Does Sex Sell in China?
The Chinese people have always been described as very conservative and reserved. They feel ashamed to talk about sex but still have a strong curiosity of it. In the past, sex was a restricted area; media couldn’t show any text or images with sexually suggestions at all. A magazine named “Da Zhong Dian Ying (Movie for Everybody)” put a screenshot of The Slipper and the Rose, in that picture, the price was kissing the Cinderella. Thus the magazine received a lot of complaints and accusations. The readers thought the image was immoral and represented the bourgeois sentiment.
Things look like getting better these days after the “reform and opening up”. People have stopped to loathe the intimate images. They no longer make a fuss of the NG-17 scenes on TV even there is still no such classification system in China.
But has China really been so open and comfortable with sex today? There is still a question mark. At the very least, the mainstream and public media are not ready to that. Yesterday, CCTV, the most important TV network in China broadcasted news about National Museum’s 100th anniversary. When the screens showed Michelangelo’s masterpiece David, you can see the sculpture’s genital was marked with a mosaic. It was really hilarious and embarrassing. There is an old saying in China: Only if you think dirty then you will see all the dirty stuff. CCTV is always sensitive with the sex topic even if this desecrates the fine art.
The same things happen in the fashion industry. Look around, you won’t find any undisguised advertisement on the magazines or on the streets. Some brands like Calvin Klein Jeans who like to use the sex-sell strategy a lot all have to change their means in China. If you ask who is most afraid of this kind of culture? I’d like to say maybe it’s Tom Ford, all his bold and sexy advertisements would be banned by the Press and Publication General Administration and Commerce Bureau.
To avoid these troubles, there always are countermeasures. You need to know the public won’t be offended if your message is fun and interesting. The internet is your best choice; it hasn’t got too many constraints. Durex and LYNX did a very good job on Weibo, they’ve got many followers by using the virus videos and provocative contents skillfully in case of over the edge. Though the Internet also has censorship, but comparing with print and TV it is more lenient.
The only thing you should be aware about is Chinese people are like other people in the world, they love sex, maybe they are a little bit shy. But if you use the sex-sell in a high-class way, they will think the brand is casual and bright. And the only thing you should avoid of is never try the nasty stuff and don’t try to test the governments’ baseline.
(Originally posted on 07/12/2012)Type your post
