HONG KONG: DDB and the Government have rounded up on the 4As, which
has been widely condemned for the racially-derogatory entry kit it
developed for the Creative Awards.
DDB, Hong Kong's second-largest agency, threatened to pull out of the
4As unless it offered a public apology on the matter. At the same time,
the Home Affairs Bureau took the association to task, saying the
incident could not have happened at a worse time. Hong Kong is due to
send a delegation to Geneva next week to discuss human rights and racial
discrimination issues with the UN.
DDB's Greater China president and CEO Aaron Lau kept up the pressure:
"We are proud of our diversity and we won't tolerate any gesture that
sets one group against another."
The controversy erupted when the 4As sent out its entries pack under the
headline, "Exorcise the Gwei. Let the Chinese light shine." Gwei or
ghost is an insulting term for westerner. The 4As pulled the kits but
added fuel to the fire when it accused its critics of lacking a sense of
humour. Its chairman Jeffrey Yu of Bates Asia also stopped short of an
apology.
Craig Davis, Saatchi & Saatchi regional ECD, who handled the creative,
added: "It could never be construed as racist; everything was so over
the top."
See leader, p17.
