Impact on Society and Stakeholders

This critical review analyzes the impact of La Tomatino festival on society and stakeholders. It covers the socio-cultural context, theoretical perspectives, and the political context of the event. It also discusses the impact on tourists, local stakeholders, and organizers.

Running head: CRITICAL REVIEW OF LA-TOMATINO
Critical review of la-tomatino
Name of the student
Name of the university
Author note

1CRITICAL REVIEW OF LA-TOMATINO
Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................2
Facts related to the event............................................................................................................2
The socio-cultural context of the event......................................................................................3
Impact of the event on society and stakeholders........................................................................4
Theoretical perspective on the topic..........................................................................................6
The political context.................................................................................................................10
Impact on the stakeholders.......................................................................................................11
Tourists.................................................................................................................................11
Local stakeholders................................................................................................................11
The organizers......................................................................................................................12
Conclusion................................................................................................................................12
References................................................................................................................................14
Appendices...............................................................................................................................18
Appendix..............................................................................................................................18

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Introduction
The event chosen for this particular report is the la Tomatina festival that is a festival
which is held in Spain. It is a great event of Spain where the participants of the event throw
tomatoes to each other and they get involved in this sort of fight just for the cause of
entertainment. It lasts for mostly an hour after which the town square is found covered with
the debris of tomato. The popularity of the event has been found to increase with the passing
years. It was reported that in the year 2015 almost 145000kg of tomatoes were thrown. The
report consists of a critical review of the event and the social and political aspects that are
attached to the event. It gives a brief view of the stakeholders of the events and the
individuals who are related or gets affected because of the event. The event is organized in
trucks and there are certain rules and regulations of the event. It includes not the abolishing of
the use of the use of any of hard elements like bottles and hard objects. It does not entertain
the throwing of any tee-shirts or tearing of the same. In order to play the game the tomatoes
are supposed to be squashed so that it does not hurt others while throwing it on them. The
most important and strict rule of the game is to follow the directions of the security staff. It
further includes the political, social, economic and environmental aspect of the event on the
stakeholders of the event. Towards the end the report focuses on some other theoretical
perspectives like the class, ethnicity and the culture. It ends with effective solution for the
development of the event in the coming future.
Facts related to the event
The festival witnesses the invasion of many visitors and tourists every year. In the
fight around 150000 tomatoes meet their fate. The tomatoes that are used are usually of low
quality and they are inferior in taste. It has been noticed that the fight sometimes turned into
the battle of the sexes. It turns out to be the battle between the men and the women. The

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emergence of the festival is not clear. However the most possible suggestions offer that this
can be dated back in the year 1945 (Park 2016). It emerged when an enormous figures and
big heads occurred in an annual parade. It was predicted that some youngsters tried to join in
the parade and they accidently knocked over one of the giants who got to his feet and started
swinging out at everyone around him. In retaliation the youngsters grabbed some tomatoes
from a nearby vegetable stall and they started throwing tomatoes at him. It continued until the
police arrived to break things up. It was reported that in the following year on the same day
the same fight occurred and the event grew to a larger level till it reached to a ludicrous size
as it is today (Navarro Morales and Ibernón Häll 2015).
The socio-cultural context of the event
Spain is known to be one of the culturally rich countries. It hosts many Spanish fiestas
and many festivals that attract many tourists from all over the world. La-tomatino is one such
event that includes entertainment and fun. La tomatina is one of the most famous events that
take place in Spain. The event has a heavy impact on the society and the culture of the
country. They have a huge impact on the cultural and the economic development of the
country. These impacts are both positive as well as negative (Świtała-Trybek 2015). The
most vital impact they have is on the development of the cultural tourism which gains
popularity in many countries of the world. The invasion of the tourists in the host country
because of this festival adds up to the cultural image of the host country. This develops the
socio-cultural image of the country and they add up to the cultural background of the country.
There is lot of positive effects of the la tomatina festival. It attracts a huge number of tourists
in the city and the tourist sometimes extends their tour to witness the event. In short it
promotes tourism in Spain (Salvador et al. 2015).

