The News:

Social media networks were set ablaze late last year with the release of an advertising campaign for HEMA, a chain of Dutch department stores. The campaign for the store’s new ‘Mega Push-Up Bra’ is fronted by androgynous male model, Andrej Pejic.

The innovative marketing department at the Dutch retail chain decided to hire the flat chested 20 year-old male to prove their claim that their ‘Mega Push-Up Bra’ could truly “boost your bust by two sizes”. The advertisers named the model in small writing at the bottom of the images, leaving the publicity and news stories to whip up a storm surrounding the campaign.

This pioneering approach to lingerie advertising trended on Twitter hours after the images were released. The campaign has caused mixed reactions.

Behind the News:

Pejic’s agent was very positive about the campaign, stating, “It’s revolutionary. I’ve never known a man to do a women’s lingerie campaign before”.

Andrej Pejic has caused a stir in the fashion world over the past year, modelling both women and men’s clothing, most notably closing Jean Paul Gaultier’s haute couture bridal show earlier this year.

Pejic’s feminine features caused Barnes & Noble and Borders book stores to consider banning the magazine ‘Dossier Journal’ because he appeared shirtless on the cover. The book stores said that he might be mistaken for a woman and as a result, sold the magazines in a brown wrapper.

This liberal approach to advertising was seen in other recent news as A Thai airline hired transsexuals to set itself apart from competitors. Both HEMA and A Thai have crossed the boundaries of gender roles. Transgenders and transsexuals have greater visibility in Thailand than in many other nations and in the Netherlands there is widespead support, tolerance and equal rights for LGBT people.

The news:

Galerie, a department store in Osaka, marked its January sales by hanging huge red signs emblazoned with the term ‘FUCKIN’ SALE’ in their windows and throughout the store.

Images of the store’s chosen catchphrase rapidly flooded social media websites and blogs. Once Galerie’s horrified managers caught wind of the uproar caused by the signs, they hastily tore them down. The store also released a public statement apologizing for any offence the slogan may have caused.

Behind the News:

It was revealed that the headline had been crafted as a pun on the Japanese term ‘fukubukuro’, meaning ‘lucky bags’. This relates to the Japanese New Year retail custom where unwanted stock from the previous year is discounted and sold in big grab bags.

However, the attempted pun was lost on English speaking visitors and while a lot of the speculation online discusses the hilarity of the signs, the store also received many complaints.

This is not the first time that the term ‘fuck’ has been used for marketing purposes. In 1997, British clothing retailer French Connection began branding their clothes with the slogan ‘fcuk’. Though it was officially an acronym for French Connection United Kingdom, its similarity to the word ‘fuck’ caused much controversy. French Connection fully exploited this and produced a popular range of t-shirts with messages including ‘fcuk this’, ‘hot as fcuk’, ‘fcuk me’ and ‘fcuk her’.

In 2009, the European Union's trademarks agency disallowed a German brewery to market a beer called ‘Fucking Hell’ until the brewery sued, claiming that the beer was actually named after the Austrian village Fucking, and the German term for light beer, ‘hell’.

In this case, it is clear that the profane caption represents a take on a Japanese pun that was lost in translation and a misunderstanding of the term ‘fuck’ due to a language barrier, rather than an attempt to draw attention to the store. Nonetheless, this controversial slogan has certainly put the Japanese department store on the map.

In our hunt for the Next 100 Global Challenger Brands that will feature in the next issue of M&M, we’ve come across an emerging paradigm in the luxury sector in Asia, aiming to recreate the authentic value of Eastern traditions and culture and replace the notions of luxury imposed by the West.

One example of this trend is the Hermès-backed Chinese luxury brand Shang Xia (meaning ‘topsy-turvy’ in Mandarin) that opened its first store in September last year in the upscale shopping area in Shanghai on Huaihai Road and has since managed to cause a great buzz without any advertising, PR or celebrity endorsements. 

