ANALYSIS: Live Issue - Asia showing penchant to shock - FCUK and Benetton are big fans of shock advertising, but few others can pull it off

Nothing stands out like shock - at least that seems to be the current belief, judging by the spate of suggestive campaigns trading heavily on sex to sell. In the last few weeks, unlikely advertisers like Yves Saint Laurent and Christian Dior, mobile phone maker Ericsson, Fosters beer and telecom carrier Sunday have pumped up the shock volume of their campaigns. In the process, they've earned the wrath of Asia's uncompromising audience with their efforts relegated to the banned heap. Do such campaigns work beyond the initial shock it delivers? UK-based French Connection cleverly used shock tactics to build up the brand through its FCUK campaign, seeing it as the "only way to get attention" and trigger a high sense of awareness and empathy among its youngish target market. Since it thrives on publicity generated through controversial marketing, getting banned is "just fine". All well and good as its series of FCUK promotions, previously pulled from Singapore, has again caused a stir in the international market, resulting in a ban in the UK for its summer 2001 campaign. A spokeswoman for French Connection in the UK explains: "Getting banned is fine by us - it means we get more free publicity because it is banned. We like our shock tactics - our customer is into it - we've been banned again in the UK this summer for fcukinkybugger.com. "It might upset our customers' parents, but that's just fine as it's the kids that buy our clothes. One thing is we always use humour." Back in Asia, Joe Bananas produced an ad for Fosters beer promoting the bar and brew in anticipation of last month's Hong Kong Rugby Sevens. But the ad, featuring a well-endowed woman offering to show her jugs to those buying jugs of Foster's, was pulled from the rugby union's magazine. The bar retaliated by blowing the print ad into a "massive banner" and draping it around its outlet in Hong Kong's bar strip. Joe Bananas general manager, Mario Musumeci, insists that the in-house-produced ad was done tastefully. "There is absolutely nothing wrong with the ad. It may piss people off, but no one will miss it now." The advertising industry described the ad as "cliched", but Musumeci says it clearly illustrates the bar's image and brand. However, the mounting body count of campaigns driven off air by Asia's uncompromising public has raised concerns among the region's advertising professionals, who fear the spate of bans will inevitably curb creativity. When YSL and Dior fell foul of the Hong Kong public earlier this year, the luxury brands' move to readjust their creative sent a troubling message to the local ad community. The YSL campaign showed a model wearing nothing but a pair of stiletto heels. It was modified for its Hong Kong run. Numerous public complaints forced Dior to pull its outdoor billboards showing a scantily-clad though somewhat muddied model. Christian Dior spokeswoman, Tansy Lau, said Hong Kong was the only Asian market that found issue with the brand's latest campaign. Using shock executions is of course a double-edged sword. Leo Burnett's Singapore-based chairman and regional creative director, Linda Locke, says advertising agencies should carefully consider the product and service, and whether a campaign that aims to stun can ultimately harm the brand. "I think most of the time it depends on the product and service, and what you're communicating." In a Burnett ad for the Breast Cancer Foundation in Singapore, shock was a justifiable tactic. "Basically, what you think is a woman's breast in the ad turns out to be that of a man. This is to point out that even men can get breast cancer. This type of shock was used in a relevant way," says Locke. "Women who are apathetic are shocked into realising it is a possibility, and it is a relevant way of getting them to pay attention to a serious subject." But the Foster's ad, in Locke's opinion, is "extremely tired and cliched, offering a very old joke". However, Locke finds advertisements such as the YSL campaign featuring voluptuous model Sophia Dahl tastefully erotic, and "people offended by such ads are likely to be vexed by any naked body". Interestingly, the Dior ad passed through strict Malaysian censors, but not the Hong Kong public. David Chow, Dentsu's head of creative, blasted Hong Kong's conservative disposition and tendency to self-censorship. Hong Kong's "double standards" leave agencies baffled and perplexed in the censorship versus creativity debate, he added. "Hong Kong as a whole is very conservative and practices self-censorship. People here ban on purely certain values. People comment on certain ads that they find offensive and call and complain. That is the final say. There is no standard here. We advertising professionals have nothing to measure our work against." Chow cited Hong Kong telecom company Sunday as an example. The company's latest ad campaign is charged with gay sexual innuendo and is believed to be Hong Kong's first major attempt to target the "pink dollar". "It is wonderful that Sunday has the idea and courage to run this type of campaign. It all comes down to values. If you look at what's on the news, it is shocking. But, at the end of the day, self-regulation makes it very difficult for agencies to do their job. We constantly have to consider what is acceptable and what's not," he says. Agencies working on regional briefs face the greatest challenge. Working across various cultures in Asia can mean a campaign must be tweaked for every market. In the case of mobile phone maker Ericsson, an ad featured in the China Times newspaper in Taiwan was pulled after drawing harsh criticism from an overseas anti-child pornography group. The full-colour ad featured a young woman wearing a school uniform and holding the new Ericsson T20 phone, which displayed text mirroring sex advertising. The ad was placed by Ericsson's ad agency in Taiwan - Results Advertising. Surprisingly, Ericsson spokeswoman, Felicia Uwa, claimed the company did not receive any complaints from customers in Taiwan. The controversy, she said, was the result of "cultural differences", highlighted in this case by a situation which could appeal to the Chinese market but had offended foreigners. Ad executives agree shock tactics work best when they are unexpected, but admit brands take a gamble each time a shock ad is created. "Shocking consumers only works when you know your target's tolerance level. If you shock more than once, you have to make sure you can still make an impact," Chow warns. "It also only works on certain subjects. The best people to shock are those that don't expect it. In Asia, places like Hong Kong are still conservative so when producing a shock ad you really have to think twice."

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