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Impact of the event on society and stakeholders
Often it is seen that cultural or global events cause a huge disturbance in a society.
This is mainly because of the fact the arrangement of such events can cause turmoil in the
political, economic, socio-cultural and environment of a country. It may sometimes lead to
the decline in the physical health of the people participating in such events (Marques and
Tourinho 2015). Hence, the stakeholders, as well as the society, are affected by the
organising of these events. In the case of La Tomatina, similar consequences are faded by the
Spanish people and the stakeholders that invest in the event. It is seen that La Tomatina is one
of the most famous events organised by Spain and people from different communities visit
the festival site in order to take part in the annual event. The event provides colour and joy to
the people and helps in distracting them from the regular life. Consequently, the popularity of
the event has led to attracting visitors from other countries (Northcott 2015). As mentioned
earlier, the effect of such global and cultural events can cause turmoil in the factors that affect
a country or society. As such analysis can be done on the effects it causes in the natural
factors that affect Spain.
Effects on stakeholders
The stakeholders normally comprise the local people and the visitor to the country.
The effect of this is positive for the society as the people get to celebrate a day without being
stressed out about the everyday events that take place (Weiss 2014). They can interact with
one another and make allies which may be good for the development of the individuals as
well as the society. The manner in which the local people get involved in the festival sheds
light on the unity that prevails among the people. The introduction and contribution of the
tourists also enhance the festival as interaction with these people means the interaction of
different cultures. The cultural festival of Spain becomes a part of the cultures of the tourists.
As mentioned by Rawlings (2014), the psychological reason for people going on tours is to

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relax from the daily work life and learn about the events that take place in foreign countries.
Hence, the participation in the La Tomatino festival helps in achieving these objectives and
brings about an understanding of the new events in the world. However, there are certain
negative impacts as well that may cause harm to the society and the stakeholders.
One such negative impact is the fact that the people may suffer from diseases or
injuries. This is because the main theme of the festival is the throwing of tomatoes at people.
This may be considered as dangerous as casual throw may cause injuries to the eye. Thus,
this proves to be a great risk for the people particularly suffering from eye problems. This can
also affect people with diseases in the bones as continuous hard throws may cause a bone to
be broken. Hence, an advice can be given to the aged people to remain aware of such things
(O’connor and Wynne 2017). The health of the people also causes concern as most people
may tend to fall ill after the event. The occurrence of sickness due to excessive exposure to
water is a probability that can be considered for the event. Hence, these are some of the major
concerns that the stakeholders may have to face while taking part in the events. Apart from,
the interaction with people from different countries can cause risk as some of the people
might be of non-social background. As stated by Missonier and Loufrani-Fedida (2014) the
event opens up opportunities for various people to visit the country. Ethnic or cultural
misconduct may occur with the interaction between these people. Hence, these can be
considered as the impact of La Tomatina among the stakeholders.
Effects on society
The effects on society due to the La Tomatina festival can be analysed from factors
such as political, economic and social-cultural. The political environment is affected by the
number of tourists in the country increases. This can be considered as a huge bonus in the
economy as more tourists are the source of a growth in the GDP of the country. It can also be

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considered as a way of enhancing the festival and spread the Spanish culture across borders.
Political ties can be made with several countries based on the tourism industry. According to
Gilboa et al. (2015), the tourism industry can also witness growth due to the emergence of
people from around the world. Hence, it can be said that the political and economic condition
of the country can have a positive impact due to the advent of La Tomatina. However,
negative impact may also arise due to the occasion. One such negative impact is the fact that
unwanted people like terrorists may enter the country during the festive season. This can
severe imbalance in the peace of the country and affect the atmosphere of the political
environment. It may also disrupt friendly ties with some countries that may be suspected of
conducting acts of terrorism.
Apart from this, the arrangement of the event causes a huge outward cash flow. With
an unstable economic condition, the GDP of Spain may be disrupted. This is a negative
impact on the environment as well as it needs the excess use of water. Thus, this can cause
serious problems in the society as the people have to maintain the wellbeing of the society as
well as ensure that the tradition does not cease (Lienert, Schnetzer and Ingold 2013). Apart
from this, the manner in which people behave with one another during the festival may cause
socio-cultural imbalance. It is evidenced that the excess amount of people during the festival
causes excess demand of hotels and as a result tourists tend to behave in an unethical manner.
This can be a negative factor as the ethical code of conducts is violated and tourists tend to
stereotype the local people. In this regard, the perspectives of the event are provided that
highlights the positives as well as the negative viewpoints of the event.
Theoretical perspective on the topic
La Tomatina is an annual festival held in Spain that is celebrated by throwing
tomatoes on one another. This can be termed as a tomato fight among individuals and is