Although Hermès had 20 stores in China already, Shang Xia was launched as a unique homegrown luxury brand led by a designer from Shanghai, Jiang Qiong Er, and is oriented towards traditional Chinese craftsmanship and materials in creating contemporary jewellery, apparel, housewares and furniture which is 100% manufactured in China. The move was initially received with scepticism, since Chinese consumers had developed a preference for foreign brands due to the perception that they are of better quality. Yet, Shang Xia successfully challenged this misconception and is now planning on opening another store in Beijing, followed by Paris as first steps towards going global.

Craftwomen display their skill on cashmere during the store opening of Shang Xia in Shanghai on 16 September 2010

According to Jiang Qiong Er, the Chinese homegrown luxury brands that had been present a century ago withdrew in the early 90s as the Western ones took over. However, gradually attitudes started changing as consumers stopped shunning all things Chinese aside, recognising a need to reconnect with their own cultural backgrounds and becoming more curious about their heritage.  

“I think more people in China realize the importance of looking back to our cultural roots, going back and trying to re-evaluate the value of Chinese culture,” Jiang says in an interview for Jing Daily.

“More people here are starting to realize that, in our lives today, we’re dominated by Western lifestyles. But if you look back at the history of the world, you’ve got both Western and Eastern cultures. At one time, Eastern culture was on the peak, but that flipped. So maybe it’s time to flip it around again in some way.”

Interior of the Shanghai flagship

One of the strategies that sets Shang Xia apart from other luxury brands is prioritising time over profit with goals set in a 100 to 200-year timeline; since the essence of luxury is, in fact, time. Additionally, the marketing philosophy behind the brand is based on word of mouth, in a way to make consumers feel that they are discovering something themselves, or relying on a trusted source. Yet, this doesn’t imply a lack of proactive marketing, in fact, Shang Xia have come up with some highly insightful and creative solutions. For instance, they recently sourced designs of a unique cultural object on the theme of “Heritage and Emotion,” organised a two-week exhibition to showcase the winning object: a box called “Pass it On,” designed to keep family pictures and objects. At the exhibition, the brand set up a post office where visitors could send Shang-Xia designed postcards across the glove, with Shang Xia paid postage.

 In India, established designers such as Ritu Kumar and Sabayasachi Mukjerjee, who have been drawing inspiration from India’s ancient craft and fabrics, equally recognise the revival of homegrown luxury. 

Sabayasachi Mukjerjee's bridalwear collection

“A lot of Indian women like wearing clothing which defines them as Indian. I might be doing Western clothing, I might be doing Indian clothing, but there is always a common denominator, and that is India.  If you look at the approach, if you look at the artistry, if you look at the textiles, there’s always a strong indigenous feel,” Sabayasachi claims. His designs focus on using local, handwoven fabrics like khadi, handloom silk as well as regional arts like block printing, bandhani and gota.

Likewise, Ritu Kumar’s designs draw heavily on the textile and embroidery heritage of India. Her work under the brand ‘Ri’ will be featured in an upcoming Hindi film, Love Breakups Zindagi, due to be released in early October this year.

Shraddha Kapoor photoshoot for Anita Dongre's Global Desi collection

However, blending the best of the East and the West through modernisation of Indian traditional styles is beginning to gain recognition beyond the luxury sector in India with Anita Dongre’s high street fashion brand Global Desi that capitalises on “global style, Indian trends.”

Perhaps the flip to the East anticipated by Jiang Qiong Er isn’t that far from gaining international traction.

Could Blackberry experience the same problems of undersirable customer associations like Burberry? About six years ago, Burberry was suffering something of an identity crisis. The historic British brand, famed for its beige check fabric and trench coats had once been a desired designer on the backs of A-listers everywhere. But by 2005, the name Burberry had become synonymous, in the UK at least, with the much maligned ‘chav’ class.

