I was doing my daily news sweep a couple days ago and came across a few articles on China’s new Public Diplomacy campaign in Times Square. The campaign was launched in coordination with the Chinese premier, Hu Jintao’s state visit. It involves about 6 large video screens in Times Square, some staying red at all times with the Chinese characters for friendship on them, and others showing a 60 second video. The video itself features a few dozen Chinese celebrities in a wide range of fields, each group accompanied by the phrase “Chinese (insert quality/specialty). The video is supposed to air 15 times an hour, 300 times a day through the end of the Chinese New Year in mid-February.
The intent of the campaign, to present China as a country filled with talented individuals seeking friendship with the US, may have been well though out but the execution was not. After watching the video, the comments made by many writers who covered the topic (the articles I read will be listed below) definitely made sense. To the ordinary American only 2 or 3 are remotely familiar such as basketball player Yao Ming, pianist Lang Lang and actress Zhang Ziyi.
This particular mistake was probably caused by a lack of listening, as defined in Cull’s pamphlet reviewing lessons of past Public Diplomacy operations. As the comments on many of these articles show, the Chinese government did quite a poor job of collecting data of what Americans currently thought of them. If they had listened well, they would have known that video screens showcasing China’s wealthy and famous would not be the most useful way to change American opinion so heavily influenced by scores of reports on China’s human rights abuses and censorship. This is clearly a case of China speaking to the American public without engaging them first by listening.
Journalists were even quicker to point out that many of these “celebrities” featured in the video were either American citizens, green-card holders or Hong Kong citizens whose family members hold foreign citizenship. I personally think that at a time when many Americans are being hounded by articles warning of China’s increasing dominance, the advertisement compounds this apprehension by showcasing the very strengths and achievements that give them cause for concern.
Articles:
http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/18/chinas-publicity-ads-arrive-in-times-square/?partner=rss&emc=rss (New York Times)
http://blogs.wsj.com/chinarealtime/2011/01/18/pro-china-ad-makes-broadway-debut/?KEYWORDS=%22new+york%22KEYWORDS%3D%22new+york%22 (Wall Street Journal)
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