Results tagged “advertisements”

Hu Ge, the Shanghai unknown who shot to fame after parodying Chen Kaige's The Promise with a story about a steamed bun, seems to have settled in pretty well to his new role as parodyist for hire. Besides coming out with his own 30 minute spoofy action work, he's gotten some commercial requests on the side.

We never realized Chiang Kai-shek was in the business of selling trousers, and we were equally surprised that they would be STAMINA trousers since, well, it's not like the guy had that much staying power. At least not in China. Hey-yo!

City Weekend brings us murmurs that the Shanghai government may soon crack down on those taxi televisions that broadcast ads nonstop (with nary an off button in sight). Declarations by the local government and officials from the World Expo Environment Improvement campaign hinted that taxi commercials could fall into the category of visual and audio pollution.

Shanghai-based wool clothing brand, Hengyuanxiang (恒源祥) has scored yet another epic advertising fail that is destined to be a top case study in the "What Not To Do in Advertising 101" course with this Chinese New Year commercial (aired between 25-31 Jan this year) that promises to rape the eyes and ears of its audience. The company, one of the official sponsors of the Beijing Olympics, unleashed a torrent of (well-deserved) criticism from netizens with its Year of the Goat television commercial last year, igniting a public furore so huge the ad was eventually pulled. Watch this commercial above and then watch last year's commercial at your own risk. You'll find that things have actually improved. We really can't wait to see what's in store for us next year.

Zhuhai Police sexes up its own image in a snazzy new television commercial designed to attract more recruits. The ad was produced by the propaganda office of the department.

We pass this billboard (almost) every day, between Shanghaiist headquarters and the gym. For a long time it featured Barack Obama on the cover of the Chinese version of Men's Health. Recently a Twitter user named Shaquille O'Neal has taken the president elect's place. It's an ad for Li Ning basketball shoes, Shaq's brand of choice for a couple years now. (You might remember the real Li Ning from such Olympic opening ceremonies as Beijing 2008.)

   

Advertising Agency: O&M Beijing, China

China takes a lot of crap for failing to get a second opinion on the English they throw into circulation, often leading to amusing f*ck ups like this and this. It turns out, however, that this knife cuts both ways.

Danwei points us to the funniest thing we've seen in a long while. We're not sure if this was actually produced for television or just the internet, but this infomercial for a Chinese magic pill which claims to help cure 快男 or "fast men" (a play on Hunan TV's "Super Boys" talent show) of male erectile dysfunction sho' cracked us up!

Eric Hu points us to this great TV ad by Chinese PC maker Lenovo entitled "Grandma-proof" that's getting forwarded around by his colleagues. We're not sure where this ad was aired but it does make us wonder why they don't run similarly ingenious ads back on their home turf in China?

This cute little ad was created for Mentos by ad agency BBH Shanghai [h/t to Punk Planning]

Less than a month after airing this commercial featuring Richard Gere driving the new Fiat Delta from Hollywood to Tibet, Italian automaker Fiat has been forced to withdraw the ad, and issue a statement extending its "apologies to the Government of the People's Republic of China and to the Chinese people". Readers of this blog (a group which no doubt excludes anyone from Fiat or their agency) will be aware that Richard Gere is a vocal proponent of Tibetan autonomy/independence. Earlier this month, when Fiat's Chief Executive Sergio Marchionne first showed the ad to journalists, he was reported to have said in no uncertain terms:

"I obviously like it."

Fans of tight-fitting non-branded clothing rejoice! Following the much-heralded invasion of H&M and (the slightly less heralded) C&A, dedicated followers of fashion have the arrival of another Western brand to look forward to, after American Apparel announced that they will be hitting the streets of Shanghai in the next month or so. Location details have not yet been released but the chain is currently negotiating a lease for a downtown store in Shanghai, as well as planning to open in Beijing and Suzhou.