In their article, Marcin Hyski and Dorota Chudy-Hyski take up the issue of the competitiveness of a municipality’s area and the role of the territorial brand in an area’s economic growth. Their analysis is theoretical and its purpose cognitive. Their aim is to indicate the essence and importance of an area’s brand in its functioning and the role of that kind of brand in increasing the competitiveness of the municipality and
in creating a competitive advantage in relation to the environment. The analysis focuses on the specificity of the municipality, which, as a local government unit, is an organizational unit responsible for the socio-economic development of its territory. It is in the best interest of a municipality’s development to improve the operating conditions of the municipality’s increased competitiveness. Further in this article, the authors focus on the factors and barriers to the competitiveness of the municipality and outline the importance of the area brand (a municipality’s territorial brand) in this process. They indicate the necessary elements of the territorial brand and stress the role of the municipality in the process of the brand’s creation.

This study presents how politics was portrayed and narrated through memes in Poland during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our findings confirm that memes were indicators of opinions and an expression of a collective identity, which could contribute to sociopolitical polarization by creating “enemy” images of disliked politicians as “villains”.