The target of Wang’s ire — ads for ultra-chic Beijing property developments — come with gems of copy such as ‘ultra-distinguished’, ‘supreme pleasure’ and, in one particularly infamous example, ‘Be a foreigner’s landlord!’
Wang went public with his displeasure earlier this year when he pointed out that “many (ads) use exaggerated terms that encourage luxury and self-indulgence which are beyond the reach of low-income groups and are therefore not conducive to harmony in the capital”. While his comments may appear at odds with China’s over-heating economy, current China Premier Hu Jintao’s administration has made social stability the centrepiece of its ideological framework, even as the country’s capital and property markets spiral out of control.
To anyone familiar with the yawning chasm in wealth that has developed between China’s rich and poor, Wang’s efforts may look suspiciously like window dressing (or even undressing). To Beijing’s advertising community, which is already coping with another crackdown on unlicensed outdoor sites in the run-up to next year’s Beijing Olympics, the words are a reminder that its industry often finds itself at the sharp edge of China’s continuing friction between capitalism and communism.
“The conspicuous consumption of ultra-luxury goods in Beijing is viewed as unseemly,” explains JWT China CEO Tom Doctoroff. “The Government is increasingly sensitive to making efforts to have a more balanced distribution of wealth, so overt displays in politically sensitive areas are seen as potentially destabilising.”
For Publicis Beijing client service director David Gompel, Wang’s public statements are simply the visible face of a more comprehensive attempt to bring real estate companies to task for fuelling a property market boom that has the mainland Government increasingly worried. “The way to regulate advertising is not by law, but by this kind of thing,” he notes. “The Government doesn’t want prices to skyrocket before the Olympics, because it is afraid of a crash.”
Gompel compares property with luxury cars and high-end alcohol, two sectors where — he says — the culture of over-promising is less rife. Not that the latter two are immune to the current crackdown; Synovate China managing director Darryl Andrew points out that BMW, for example, is the subject of an online consumer campaign that takes the car brand to task for its flagrant displays of wealth via advertising.
Meanwhile, other luxury advertisers are concerned, if not yet alarmed. At Rolex agency JWT, business director Jancu Koenig points out that the implications for all advertisers are clear. “If this really expands to cover luxury in general then that will impact the industry at large,” says Koenig. “A lot of the advertising that is geared at the middle class tries to play with some of the luxury language.”
To the lasting relief of international luxury brands everywhere, however, the imbroglio is not expected to have a major impact on the giddying accumulation of wealth in China. “It’s largely a matter of curbing the visibility and arrogance of big brands,” says Gompel. “But I don’t see the Chinese Government preventing LVMH from opening new stores. I can’t see how luxury won’t grow.”