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considered as one of the most fun-filled events in the world. The popularity of the event is
sky high as every year the number of tourists in Spain increases due to this event. This causes
a great deal of positive as well as negative feedback from the stakeholders that are involved
with the festival. According to Yang (2014), the festival is held on the last Wednesday of
August every year and reports claim that about this year it attracted about 45,000 people from
within the locality and abroad.
A total of 22,000 tickets were sold in order to participate in the event while the
remaining people gained free entry as the event progressed. The event is held in Bunol as
according to history during the year 1950, town authorities of Bunol organised such tomato
fights between children. However, Davies, Ritchie and Jaimangal-Jones (2015) claimed that
the event was developed in 1945 when several young people wanted to participate in an event
using tomatoes for fighting. Over the years this particular event has had several encounters
with the law that led to the ban of the event on several occasions. However, people continued
to organise the events and over the years it attained cult status among the local and foreign
people.
With the increased popularity of the event, rules were established that helped in
keeping the event safe and possible for every person to take active participation. Some of the
rules that were developed included crushing of the tomatoes by the hand before throwing it.
This was done in order to avoid any chances of injuries among the people. The second rule
stated individuals to remain true to the name of the event. As the event was called La
Tomatino, no other fruit were allowed to be used apart from tomatoes. The third rule of the
event includes that the participants provide ways for the fire trucks consisting of tomatoes to
move ahead of them. This is required as on some occasions the throwing of tomatoes is done
from the trucks. People collect the tomatoes from the truck before aiming at it to the people.

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As observed by Lindsey (2015) this event has drawn lots of praise as well as criticism from
various people.
One of the biggest positives that can be derived from the event is the fact that the
economic growth of the country can take place. La Tomatino attracts 9000 local people and
over 21,000 tourists. This causes a great rise in an economy as the people visiting in Spain
brings about $46 billion dollars per year. This is a huge growth in the economy of the country
as the Government can use the fund to ensure the development of the country. Not only this,
the urban and rural communities are brought to focus and development actions are taken in
order to improve the people living in the urban regions. In a more business-like perspective, it
is seen that the attraction of tourists improves the level of communication and interaction
with other people, particularly among the younger generation. Paniagua (2016) pointed out
the fact that the interaction with people from a different cultural background can help in
improving the perspectives of the community and ensure that the people develop an
opportunity to improve the communication skills. Thus, the fact that the culture of Spain is
brought to the limelight provides an excellent opportunity for improving the society.
Figure: Theoretical perspective
PostiveMorevisitorsNegativePollutionSaeftyrisk

9CRITICAL REVIEW OF LA-TOMATINO
(Source: Paniagua 2016)
However, Tonkin, McDonald and Chapman (2016) countered the concept of tourist
stating that it may bring about environmental pollution. It is stated that Bunoi is a small town
and the excess number of people can disrupt the environment of the place. The occurrence of
pollution and dirt may lead to the society being contaminated. The disruption that may be
caused consist of the air and noise pollutions from the cars availed by the people. Apart from
this Verloo (2016) stated that participation in such events may lead to serious trauma. As
mentioned earlier careless throwing of the tomatoes may cause someone to lose an eye or
break bones. Despite the crushing of the tomatoes danger still remains with the fact that the
acid from the tomatoes can have a negative effect. The passing of the fire truck may also
cause injuries to the people if it is not allowed to go about smoothly. Hence, this is a serious
concern that needs to be considered and a result, the event receives various negative
criticisms. Cohen (2014) particularly criticised the behaviour of the human beings during the
festival. It was stated that hurling tomatoes at one another are unethical and uncivilized
behaviour form the part of the people particularly the adults. The fact that at an average
62,000kgs of tomatoes get wasted every year is unfair to the economy that has many people
fight for at least one meal per day.
However there is negative impact of the socio-cultural impact of the event. They are
based on the fact that this event can lead to different traumas and injuries. The statistical
report suggests that many participants were injured with serious cuts, heart stroke, and even
anxiety attack during the event. It also consists of the unethical and uncivilized behavior of
the participants who hurl tomatoes at each other. This activity can be regarded as a silly and
foolish activity. It is sometimes considered as a waste of the vegetables which is the result of
the hard work of the farmer (Moss 2014). The destruction of the food because of the sake of
having fun is something which is considered to be immoral. It hampers the culture of Spain.

