Child groups blast Ericsson campaign

Ericsson, the world's third largest maker of mobile phones, has pulled a controversial ad in Taiwan after drawing harsh criticism from an overseas anti-child pornography group. The full-colour ad had appeared twice in the China Times newspaper. It featured a young woman wearing a school uniform and holding the new Ericsson T20 mobile phone, which displayed text mirroring sex adverts. The ad was placed by Ericsson's advertising agency in Taiwan - Results Advertising. However, according to Ericsson spokeswoman, Felicia Uwa, the company had not received any complaints from customers in Taiwan. She explained the controversy was "based on cultural differences", highlighted in this case by a situation which could appeal to the Chinese market but had offended foreigners. "This ad was placed locally and the copy is very Chinese, so foreigners can't understand this. Chinese plays a very important role in the ad," said Ms Uwa. "It is just a matter of cultural differences between Asia and the West. There have been no complaints here (in Taiwan). While Ericsson's Taiwan office played down the incident, its office in Sweden reiterated that the ad was placed by the local company without its knowledge, and that the ad's tone had not been compatible with Ericsson's values. Ericsson said it would not repeat the controversial advert.

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