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.
hi Kenny,
ReplyDeleteI see you are very interested in cars especially Toyota. I think the advertisement sent out by Toyota have failed to understand the sentiments of the Chinese consumers. Toyota wanted to show that they have the best car and even the powerful cast irons have to respect them and thus consumers that own Prado will be able to command great respects.
This effect was not interpreted by the chinese consumers but was instead seen as being disrespecful to their tradition. Perhaps Toyota should have shown the cast lions waving at their car instead of bowing to it. This could be interpreted as a form of respect even from the powerful cast lions. Thus,by promoting friendliness, their car might garner more attention without provoking the chinese consumers.
Interesting Blog. :-D
Hi Kenny,
ReplyDeleteYour post is indeed interesting and I like reading it!
Nonetheless, sometimes this form of miss-communication can cause a positive effect as you have mentioned in your post such as binding the people together to condemn the product. And this is not unusual in China, another famous example which I can think of is the boycotting of buying products from Carrefour during the Beijing Olympics 2008 when the relationship between France and China soured.
Thus, for companies who intend to globalize and integrate with the local market, the management and marketing branch MUST do some studies about the culture and history before making costly mistakes.
Ji Fang
Hi Kenny !
ReplyDeleteYou post is interesting, and funny too! Haha =P
Advertising is indeed a tricky thing, as inappropriate use of visual communication can in turn backfire, just like Toyata in this case.
For a moment, i was wondering that whether the same effects would happen if the advertisement is launched in Singapore, with Merlion used in place of the stone lions ?
Cecilia
Hi Kenny,
ReplyDeleteYour example again brought out the need to understand others' cultures before attempting to do something creative and original.
Personally, i liked the way the advertisement was designed which unfortunately linked to sensitive historical issue. Perhaps like what Cecilia asked, i feel that the same negative effects might not be reflected in most Singaporeans. (We might be too engrossed in looking at the car specs!)
Cheers!
Johny
Hey Kenny,
ReplyDeleteSince advertising is a form of communcation from the company to the consumers, I guess the purpose is to arouse consumers interest. I believe this form of communcation is interesting as company will definitely try to be creative as they are trying to sell their product.
In a recent newspaper report, I think they say that Singaporeans are quite open to the way how companies advertise.
Anyway, thanks for sharing the example, I think it is very interesting=)
Hey! Were you somehow able to complete all the options of this site all by yourself or you got professional help?
ReplyDelete