VIEWPOINT: HK's finest and their rubbish awards kit

<p>Nice one, Hong Kong 4As. Just when life threatened to get boring, </p><p>along comes the call for entries to the 2001 4As Creative Awards to </p><p>liven things up. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>The entry pack is a tongue-in-cheek call to arms against the territory's </p><p>western community (see p1). It calls on the SAR's creatives to "Exorcise </p><p>the Gwei. Let the Chinese light shine". </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Racism charges have flown over the challenge to "purge the Gwei", along </p><p>with westerner-baiting charms such as Virgin's Pee and Holy Saliva. </p><p>Fine, if the intention was to court publicity-generating controversy. </p><p>But with agencies threatening to boycott the awards, it could be </p><p>counter-productive. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>In the midst of the screeching, it's worth bearing a few things in </p><p>mind. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>First, it's interesting that the shrillest condemnatory voices have been </p><p>Chinese, and that the creative director ultimately responsible for it, </p><p>Saatchi & Saatchi's Craig Davis, is an Australian. Few westerners we can </p><p>find actually find the pack offensive, or the term "gwei". Asking how </p><p>Chinese people would react if a western advertising body called for them </p><p>to be expelled from London or New York is silly - westerners are not an </p><p>oppressed minority, and there's no history of Chinese colonialism in the </p><p>west. In fact, the pack is as satirical about Chinese people as </p><p>westerners, and it's far too over-the-top for anyone with a sense of </p><p>humour to take seriously. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>It doesn't do to get too judgemental about so-called offensive </p><p>material. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>After all, we all spend so much of our time calling for more </p><p>risk-taking, boundary-pushing communication. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>The problem isn't that it's offensive - the problem is that it's </p><p>rubbish. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>It's not funny, and it isn't even particularly appropriate - why is </p><p>gweilo-bashing a good idea for a piece of communication to promote an </p><p>awards scheme? It feels forced. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>The worrying thing is not the content of the pack, but that Hong Kong's </p><p>finest creative minds thought that it was fitting for the awards. If </p><p>they can't get it right when they're targeting their own peers, how are </p><p>they going to do so with consumers? </p><p><BR><BR> </p>