| Summary: | This paper aims to discuss the importance that the intentional use of stereotyped representations, concerning places and their inhabitants, have in the text of the folders. From this perspective, a systematic survey of those representations has been made in a sample of the folders and brochures edited in three northern coastal Portuguese towns: Vila do Conde, Póvoa de Varzim and Esposende. The conclusion was drawn that what underlies the construction of this type of documents is the behaviourist principle according to which a neutral stimulus, when associated with a pleasant, positive stimulus, immediately becomes an also positive stimulus. This means that the choice of the tourist destination may be mainly caused by the image built by those small printed objects, once the tourist appropriation of the topological and anthropological stereotypes favours the creation of a narrative and argumentative frame which is thoroughly understandable for the approach by the promotional agents to the potential consumers of their products.
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