Opinion / Raymond Zhou
Ad slogans a matter of taste
By Raymond Zhou (China Daily)
Updated: 2007-05-19 17:08
In a recent discussion on the supervision of outdoor advertising, Beijing
Mayor Wang Qishan remarked that the repeated use of certain words on real
estate billboards has marred the image of the capital city.
These words include "luxury", "ultimate", "deluxe", "exclusive", etc.
They all suggest the lifestyle of the super rich.
Obviously the huddled masses cannot afford these properties. As a matter
of fact, calculated by average income, even a not-so-luxury apartment is
out of the reach of most residents. For example, a 50-square-meter unit,
priced at 10,000 yuan per square meter, will take 8.3 years for a person
who earns 5,000 yuan a month.
If you dissect the political jargon, these adverts upset ordinary people.
The poor may already be numb, or they would have been driven crazy. The
segment of society that is really distressed may be the middle class,
including young professionals, who see themselves as economically
enslaved for a lifetime to real estate developers.
The issue is not simply a poor versus rich dichotomy. From the
perspective of freedom of expression, I don't think advertising slogans
should be regulated. They are designed to hook, stimulate, and provoke.
If ad copy, especially the tagline, reads like a government document, the
ad agency would probably be fired.
Ad slogans have frequently been criticized as damaging linguistic purity.
They twist idioms and proverbs. They coin new words that are not yet
enshrined in the dictionary. They make puns that are too titillating for
some to accept.
However, they have done a good job reaching their target audience.
Housing ads that flaunt wealth and status reflect - as much as steer -
customer mentality. Many properties adopt foreign names, such as Yosemite
and Napa Valley, because people tend to associate such Western style with
top quality and privilege.
In the 1990s, a southern city outlawed the use of "president" and
"imperial" in property names. That did not dent the craving for showing
off wealth. Banning the current batch of ostentatious adjectives would
not achieve the desired effect either. If anything, a new regulation of
this nature may only make the advertisers less reliant on clichs and make
them more imaginative in terms of how they express themselves.
Basically this is a question of taste. In a mature society displaying
wealth is generally considered bad taste. But for those who have just
shaken off the shackles of poverty, there is a constant need for
reaffirmation as if one wakes up from a bad dream and does not stop
biting his fingers.
Even in the United States, such flaunting still exists, albeit more
subtly. Real estate ads use generic terms such as "top-quality" and
"spacious" to attract the lower-income crowd and more specific
descriptions such as "granite" and "gated" to denote higher class. One
needs a sharp-eyed agent to wade through the warm and fuzzy facade and
get to their true meaning.
What makes China's housing adjectives such a pain in the neck are housing
prices, not the over-the-top, kitschy exaggerations which are common in
most realms of Chinese expression. Yet, government policies rarely
alleviate that woe.
Let's imagine that all these real estate ads are replaced with ads for
arts and antiques. They also cater to the super rich. Yet they would not
elicit the same response from drivers and pedestrians. The reason is
simple: arts and antiques are not essentials in our lives. The rich can
play the wealth accumulation game without affecting the living standards
of the masses.
But when housing is played like a card game, wide swaths of our society
are affected. The pompous ad slogans only become the frost on top of the
snow, so to speak, aggravating the sinking and frozen feeling.
Email: Raymondzhou@chinadaily.com.cn
(China Daily 05/19/2007 page4)
Hot Talks
� What is the real solution to America's trade deficit?
� What is the image of china in foreigners' eyes?
� China Got Train Technology From Foreigners
� China is in urgent need of aircraft carriers
� Rematches, returns on tap in NBA playoffs
Most Commented/Read Stories in 48 Hours
Chinese Mandarin
No comments:
Post a Comment