Media and Advertising

Li Ning's "Africa" ad

JDM050806liningd.jpg

Li Ning, China's biggest brand of athletic wear, competes head-to-head with Nike and Adidas, and over the past few years it has been placing an emphasis on advertising. It launched the "Anything is Possible" ad campaign last year. The latest ad uses a humorous situation to show off Li Ning shoes and clothing in an exotic locale.

In a short 30 seconds the spot manages to cover a whole host of clichés about exploring darkest Africa. Our hero arrives on the scene dressed in khakis, wearing a pith helmet, and carrying an SLR camera strapped around his neck. He competes with the natives, Kevin Bacon style, in a test of athletic ability. There's a stew pot he briefly believes is meant for him. He's crowned chief and is hoisted into the air on his throne.

JDM050806lininge.jpg

And there's an Air Jordan style slo-mo shot.

Apparently the message of the ad ("Play well. Anything is Possible. Li Ning.") is that by playing basketball in Li Ning shoes, you can dribble rings around players wearing sandals. Blog commenters have suggested that perhaps the only thing saving this ad from a fate similar to Nike's "Chamber of Fear" is Li Ning's relative obscurity outside of China.

Links and Sources
Media Partners
Visit these sites for the latest China news
090609guardian2.png 090609CNN3.png
China Media Timeline
Major media events over the last three decades
Danwei Model Workers
laomo2008fpA.jpg
Recommended blogs and new media
Books on China
Diamond Hill by Feng Chi-shun: Feng's memoir Diamond Hill describes an era of gambling and gangsters, Suzie Wong and squatter villages, fires and food stalls, and the Kowloon Walled City and its white powder. "A time when people were poor, but life was rich," he says. The world that he grew up in no longer exists, but his book - the first ever on the Diamond Hill refugee settlement, in either Chinese or English - offers a candid picture of what life was like for most Hong Kong residents in the 1950s.
William A. Callahan's China: The Pessoptimist Nation: China: The Pessoptimist Nation shows how the heart of Chinese foreign policy is not a security dilemma, but an identity dilemma. Through a careful analysis of how Chinese people understand their new place in the world, the book charts how Chinese identity emerges through the interplay of positive and negative feelings in a dynamic that intertwines China's domestic and international politics.
The WTO ruling: a half victory at best: In August 2009, a World Trade Organization panel ruled against China's system of monopoly control over entertainment products. Was this the victory supporters hailed as the dawn of a new day for American and global entertainment companies in the China market?
Front Page of the Day
A different newspaper every weekday
From the Vault
Classic Danwei posts
+ Street hawker cries of Beijing (2006.12): Yang Changhe demonstrates hawker's cries in a video shot by Muzimei.
+ New Weekly: Do Chinese kids know anything about traditonal Chinese culture? (2004.06): Q: Do you know what China's four great inventions are? Paper, printing, the compass and gunpowder 49.3% know all four, 37.3% get one or more wrong, 13.3% don't know at all (2004.06.12)
+ Some questions about SARFT's full-stop for Red Question Mark (2007.09): SARFT axes Red Question Mark (红问号). He Dong (何东) responds.
Danwei Archives
Danwei Feeds
Via Feedsky rsschiclet2.png (on the mainland)
or Feedburner rsschiclet.gif (blocked in China)
rsschiclet2.png rsschiclet.gif Main feed: Main posts (FB has top links)
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