Last but not least: Advertisers often put their foot in their mouth in China
Different countries, different customs: Marketing messages that go over well in our part of the world can be seriously misunderstood in China.
Different countries, different customs: marketing messages that are well received in our part of the world can be quite misunderstood in China. As the blog "Tigerente-goes-Shanghai" shows, not everything works when it comes to advertising in the Far East - and above all, not everything is allowed.
Some have already stumbled across Chinese peculiarities. For example, BMW advertised its new 3 Series in Europe under the slogan "The driving force". However, as the commercial features a group of sweating athletes - which is considered extremely indelicate in China - the commercial didn't stand a chance there. The sports brand Nike also made itself extremely unpopular. In one commercial, US basketball star Lebron James dribbled off a cartoon kung fu master and several dragons - thus offending Chinese national dignity. The Chinese language also seems to be another pitfall. The phonetic spelling of Coca-Cola failed. The result was "Bite the wax tadpole". However, the Chinese were probably less pleased with Pepsi's faux pas: the Pepsi slogan "Come alive with the Pepsi Generation" resulted in "Pepsi brings your ancestors back from the grave".
Some have already stumbled across Chinese peculiarities. For example, BMW advertised its new 3 Series in Europe under the slogan "The driving force". However, as the commercial features a group of sweating athletes - which is considered extremely indelicate in China - the commercial didn't stand a chance there. The sports brand Nike also made itself extremely unpopular. In one commercial, US basketball star Lebron James dribbled off a cartoon kung fu master and several dragons - thus offending Chinese national dignity. The Chinese language also seems to be another pitfall. The phonetic spelling of Coca-Cola failed. The result was "Bite the wax tadpole". However, the Chinese were probably less pleased with Pepsi's faux pas: the Pepsi slogan "Come alive with the Pepsi Generation" resulted in "Pepsi brings your ancestors back from the grave".
