Chinese Pond’s Ads Under ‘Caution’

According to news from Shanghai, a major campaign by WPP Group’s Ogilvy & Mather for Pond’s (one of Unilever’s biggest brands in China) has been derailed by China’s media regulators, and the main point for that is the new face of Pond’s in the mainland --- Tang Wei, star of Ang Lee’s sexually explicit movie “Lust, Caution.”

Someone guess that the reason behind because of the sexual and political background related with Ms. Tang from the movie. The movie ‘Lust, Caution’ includes full frontal nudity and some violent and explicit sex scenes. There is likely a political aspect as well. Since in the film, Ms. Tang plays a student activist who seduces a Japanese spy during Japan’s occupation of Shanghai in WWII and ultimately betrays her country. As we all know, China and Japan share a difficult, often violent past, and tensions still simmer today.

The regulators have ordered TV stations and print media to cease running ads featuring Ms. Tang. Although the statement which issued by China’s State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT) did not mention ‘Lust, Caution’ or Ms. Tang by name, but from a separate letter to station owners and print titles, SARFT warned media owners not to run ads featuring the actress.

In general, every ad that runs in China is cleared by a government censor. The censors approve storyboards before TV ads can be shot and print ads before they are shipped to media. From Unilever, the ad for Pond’s had already been approved by a different government agency. Thus it is still unknown if the ban for the ad will be enforced or not recently.

Personally, I think every choice is important for the campaign, it can directly determine if the campaign will be successful or not. In this case, I don’t think the campaign has made a wrong choice for the face of the product. Actually, Ms. Tang is very famous right now by playing the movie ‘Lust, Caution.’ Her influence is much bigger than other top actresses in China. There is no doubt that the company can use her to bring more attention to the products. The only pity here is the campaign neglect the oppressive regime of China. I believe if the same thing happen in United States, the result must be very successful.