Ridicule greets decision to ban provocative ads

Yves St Laurent and Christian Dior have fallen foul of the Hong Kong public, but the luxury brands' move to readjust their latest campaigns has worried the local advertising industry, who fear this will hurt creativity in the SAR. The YSL campaign, featuring a model wearing nothing else but a pair of stiletto heels, had to be modified to run in Hong Kong, while an outdoor campaign for Dior, with a scantily-clad woman and man, was pulled in response to numerous public complaints. What is surprising is that the Dior campaign passed through strict Malaysian censors, but not the Hong Kong public. Christian Dior spokeswoman Tansy Lau told MEDIA that Hong Kong was the only market that found issue with the brand's latest campaign. "In Malaysia, where there are strict regulations, the ad has been touched up with an airbrush to cover the model in dirt and grease. It is a personal thing if people think the ad is too much for them," said Ms Lau. "The replaced ad is still fashionable and sexy - we are not compromising, and we are certainly not going to produce a new ad just for Hong Kong," she said, adding this would allow Dior to accommodate the city's more conservative public. The furore created by the two campaigns has been ridiculed and slammed by the local advertising industry, worried that the growing conservative bent would hit creativity in the future. "If the government is too conservative, the creativity and flexibility of Hong Kong will certainly be affected," said OMD general manager Jackson Kwok. Euro RSCG head of creative Angela Pong argued that the advertisements were produced in good taste and urged the public to "move with the times". "I think most of the people have over-reacted. We're in the 21st century now and this is just a sexy ad. What's the big deal?" she said. Freeway Communications managing director Desmond So, however, offered a dissenting opinion. "Although the target audience of the (Dior) advertisement is adults in Central, children also have the chance to see it. If those advertisements were shown in a magazine for adults, it would be acceptable," Mr So said.

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