For the uninitiated, the term ‘chav’ has come to be applied to a disruptive youth sub-culture, epitomised by loutish behaviour, a penchant for ostentatious jewellery and most famously, Burberry print clothing. The theory that the term originally derives from the acronym “Council House And Violent” might be apocryphal, but is an engaging story nonetheless. 

 Note:

Going abroad and laughing at the way foreigners do things is a common human trait. The British are always astonished at what other countries consider to be bacon, the thing that Americans call a biscuit isn't what the rest of the world calls a biscuit, and the entire western world is constantly bemused by what they will consider as food in China (pickled mashed potato anyone?).

The UK press has taken much delight in reporting the story of Roland Bunce. To bring you up to speed, Bunce is one of the contestants who took part in an online modelling competition with UK clothing retailer Next.

Next is a mid-price high street fashion name, present in most town centres across the UK. As part of its latest ‘Make me the Next Model’ competition, potential models can post photographs to a website for public vote. The highest scoring entries are shortlisted for final adjudication by jury and the winner gets to appear in a Next photo shoot and receives £2,000 for being good looking and popular enough to win the competition.

As marketing ideas go, this is a nice idea but fairly unremarkable. That is until 24-year-old Roland Bunce decided to take part. In modelling terms, Bunce is not what one might term ‘classically good looking’, but then since this is a competition open to the public, Bunce gave it a go and submitted his picture.

Next presumably wanted to encourage submissions from people of all shapes and sizes, but what they might not have counted on is the astonishing popularity of Bunce in the competition. His unlikely appearance in a competition of tall, dark and handsome men has struck a chord with the online audience, who have voted him into the top 10. To date his profile page on Next has been "liked" an astounding 32,000 times.

The UK press has reacted very strangely, with the Daily Mail claiming the competition has been sabotaged. The insinuation being that the competition is a mockery if Bunce wins. If the rumours surrounding the controversy surrounding Britain’s Got Talent are true, it’s nice to know that we can still have an honest competition in the UK.

Next were no doubt surprised – but since the final decision rests with a judging panel they can obviously pick a winner to suit their purposes, but I can’t help but feel that if Next had the guts to go with what seems to be the public favourite, there is massive PR potential in turning the Roland Bunce into a stylish man about town, kitted out in Next clobber.

I wonder if the people in charge are up to the challenge.

WHY IS THIS ON CREAM? Getting the public involved in a campaign is always going to be risky, but even the most unexpected result has potential – provided the brand involved has the vision to deal with and the backbone to see it through.

By Mark St. Andrew

The News:

A French anti-smoking campaign showing teenagers in a pose suggesting oral sex has caused an outrage in France. According to critics the ads trivialise sexual abuse and distract from the real health threats caused by smoking. 

Behind the News:

Although French advertising agencies are known for their tendency to use sexual references in their campaigns to increase consumer awareness, the posters for the Non-Smokers’ Rights Association Droits des Non-Fumeurs playing with the image of fellatio are regarded as going one step too far by the French.

The ads which are respectively showing one teenage girl and two boys kneeling in front of an older man having a cigarette in their mouth which seems to point at the man’s trousers feature the slogan: “Smoking Means Being a Slave to Tobacco.”

According to the association who commissioned the campaign, the posters do not illustrate sexual abuse in any form. They were created to shock young smokers and alter their behaviour which traditional campaigns are failing to do due to their low impact.

Despite tobacco being acknowledged as a serious health risk, being the number one cause of avoidable deaths (half of French students over 14 have tried it), many people regard the ads as unacceptable. According to a spokeswoman of the feminist pressure group Chiennes de Garde, it is "inadmissible" that an image implying sexual abuse should be used for an anti-smoking campaign and a spokeswoman of the conservative group Familles de France said that she plans to lodge a complaint with the French advertising standards watchdog.

Although these ads are only going to be published in France it is very likely that a similar outrage would be caused in other countries. Despite the fact that shock advertising is widely used around the world it has always been the most controversial form and advertising agencies have to be aware of the cultural standards in their country in order to launch a successful campaign.

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