Complaints greet E*Trade ad debut

HONG KONG: An E*Trade Securities campaign, featuring a Ferrari being rammed, to announce the online securities trading broker's delayed entry into Hong Kong has sparked a storm of protests. At press time, the Television and Entertainment Licensing Authority received a total of 119 complaints for the campaign created by BBDO. Complaints have also been filed against a Sunday campaign, another BBDO client (see page 3). According to E*Trade managing director, Mathias Helleu, the ad was created with "the Hong Kong public in mind" and aimed to shock people into action. "We wanted to tell people to take control of their financial future. It's basically a call for action. We don't think it is offensive, but a rather bold, aggressive and humourous approach." The aggressive approach may be necessary as the market is highly-competitive and rivals like Charles Schwab and Sun Hung Kai have beaten E*Trade to launch. The campaign did however find support among some creatives. Dentsu Young & Rubicam head of creative, Wallus Leung, applauded the approach. "We seldom see creative execution such as this in Hong Kong and that is why the reaction has been big." Viewers who complained said the campaign encouraged destructive, envious and vengeful behaviour.

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