'Bruno' ads too racy for Hong Kong subway

An ad agency handling the placement of electronic posters and billboards in Hong Kong's subway has refused to put up an ad for the movie Bruno. I initially assumed the decision was based on the Chinese government's mania for censorship or the movie's general suckiness. Not so! The Hollywood Reporter explains: "The ad agency has taken offense at a term in the film's translated Chinese title, a pun that means both 'definitely deceive' and 'make hard' in Chinese." The full English title of the film is Bruno: Delicious Journeys Through America for the Purpose of Making Heterosexual Males Visibly Uncomfortable in the Presence of a Gay Foreigner in a Mesh T-Shirt. Whoever did the translation did apparently take some liberties. On the plus side, the ads apparently don't show Sacha Baron Cohen molesting lemons or cherries. Though, really, would it surprise anyone if they did?

—Posted by David Gianatasio

See also:
Kazakhs fight Borat with advertising
Kazakhstan even more pissed at Borat

September 9, 2009 in China, Controversy, Gianatasio | Permalink