Old Baidu ad: We know China better

While reading up on the latest lawsuits brought against Baidu by the world's top music labels, we were alerted to this old Baidu advertisement that stars Hong Kong funnyman Stephen Chow (周星馳) as Ming Dynasty poet Tang Bohu (唐伯虎). In the 1min 50 sec long spot, Tang Bohu endeavours to charm over a girl with a Caucasian man who says nothing apart from “我知道” (I understand) in all the wrong tones. The Caucasian represents Google, the foreigner that apparently knows nothing about China. And guess who wins over the girl eventually!

It is interesting to see how many things the Chinese people have been led to believe in advertisements by companies playing the China card. The Chinese need their own search engine, because the Chinese language is inherently different, and no one understands it apart from them. The Chinese need to drink milk specially engineered for them because they're not lactose tolerant. The list goes on. While some of these claims may have a scientific basis, the frequency with which they are being used by Chinese brands is pretty incredible. It's almost as if they were admitting they don't have any other unique selling proposition apart from the suggestion that "Because we're Chinese, we know China better, and therefore you should buy us".