Could your breasts use a 'cleavage clamp'?

If there really is a piece of lingerie that will take fat pockets from our bums and place them directly onto our cleavage, then ladies, the line starts behind me. But my Chinese is fairly nonexistent, so the finer points of the infomercial below are lost on me. What I can tell, though, is that this is a jaw-dropping five minutes devoted to a product that could be the most magical corset ever created. Is the name really "Chinese cleavage clamp," or is that just a bad (porn-tinged) translation? I'm not sure how much it costs, but I think I can scrape together a few ducats to see if I can get the kind of results that formerly flatty-Patty models are touting here. See how happy they look with their new racks? Their boobs are practically airborne! There are a few inevitabilities here—a Victoria's Secret knock-off, followed by an explosion-heavy Michael Bay commercial—but miraculously jumping from an A to a D cup probably isn't one of them. Via BuzzFeed.

Filed under China, Lingerie, Stanley
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Groupon's Tibet spot pisses off the Chinese

Which is most surprising: that Timothy Hutton is an Oscar winner, that he's still alive, or that he appeared in the most controversial Super Bowl spot of the night? In a move that makes Kenneth Cole's Egyptian foray look tepid, Groupon stirred up some anger with its Super spot, which started like a celebrity-driven "Save Tibet" PSA (the marketer does support The Tibet Fund) only to finish as an unabashed (many say sarcastic and/or offensive) pitch for its online couponing services. The Web is now buzzing with pissed-off people, from the owner of the Himalayan restaurant in Chicago that's name-checked during the ad to people in China, where officials have long denied that there are any significant problems in Tibet. Their mutual dislike for the spot marks the first time in recent memory that the two sides in the conflict have agreed on anything. Groupon explains/defends its ad tactics here, though figuring out how to successfully launch its business in the humongous China market might now prove a tougher test of the firm's business strategy. I say: Love or hate the approach, give Groupon its due for igniting more conversations (albeit some uncomfortable ones) than almost any other advertiser in the game. Any ad decried for "offending everyone" deserves a measure of respect for so blithely flying in the face of convention and good taste. And at least they didn't cast Rosanne Barr or Justin Bieber. That would've been much worse!

Filed under China, Controversy, Gianatasio, Groupon, Super Bowl
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Fauxbama endorses KFC sandwich in China

It's tough to gauge the impact this KFC China spot—featuring a Barack Obama look-alike chowing down on a fish fillet sandwich—will have on Sino-American relations. On the one hand, it's kind of disrespectful, with Fauxbama's thumbs-up endorsement ("Mmmm ... change is good") coming a bit too close for comfort to the rah-rah vapidity of real American political advertising. Even so, using Obama here makes more sense than, say, Chinese leader Hu Jintao, who probably wouldn't touch that deep-fried processed crap even if he were stuck in Times Square without access to Yelp. Now, Sarah Palin in a swimsuit licking hot wings? That would be a crowd pleaser beyond my own patriotic, fast-food-oriented dreams. (I bet she likes them skinless.) Bottom line: I think this commercial falls short of an international incident, because at least KFC for once had the good sense not to show a black person smacking his lips and getting all excited over fried chicken. Via Foodbeast. UPDATE: KFC has sent us a statement which reads, "The ad was created in Hong Kong for the Hong Kong market only. It was meant to be a spoof and no disrespect was intended. It is no longer airing and will not be re-aired."

Filed under Barack Obama, China, Food and drink, Gianatasio, KFC
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Ad barrage by China coincides with Hu visit

I must have missed it when the China ad account went up for a review. The pluses: an enormous client that's on its way to dominating its category. The minuses: the client has historically been quite demanding. China's State Council Information Office tapped Shanghai Lintas to buff up its image. Lintas is taking a pretty old-fashioned approach in an ad campaign that coincides with Premier Hu Jintao's visit to Washington to meet with President Obama: It hired a famous director (Beijing Olympics opening ceremonies coordinator Gao Xiaolong), got a bunch of celebs and bought out a bunch of Times Square ad space. Chinese celebrities including Yao Ming and Baidu founder Robin Li (along with regular citizens) are featured in a video that trumpets China's increasing mark in everything from the arts, sports, fashion, design and even bravery. (No, dissident and Nobel Prize laureate Liu Xiaobo didn't get the call.) The video ends with the faces of many regular Chinese under the banner of "Chinese Friendship." The Wall Street Journal reports that the ad will run 300 times a day on six screens in Times Square for the next month. It's too bad China didn't go bigger and buy out big commercial blocks during the Super Bowl. That would really get the message across that this century is fated to be dominated by the Chinese.

Filed under China, Morrissey, Politics
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Chinese ad honors Diana by undressing her

Britain's Daily Mail got its knickers in a twist about this underwear ad from China featuring a bra-and-panty-clad Princess Diana look-alike. She's playing a cello, naturally. Yesterday was the 13th anniversary of Diana's death, and some Brits abroad apparently took umbrage with the ad's oddly timed appearance at China's Shenzen Airport. Honestly, who in the Royal Family are they supposed to use to illustrate the tagline, "Feel the romance of British royalty"? Charles and Camilla?

Filed under China, Controversy, Gianatasio, Lingerie, Underwear
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Drink Pepsi Max, really mess with your boss

While Americans are being forced to sit through TBWA's fizzless sequel to a 15-year-old Pepsi spot reimagined for Pepsi Max, the Chinese are being subjected to this self-consciously wacky commercial for the same brand. In the spot, from BBDO Shanghai, some office drones play an elaborate earthquake trick on the boss so they can knock off and watch a soccer game at the local bar. Their ruse is awfully industrious, but probably not what the government in Beijing has in mind for its workers. Here at AdFreak, I used to just call in sick, until HR got wise and adopted new policies. I don't mind the chains so much, but I wish they'd remember to refill the water dish.

Filed under BBDO, China, Food and drink, Gianatasio, Pepsi
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'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

Filed under China, Controversy, Gianatasio
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Air freshener that handles visible butt odors

My colleague Dave Kiefaber probably thought he'd found the goofiest odor-related ad of the year when he posted that Doc Bottom's Aspray spot. Sure, that had cartoon-style green smoke wafting from a plumber's rear end. But take a whiff of this! Direct from China—possibly the smelliest nation on earth, if only because it's the most populous—comes this sophomoric stankfest from DDB Shanghai. It's a print campaign for TianTian pocket-sized air freshener. The people's offensive emissions here are so objectionably intense, they resemble ... I dunno, 3-D asterisks or some kind of horrific stink-buds blossoming from the folks' hindquarters. Hey, it's cute when you're an infant, but get too "relaxed" as an adult commuter and your fellow passengers will be spraying your Chinos with TianTian. Not that I'd know from personal experience, of course. Via Ads of the World.

—Posted by David Gianatasio

Filed under China, DDB, Gianatasio
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Creativity a staple of China's butt-cream ads

Continuing our (well, OK, my) butt theme, here's a hemorrhoid-cream magazine ad from China that's actually somewhat subtle with its message. Binding the ad into the middle of the book allows the small staple to symbolize the discomfort of hemorrhoids. I suppose it's still a little unpleasant to come across a giant butt while you're reading. But at least it's not an ad for staple removers. Via Ads of the World.

—Posted by David Kiefaber

Filed under China, Kiefaber, Magazines, Personal care
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