China Entry The Third: Get Your Ad On

Here in the States, we like to think we know a lot about a lot of things. We like to think that there's not much we can still learn from the world. We particularly like to think we KNOW consumerism.

People of the States, I am here to tell you, you don't KNOW consumerism. You have some things to learn from the people of Hong Kong. Here are some examples of some exchanges I had while in Hong Kong:

Random Woman Sitting Next to Me at the Wedding
You know, shopping is reallly how you define yourself as a Hong Kong woman.

To be fair, I thought that just maybe her English translation of what she really meant to say was possibly a tad off, but upon further discussion with her, I realized that that was not the case. She really did mean that the act of buying things, they frequency with which you did it, the social interaction you experienced while doing it and the things you actually bought really did help to define you as a Hong Kong woman. I should move!

Also, we've got nothing on Hong Kong when it comes to the following: UTILIZING EVERY SINGLE SPARE INCH OF PUBLIC SPACE TO ADVERTISE PRODUCTS. Listen, I know full well that the pictures I'm about to post cannot possibly do justice to the concept that I'm trying to convey, but at least it's something. Work with me.






This is an actual exchange I have with Jolie while walking down the street one day.

Me
You know, I could walk around this city for weeks and never say a word to or have an interaction with another person because I'd just be completely sucked in to staring at ads all day.

Jolie
Yes, well, that's pretty much what we do!

You'll also notice that there are an extremely high ration of white folk in these ads. For real.



This next one is mine and Lisa's favorite ad, and it was everywhere. Actually, our favorite ad was for cellulite remover because, you know, tiny Asian women need that like I needed Coke Blak. But this was our second favorite ad. What's awesome is that, though those pearly smiles are blazingly white, the dude's teeth are crooked. I'm not sure you can tell that from the photo. We kept being baffled by how so many of the ads seemed to promote physical perfection even moreso than in the US, but this totally pervasive ad for having great teeth featured a model without great teeth. I don't pretend to understand.

The other thing that you should know about that toothpaste brand is that when it was originally introduced, it was actually called "Darkie," not "Darlie". Take a look at the little logo that goes with it and then imagine that. I kid you not. True story.



Finally... Here's the most important thing that we can learn from the people of Hong Kong. How to properly use the exposed male abdomen in advertising.