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