When I was creating this website, I thought that one of my characteristics I wanted to stress was the fact that I am a native Spanish writer from Spain.

So putting the flag of Spain in the homepage seemed a good option. However, I was in doubt because we, Spaniards, don’t use the flag as freely as the other countries do.

In Spain’s history there is a dictatorship and, though it happened several years ago and we live in a democracy now, some people stills identify the patriotism with a similarity with the dictatorship ideas. The flag is sometimes more linked with a political point of view than with the country.

Of course it doesn’t make sense and all people in Spain should be proud of its flag. But politics wounds are difficult to heal.

Can I use the Spain’s flag?

Since Spain won the football (soccer) worldcup in 2010, people get used to show the flag with a wholesome feeling. I would say that the weird feelings about the flag are no longer there.

Anyway, if you are foreign, use the flag is always welcomed. You can use it to show that you speak the languages, that you like the country, that you have positive feelings about it. There won’t be a problem.

If you are of national origin you can use it, but there could be a little proportion of the population that will suspect you. So it depends on the context, on what you are saying, etc, but sadly you still need to be careful with it.

As a conclusion, we are still working on restore the flag to normal feelings, and we have recently done some steps, but the task is not finished yet.

So if you are writing for your company, you likely don’t want to open this kind of political discussion. If you are big international company, the flag is ok, if you are not; my advice is beinfg careful with the context.