Let’s just call it “The Case of the Stone Lions”. Why is that so? Please read on…
In December 2004, Japan’s largest car maker Toyota published an advertisement in over 30 magazines in China, for its new Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV), the Toyota Prado.
As can be seen from the above picture, the Toyota model “Prado” has been named “霸道”, a common practice for carmakers to change their English model names into Chinese for the China market . “霸道” in Chinese means hegemonic, rule by force, domineering. At first glance, one cannot fault them for naming the model “霸道”. As explained by Julie Du, account manager with Publicis Groupe's Saatchi & Saatchi, which made the ads explained, “These ads were intended to reflect Prado’s imposing presence when driving in the city”.
What went wrong were the 2 stone lions circled in red, as can be seen from the above picture. In the eyes of Chinese readers, the stone lions which traditionally represent Chinese sign of power were seen cowed into submission, with one raising its paw in salute to the Prado parked in front, with the other one stooping its head. What made the advertisement’s reception worse is that the stone lions were reflected by some Chinese readers as resembling those flanking Marco Polo Bridge, the site near Beijing of the opening battle in Japan’s 1937 invasion of China.Many Chinese readers interpreted the stone lions to represent China, with Toyota trying to proclaim its “Toyota Tyranny” over the Chinese people. Creative internet forum users even went further to doctor the pictures, such as the one shown below. (霸道, 不得不拿下! Translates to “Prado (hegemony), must be taken down!”)
After countless complaints and feedbacks from Chinese citizens to Toyota, stating that the dignity and feelings of the Chinese people have been insulted, Toyota was forced to retract and formally apologise for the advertisement.
The Toyota fiasco highlights the tricky cultural and historical pitfalls that afflict marketing for even the savviest foreign companies in China. On one hand, the ad industry increasingly agrees that despite rampant nationalism, patriotism does not build brands. But Toyota and others recently have discovered they still cannot ignore how strongly politics shapes Chinese consumer sentiment. Perhaps in some cases, lessons were learnt more painfully than the others’.
Although it is found that the lure of patriotism does not win customers (Nike still sells much better than home-grown sports brand Li-Ning), offending national pride is one sure-fire to lose them. For one to do business in a foreign country, getting creative in its print advertisements/commercials might be a winning way to attract new customers, however if one does it with a profound lack of local knowledge or inter-cultural sensitivity, the consequences might be costly and irreparable.
