Oriental Guardian
July 15, 2009

Four world-class luminaries — Nobel laureate Tsung-Dao Lee, master investor Warren Buffett, world's richest man Bill Gates, and the ever-so-charming US president Barack Obama － have recently been featured in a billboard advertisement series for a new apartment complex in Xi'an, Shaanxi Province.

The developer erected four giant 10x6m billboards around the building, each displaying the portrait of one "spokesperson" coupled with a quote in English and Chinese. In the Obama sign, the quote of choice is "The values upon which our success depends have never changed," a slight adaptation from a line in his inaugural address: "Our challenges may be new....but those values upon which our success depends, honesty and hard work, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism -- these things are old." The Warren Buffett quote maybe more telling: "This is the most important investment of my life" makes it sound like he would like to buy a home there.

The newspaper reports that the name of the development, Ivy Garden, is inspired by American institutes of higher learning. All four men attended Ivy League universities (although Bill Gates dropped out of Harvard during his junior year). According to the article, the series of ads is intended to give the residents the impression that "their children will be just as successful as Obama is."

The reporter contacted the Shaanxi Bureau of Industry and Commerce. Xu Junfeng, director of the advertising department, was unsure of whether the ad was against the law, stating that the law is silent about whether a foreign leader can appear on a Chinese advertisement.

However, the bureau announced yesterday that the advertisement was illegal and ordered it to be torn down immediately.

Obama billboard

Obama's "endorsement" of Xi'an rel estate comes less than a month after he was discovered lending his image to a line of Blackberry knock-offs.