I picked this one up from LRB forums. It’s campaign for YangHe, a famous alcoholic spirit in China.
What’s interesting? Looking online many non-Chinese think this campaign is great; but to a local Chinese it looks totally ridiculous. The campaign depicts several ancient heroes including Zhang Fei, a warrior general of the Three Kingdoms period (around 200 A.D.) in several “softer” artistic pursuits like weaving flower designs into cloth.
If you’re a “foreign devil” then no doubt when you look at this campaign you’re gonna think “hey that looks Chinese and there’s an ad slogan there; probably a winner!” But before you make your judgements, lets first cover how the Chinese see Zhang Fei and his fondness for random decapitation.
A fool and his head are soon parted.
Above is a pic of ZhangFei about to kill someone.
First I will kill you; then I will bring you back to life; then I will kill you again". (Actually this is what my girlfriend tells me when she thinks I'm cheating on her.)
Ok, so now we have a superficial understanding of imagery surrounding ZhangFei. Let’s take a look at the campaign.
"Rough to spear, delicate to needle; Zhang Fei is a man of daring and tenderness."
Knitting is the ancient Chinese traditional way to take your mind off decapitating your enemies.
"Li Kui's hands handle just fine in waving broad axes as in spinning."
"Paper-cutting requires accuracy, concentration and care, Cheng Yaojin is a master of it too."
This is almost like showing Mickey Mouse leading an army against Hitler. Sure it’ll get a few chuckles, but more likely will be dismissed as a passing joke rather than have any significant impact on the reader. Whereas you have these seriously aggressive campaigns from Chivas, Johnnie Walker, Bacardi etc trying to define a new lifestyle for China’s “Gossip Girl” drunk, soulless elite; we instead have YangHe poking fun at ancient Chinese warriors.
I’m not a big fan of either campaign strategies, but I got to say, if we’re trying to win (ie: brainwash) hearts and minds, I’d almost go with the soulless elitist campaign rather than try to turn deeply rooted cultural imagery into a quick “haha”. Cause in the end what does this campaign say? “Even if you are a great Chinese titan of industry, this YangHe will help you explore your sensitive side”….is that a winning sell to Chinese men?
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Advertising Agency: BIG Advertising, Beijing, China
Creative Director: Jun Zhang
Art Director: Tao Meng
Copywriter: Yang Yu
Illustrators: Zhigang Li, Xiaoming Cheng
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Does appearance trump substance? You seem to believe that it does not; that the core element of an advertising campaign must in some aspect reflect a reality that is either consciously or unconsciously identifiable as a worthy (at least to the target audience) objective. Understanding your conclusion, I would use the term “disconnect”; there are disconnections between the message and its media and between its audience.
Ya I think the disconnect here is associating the emotions attached to these ancient figures to the emotions of sensitivity; it just doesn’t segway well and throws off the message. In the end rather than making a memorable impact, we instead have a quick “haha” and that’s about it.
Also, if we’re advertising to Chinese men, is saying an alcohol brings out your sensitive side a good pitch? After many a baijiu (rice wine) fueled nights, I don’t see a lot of sensitivity happening. Rather, smoking, camaraderie, puking, passing out is what I see (or in many cases do).