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It gives the tourists the notion that there are many people who are starving and this is not
right to conduct a food festival where the foods are being destroyed just for the sake of
having fun. Apart from all this the festival is considered to be the symbol of unit and
friendship. The festival can be regarded as anti-weapon action as the participants of the event
use tomatoes as their weapons in the fight (Sojisirikul and Vasuvat 2014). The positive
impact of the socio-cultural context of the event includes the unity and the friendship of the
participants and the negative impact includes the uncivilized behavior of the participants and
the high risk to suffer from the injuries and many serious diseases like heart attack,
hypothermia, anxiety attacks and many other similar disorders. It is however important to
find strategies to minimize the negative impacts and maximize the positive impacts in order
to keep a good socio-cultural context of the event. This will help to attract more tourists and it
will elevate the social and the cultural condition position of Spain (Mitta and
Anjaneyaswamy 2013).
The political context
The festival is having a lot of political influence on the people of the country. The
festival is allowed by the government but a lot of restrictions have been imposed on the
event. The government has arranged for the securities during the festival. The government
has set certain rules and regulations that have been formulated for the safety and security of
the people who are participating in the event (Mills 2015). The mayor reportedly in one of his
interviews regarding the festival commented that the town hall hopes every year`s food fight
to bring in economic benefits exceeding the past year`s benefits. A special security force is
offered during the event to keep a check on the event. The government has ordered the
security to maintain the decorum of the game and to look into the fact that the game does not
gets brutal. The government arranges for the cleaning of the dirt that has occurred due to this

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the next day. The streets are not left with the same of dirt. It is cleared up with the help of the
concerned force immediately after the event (Makridis et al. 2017).
However, there are many loopholes in the measures that were taken by the
government. The political body should have taken more effective measures in order to avoid
the uncivilized factors that are attached to the event. The event required more planning and
more organization so that the chaos could be avoided that was attached to the festival. The
administrative government should formulate ways in order to protect the tourists from the
chaos. The political support has been throughout for the event. The support of the
government has in a way helped to upgrade the cultural heritage of the country (Liu et al.
2015).
Impact on the stakeholders
Tourists
The tourists are the most important effective factors of the event. The tourists are
attracted to Spain majorly because of the festival of La-tomatina. In the past years this
festival has attracted maximum amount of tourists in Spain and in the recent time the event
has grown to be more popular in the city of Spain (Galván 2014).
Local stakeholders
The event offers unbridled experience to the participants in the fray in an unusually
unique setting, at another level. The event is also reflective of how the stakeholders have
played their bit responsibility and moved in tandem. In the historical time it was observed
that the event initiated with friendly private group participations for a long time (Escalera et
al. 2015). Gradually the event was added with the add-on musical and comedies show and
considering the growing popularity the event was accorded an official recognition with

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certain rules and restrictions. The town hall in the later years took the complete responsibility
of the organizing the festival which included the arranging for the tones of tomatoes which
was previously brought by the participants on their own (Cook and Calkins 2013).
The organizers
The organizers have released a new logo which would be extensively used in different
merchandising products. The organizers are one of the most important stakeholders of the
event. They have decided to launch a crazy steeplechase which will be introduced. It is
believed that it is going to create a major value addition. They are promoting the event on a
large scale (Baró et al. 2015). They have decided to launch mobile apps as games, virtual
reality or interactive maps. The move of the organizers is to make it more experiential for the
participants who would be willing to come from distant corners of the world and especially
the tourists. This would make the event more attractive and it would make it more interesting.
The organizers of the event focus on few aspects for the event (Sligh 2014). It focuses on the
fact that audience participation is the key factor in this event. It allows the participants to
decide on their level of engagement. It further considers the communication as the key factor
in such festival. It further opines for the fact that that no matter how exciting may be the
event an individual must take care of the basics. They intend to create moment that the people
will share. They have now landed up in building satellite events on to the main attraction of
the people (Constantinou et al. 2014).
Conclusion
Hence, it can be concluded that the La Tomatina festival may be considered as one of
the biggest festivals in the world. The fact that it attracts tourists more than the local people
suggests the anticipation with which people wait for the event. However, several negative
consequences can be considered due to the event. These include pollution in environment,

13CRITICAL REVIEW OF LA-TOMATINO
economic disrupt and health issue of the people. In order to avoid this, the Government of
Spain needs to impose restrictions on the number of tourists that can visit Bunol. This can be
done by making people aware of the negative consequence of the event and provide
mandatory instructions that need to be maintained while participating. The violence of the
rules needs to be marked as a punishable offence by the court of law. This can help in
controlling the number of tourists and reduce the imbalance caused by the festival

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Appendices
Appendix
Rules of La Tomatina