By Frank Williams
January 16, 2008 -
America ad agencies aren't the only auto industry suppliers suffering from foot-in-mouth disease. Reuters reports that a Spanish Citroen ad has triggered quite a furor in China. The poster shows Chairman Mao looking down at a Citroen hatchback. The copy proclaims, "It's true, we are leaders, but at Citroen the revolution never stops. We are once more going to put in motion all the machinery of our technological ability, in order to repeat in 2008 the successes obtained in previous years." The picture of Mao is similar to one in Tianamen Square, with the the People's Republic founder's mouth distorted and squinting eyes. Once the ad hit the internet, the shit hit the fan. Chinese web slingers felt the ad was "not only insulting [to] Chairman Mao, but the whole Chinese nation… where Mao is greatly revered." Citroen immediately pulled the ad and issued an apology. What effect the faux pas will have on Citroen's Chinese sales remains to be seen.
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January 16th, 2008 at 12:40 pm
Mao is revered?
This psychopath was responsible for the deaths of tens of millions of innocent Chinese - and that’s in PEACETIME!!
Thumbs-down to Citroen for even considering a picture of history’s greatest murderer. Maybe they should try and market to their own population using a cartoon where Klaus Barbie demonstrates how many Jews you can stuff into the back of their latest hatchback.
January 16th, 2008 at 12:47 pm
On a side note, I think that’s the first non-ugly Citroen I’ve ever seen.
January 16th, 2008 at 1:10 pm
Yeah, it looks like a CRX. If it wasn’t a Citroen I’d be interested.
January 16th, 2008 at 1:27 pm
I’m surprised Citroen didn’t run a series of the ads including Stalin and Sihanouk to make sure that Citroen got noticed in Russia and Cambodia as well.
Seriously, Citroen should know better.
January 16th, 2008 at 1:42 pm
Seeing this, I can only imagine the Hitler-Volkswagen or Tojo-Mitsubishi possibilities for ads in truly poor taste.
January 16th, 2008 at 1:54 pm
Mao is cuddly like Che is. Since we never fought a popular war against him (Korea doesn’t count, too indirect) it’s easy to overlook his being a mass-murderer. Besides, as far as the people of China (who have been subjected to his personality cult since at least 1949) are concerned, he kicked the Japanese out, united the country and dragged it into the 20th century: to make an omelet, you have to break a few eggs.
As for his use in the ad, Mao has a much better recognition factor than Tojo or Sihanouk, probably better than Stalin.
January 16th, 2008 at 1:57 pm
Mitsubishi did have the Lancer Evolution VI Zero Fighter special edition.
January 16th, 2008 at 2:07 pm
Does CarnotCycle’s post constitute Godwin’s Law?
January 16th, 2008 at 2:38 pm
Virtual Insanity,
I don’t my reference does. Given the Mao + Car connection if you think about it with Hitler and Volkswagen seems like a natural train of thought, especially in the context of the history of automobiles, in this instance than a devolution of some kind in the discussion itself.
January 16th, 2008 at 3:30 pm
Rule #1 as you embrace a market economy - Get used to annoying ads, and for
God’sMao’s sake get a sense of humor.January 16th, 2008 at 4:06 pm
Wow, a huge uproar? From the country that filters the net so brutally? Who are the people that actually see the ad? The only people allowed to see the ad probably work for the Chinese government.
January 16th, 2008 at 5:44 pm
The only people allowed to see the ad probably work for the Chinese government.
Good point
January 16th, 2008 at 6:25 pm
Ah, extreme political incorrectness in advertising. Going in the other direction:
1) A few years ago, the Taiwanese Kuomintang party used Hitler in a campaign ad, comparing him to the then-president and member of the other party.
2) Even further back, another Taiwanese ad promoting German made space heaters featured a cartoon Hitler declaring war on the “Cold Front”.
Needless to say, both were pulled quickly after public outcry.
January 16th, 2008 at 6:33 pm
i liked the economist’s piece on the great chairman …
January 16th, 2008 at 6:46 pm
1) A few years ago, the Taiwanese Kuomintang party used Hitler in a campaign ad, comparing him to the then-president and member of the other party.
You’d never see that sort of politics in the good old US of A, though. ;-)
January 17th, 2008 at 2:16 pm
RE: bloodnok
Great article - I read Chang & Halliday’s book last summer. Great quote from the Economist piece:
“Perhaps for the struggling executive, this is the single most important lesson: if you can’t do anything right, do a lot. The more you have going on, the longer it will take for its disastrous consequences to become clear.”
There’s a great explanation for MB’s strategic planning over at GM.
February 18th, 2008 at 3:25 am
The difference between Mao and Hitler was one of intent. Most of the deaths attributed to Mao were a result of bad policy decisions and perhaps pig-headedness- there was no intent to cause massive suffering , whereas for Hitler extermination was the name of the game.
When Mao took over the average life expectancy was 35. In 1978, two years after he died it was 68 (partly due to a barefoot doctor system initiated by him) - so he probably SAVED many more lives than the deaths he was supposedly responsible for. The positives and negatives of Mao’s rule is something for the Chinese people to decide about. Knowing many Chinese people both in China and overseas, it is quite obvious that Mao is still widely revered - especially in the poorer rural areas. And it is definitely something that the current leadership does not encourage, as to many Maoists the China of today has completely abandoned what is to them pure socialism. In fact pro-Mao demonstrators have been jailed quite recently. http://www.monthlyreview.org/0105commentary.htm
Regardless of the rights and wrongs of it, a signficant proportion, probably a good majority of Chinese still revere Mao. Citroen made a MARKETING blunder to start off with. That they have apologized has nothing to do with truckling to the Chinese communists - it just makes sense if you want to include Chinese among your customers.