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The Germans and their notoriously risque advertisements may have bitten off more than they can chew with Doc Morris Pharmaceuticals' most recent condom ads.
Grey Worldwide, the second largest German ad company experienced a wave of backlash after putting Chairman Mao Zedong in a line of Doc Morris' condom advertisements with Osama bin Laden and Adolf Hitler.
The ads imply that condom use could potentially prevent the birth of the next global terror, but it seems like the Chinese don't quite feel that their dear leader should've been included alongside the globally despised Hitler and bin Laden.
The more eloquent amongst the netizens have argued that while Mao's leadership certainly created hardship for many, he also brought the country out of political and social turmoil and set it on the path to become the major power it is today.
The ads have been poorly received internationally as well, receiving an average score of 4.5 out of 10 in preliminary marketing testing. Not only have they scored poorly, but some have said that they don't even see the resemblance between the Mao sperm and the Chairman.
While we're all for creativity, but we're not sure that Grey Worldwide really thought this ad out. It wouldn't have taken much research to realize that Mao is still widely respected in China... and you'd think it would be logical to assume that its in both Grey's and Doc Morris' best interest to not alienate a country of a billion plus potential angry citizens, if not potential customers.
Perhaps one netizen had it right when he said that the West worships the idea of "百无禁忌" (nothing is forbidden).
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"Mao's leadership certainly created hardship for many, he also brought the country out of political and social turmoil and set it on the path to become the major power it is today."
Agree. Then again, can't you say that for many controversial figures in history? Hitler actually brought great benefits to the German economy, and for a time, many Germans prospered. It was only after things turned bad for the Germans, they lost the war, and the really nasty details began to emerge that they felt remorse. Can we then say that the difference between Mao (the nasty details of which are also well known) and Hitler is that Hitler was on the losing side of history?
And if we say this, can't we also say that including a murderer of tens of millions of Chinese together with Hitler and bin Laden is a matter of perspective? It is no more reprehensible than equating any other world leader with Hitler (as has been done many times to one leader whose name rhymes with "push"), which is done quite often in all corners of the world.
As for the marketing, yeah it is dumb. But I wonder if Doc Morris is targeting China or not. If not, then this could actually help them. Stir up some controversy among 1.3 billion people and they instantly get a fifth of the world talking about their product (if that many Chinese people really cared).
King James, Queen Victoris, Philip the 2nd and all those European kings shud also be on the ad, since they killed off almost entire populations of the natives in the New World and Australasia, so they don't have to deal with the "Tibets", because there are hardly any natives left!!. Of course to help sales, they shud add Tamerlaine and Genghiz Khan, who killed tens of millions of people. This will pissed off the Uzbeks and the Mongolians. LOL! At least Mao killed the millions with misguided policies, the others killed by the gun or sword. If you take away the 1962 Great Leap Forward debacle, Mao hardly killed anyone, as the number who died in the cultural revolution did not exceed 1 million. In fact the KMT was more than happy to summarily execute opponents while Mao at least tried to re-educate them first. Bin Laden is actually a national hero of many Muslims. The definition of a hero or villain depends on which side you stand on.
King James, Queen Victoria, Philip the 2nd of Spain, King Leopold of Belgium and all those European kings shud also be on the ad, since they killed off almost entire populations of the natives in the New World and Australasia. That's why the US, Canadian, and Australian governments don't have to deal with the "Tibets", because there are hardly any natives left in their countries.LOL!!! Of course, to help sales, they shud also add Tamerlaine and Genghiz Khan, who killed tens of millions of people. This will pissed off the Uzbeks and the Mongolians too. LOL! At least Mao killed the millions with misguided policies, the others killed by the gun or sword. If you take away the 1962 Great Leap Forward debacle, Mao hardly killed anyone, as the number who died in the cultural revolution did not exceed 1 million. In fact the KMT was more than happy to summarily execute opponents while the CCP at least tried to re-educate them first. Bin Laden is actually a national hero of many Muslims. The definition of a hero or villain depends on which side you stand on.
well, hitlers politic wasn't so bad either for germany, he created lots of jobs and made people more hopeful.