Dr. Sabrina Segal

An NBA basketball sensation goes head to head with a Chinese martial artist in a Nike television ad and wins. Outrage is voiced by Chinese consumers over the defeat and the government pulls the ad saying, “it violated the country's dignity.”

“Toyota had a car commercial axed by the Chinese government because its vehicle raced past Chinese stone lions.”

“Such are the pitfalls of doing business in the world's fastest-growing advertising market, in which sensitivity about cultural icons and Western dominance is acute. Topping the list of things to avoid: anything that resembles rebellious or anti-establishment behavior”, said Tom Doctoroff, the regional director of advertising giant J. Walter Thompson in Shanghai.

“That means scenes popular in the West, such as soccer players causing traffic jams by kicking a ball around in the middle of the street, would be out of the question here”.

Tattoos and piercing, and women kicking in an aerobics class are taboo in China, and something as mundane as Pizza Hut’s commercial where a boy jumps on his desk to tell friends about the great taste of pizza was scrapped due the rebellious nature of the act.

A product must be portrayed as practical in Chinese media. Self-indulgence and individualism have no place here. “If a woman takes a bath in a beautiful, comfortable tub, that is not going to sell here," Doctoroff said.

"Nothing is just about feeling good or tasting good. Everything has to have a payoff."

According to ACNielsen, the annual growth rate of the Chinese advertising market is approaching 40 percent, compared with 3 percent in the US, said Quinn Taw, managing director at Mindshare in Beijing. "The growth is historical," he said. "Over the next few years, the Chinese advertising market will overtake Germany and Britain as No. 3. And then it's only a matter of time until it ranks second to the U.S. over Japan.”

How do you feel about China becoming a massive advertising power? Should American marketers be concerned about the huge ad growth rates in China?

Photograph Credit:
Amber “Abby Sepulveda