Advertising and Marketing

Leadership switch at Citroën

JDM080121citroenA.jpg
JDM080121citroenB.jpg

The ad on the left, of a smirking Chairman Mao gazing down on a new Citroen, sparked indignation from Chinese residents of Spain, where it ran earlier this month.

When the news hit mainland online forums, the reaction was much the same, with calls to boycott Citroen's vehicles in China.

The company pulled the Mao ad and apologized, saying that it never intended to offend the Chinese people.

Late last week, according to Swiss media, the Mao ad was replaced with the image on the right, featuring a smirking Napoleon.

Via Zhai Hua's blog.

 
There are currently 5 Comments for Leadership switch at Citroën.

Comments on Leadership switch at Citroën

Thanks for the amusing new Chairman Mao screensaver!
The Chinese blogger (Zhai Hua) is right about one thing: Chinese people don't understand humor. (中国人不懂幽默)
I think the problem with the revised ad is that multiple huge portraits of Napoleon don't exist anywhere in France.

Are "the Chinese people" the most sensitive and psychologically most maladjusted on Earth that their feelings are always in jeoaprdy of being hurt and that the rest of the universe must tread upon eggshells when it comes to them?

God I hope this trend of perpetual brownnosing of China in the name of securing product sales ends one day soon...and that "the Chinese people" grow the hell up!

If you think Chinese people are thin-skinned, try selling a car using an image of Mohammed.

As a matter of fact, ad agencies, PR agencies and communication executives at multinationals should just pay more attention to what goes on in the ad world, especially if the companies they represent are global multinationals. In the past few years ads by Nippon Paint (slipping dragon ad), Nike (Lebron James ad), Mc Donalds (kneeling customer ad), and Toyota (four-wheel drive towing a Dongfeng brand truck) made Chinese consumers a little angry. All of the above companies apologized and decided to withdraw their ads. Without now disputing about how sensitive or humorless Chinese consumers may be, the fact of the matter is that this 'sensitivity' is an element that simply has to be factored in when planning and creating ad campaigns directed at Chinese consumers or that feature widely recognised Chinese symbols for campaigns by multinationals in other countries.

For Mao's sake! It was a Citroen ad in Spain targeting the local market! These 'sensitive' Chinese sure don't appear to have any qualms about hurting the feelings of the Spanish people with their lack of respect for the local sense of humour. As the saying goes, when in Madrid...or something like that.

Post a comment

All comments are moderated and subject to review by Danwei contributors and editors, but well-grounded and articulate comments will be published regardless of which way they lean. Because comments published on any website ultimately contribute to the character of that website, we may decline to publish comments that are irrelevant, redundant, or that do not adhere to generally accepted standards of courtesy; if you are looking for a fight, there are plenty of other venues available online.


Some useful html: <b>bold</b>, <i>italic</i>,
<a href="http://www.danwei.org">link</a>

Danwei Model Workers
laomo2008fpA.jpg
Recommended blogs and new media
China Media Timeline
Major media events over the last three decades
Books on China
Leslie_Chang_Factory_Girls_s.jpg
To die poor is a sin: An excerpt of Factory Girls by Leslie T. Chang.
In Wang Shuo's No Man's Land: Geremie Barme addresses Wang Shuo's 千万别把我当人.
Swimming with Mao, a memoir essay: This memoir piece is by Xujun Eberlein, author of the new short story book Apologies Forthcoming'.
Front Page of the Day
A different newspaper every weekday
From the Vault
Classic Danwei posts
+ A positive look at the Nationalist Party (2005.06): A book applauds KMT contributions to the anti-Japanese war effort.
+ When corruption investigations were all the rage (2006.12): An essay inspired by the Gao Qinrong (高勤荣) case looks back at the anti-corruption campaigns of the early 1950s. Also, details about the Huang Yifeng Affair (黄逸峰事件) and a review of party regulations encouraging a critical press....in 1950.
+ Is there such a thing as Chinese indie music? (2006.06): Blogger Wan Yi writes about the sad state of Chinese independent record labels.
Danwei Archives
Danwei Feeds
Via Feedsky rsschiclet2.png (on the mainland)
or Feedburner rsschiclet.gif (blocked in China)
rsschiclet2.png rsschiclet.gif Main posts: All main page posts
rsschiclet2.png rsschiclet.gif Top Links: Links from the top bar
rsschiclet2.png rsschiclet.gif Danwei Jobs: Want ads
rsschiclet2.png rsschiclet.gif Danwei Digest: Updated daily, 19:30