Textappeal Blog

The news

“Don’t bring the next Mao into the world. Use a condom.”

Following an outcry in China, Doc Morris Pharmacies has officially apologised to the Chinese government over an ad representing Mao as a sperm cell.

Two other ads represent Hitler and Osama Bin Laden as human spermatozoids to promote the use of condoms.

The campaign appeared only in Germany, but was picked up by Chinese bloggers and the Communist Party’s People Daily.

Last year following similar protests, car-maker Citroen apologized to China for a Spanish campaign portraying Mao.

Behind the news

Provocation can be an excellent tactic to gain attention well beyond one’s initial media budget.

However what is seen as provocation in one country (Germany), may simply be perceived as an insult in another (China).

In China, making fun of officials who represent the nation as a whole is not well understood, even if they may have committed terrible crimes.

This case illustrates two big trends in Culture Shock:

- Due to blogging, every local advertisement can have unintended global consequences.

- The Chinese government is asserting itself and demanding that foreigners respect China. For brands looking to succeed in the world’s biggest growth market, use of Chinese symbols and imagery should by systematically checked.

The news

The ambassador of Mexico in Spain issued a formal protest to Burger King after the airing of a TV commercial in Spain.

He said that the commercial: “improperly used the stereotypical image of Mexicans” to promote the Texican, a flame-grilled Whopper topped with taco-coated chilli con carne and spicy jalapenos.

The Texican is described in the commercial as “the taste of Texas with a little spicy Mexican”.

It shows a tall Texan cowboy living with a short Mexican wrestler. The print ad version shows the short wrestler wearing the Mexican flag as a cloak (disrespect to the Mexican flag is considered an offense in Mexico).

The Ambassador Jorge Zermeño asked Burger King to pull the ad and also apologise for offending Mexican cuisine.

Behind the news

Although often distasteful, stereotyping of nationalities is nothing new in advertising and can be used to good commercial effect as “shorthand”.

In the case of “reverse import” business however, stereotyping must be systematically avoided, as it almost guarantees outrage, failure and ridicule.

Reverse import is the export from a country of origin and import back of a foreign adapted version.

For instance:

- TexMex in Mexico (or by extension, Latino-friendly Spain)

- An American Pizza chain in Italy

- A California Sushi concept in Japan

- An Arabic designed Chinese food chain in China

Reverse import can be surprisingly successful. By showing an appreciation of the culture to which a brand is marketing back to, it subtly flatters the local audience (“we are so good, the Americans / Arabs / British have imitated us!”). On the other hand, ridiculing the very people who invented the original food is a recipe for rejection.