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国人最近都在热议一则电视广告，因为它能充分考验观众的神经。The TV commercial everyone has been talking about lately in China is the one that has tested everyone's nerves.
推出这则广告的是中国羊毛制品生产巨头恒源祥集团(Heng Yuan Xiang Group)，其目的是庆祝它获得了北京奥运会的赞助商资格，同时获得这一资格的还有联合包裹(United Parcel Service Inc.)和安海斯公司(Anheuser-Busch Cos.)的百威啤酒(Budweiser)等。今年2月，在中国最重要节日春节期间，恒源祥的这则60秒电视广告正式登场。Heng Yuan Xiang Group, a top Chinese wool producer, wanted to celebrate its sponsorship of this summer's Beijing Olympics; it shares sponsor status with the likes of United Parcel Service Inc. and Anheuser-Busch Cos.'s Budweiser brand. So the wool company began running a 60-second ad in February, during the celebration of Lunar New Year, China's biggest holiday.
在这个画面简单到极点的广告中，一个听似小女孩发出的尖锐画外音将中国的十二生肖依次重复三遍，在念每一个生肖前，都有一个成人画外音送上一句恒源祥的招牌广告语。伴随着这些声音，在只点缀着恒源祥商标的白色背景画面上，卡通造型的十二生肖图案依次跃出。于是观众听到了如下内容：“恒源祥，北京奥运会赞助商！鼠，鼠，鼠！恒源祥，北京奥运会赞助商！牛，牛，牛！恒源祥，北京奥运会赞助商！虎，虎，虎......”In the bare-bones ad, a squeaky girl's voice chirps out a triplicate list of each of the 12 animals in the Chinese zodiac, interspersed with repetitions of the company's slogan by an adult voice. Cartoon zodiac animals hop across the screen over a plain, white background with the company's logo. As in: 'Rat rat rat! Heng Yuan Xiang, official sponsor of the Olympic Games! Ox ox ox! Heng Yuan Xiang, official sponsor of the Olympic Games! Tiger tiger tiger! . . .'
有些人第一次看到这则广告时还以为电视机坏了。看过的人开始在平面媒体和网络上痛批这个电视广告，有的说它简直让人无法忍受，还有人说它是自己见过的最差广告。互联网上也出现了一批模仿这则广告的搞笑作品，其中一个是一只山羊出现在新闻发布会上，向“所有人──广告中出现的动物、顾客、他们的家庭以及中国的每一个人”表示道歉。广告界人士称，听说电视观众一看到这则广告就马上换台。从2月6日到2月12日，恒源祥的这则广告不厌其烦地在中国多家电视台一遍遍播出。2月17日，恒源祥召开新闻发布会说，它已停播了这则广告。When they first saw the ad, some people thought their TV sets were broken. Viewers savaged the commercial in print media and online, some calling it intolerable or singling it out as the worst spot they had ever seen. It has spawned Internet parodies, including one with a goat at a news conference apologizing 'to everyone -- to the animals in the commercial, the customers, their families and every single person in this country.' Other marketers complained that consumers were changing the channel when the spot came on, ad executives say. The spot ran repeatedly on Chinese TV from Feb. 6 to Feb. 12. On Feb. 17, Heng Yuan Xiang called a press conference to explain that it had stopped running the commercial.
这家公司没有应邀发表评论。官方媒体新华社援引恒源祥品牌传媒顾问丁秀伟的话说，这则广告就是要让人发笑。The firm didn't respond to requests for comment. State-controlled news service Xinhua quoted Ding Xiuwei, whom it identified as a media consultant with the company, as saying the ad was meant 'to make people laugh.'
但人们对这个广告的强烈负面反应显示出，越来越精明的中国消费者正在厌弃那些廉价、劣质的营销手法。But the backlash suggests that increasingly sophisticated Chinese consumers are rejecting low-budget, low-quality marketing.
中国的国营电视台多年来一直充斥着大量制作低劣的广告，它们经常被重复播放很长时间。事实上，恒源祥可谓中国“硬拗”型电视广告的鼻祖，它上世纪90年代发布的一则此类广告长达15秒，便以此手段将对观众的影响发挥到极致。这则“恒源祥，羊，羊，羊”广告坚守中国荧屏达10年之久，电视画面上伴随这句画外音的也是只有恒源祥商标的简陋背景，广告持续5秒，在不长的时间内连播三遍。但恒源祥也正是凭借这则简陋的广告而在中国一举成名。State-run Chinese TV has long been home to bad, and often repetitive, ads. Heng Yuan Xiang, in fact, pioneered a spartan style of commercials in the 1990s that milked 15-second time slots for maximum impact. For a decade, its five-second refrain, 'Heng Yuan Xiang, Sheep Sheep Sheep,' voiced over the same company logo, was rebroadcast three times in rapid succession. The ads -- all made in-house -- made Heng Yuan Xiang an icon.
当Havas SA旗下灵智广告公司(Euro RSCG)的大中华区首席执行长陈仲翰(Richard Tan) 11年前刚刚接触中国市场时，中国所有商家都在以他所谓的“史前方式”发布广告，即一古脑地将自己的广告内容砸向受众。When Richard Tan, chief executive of Havas SA's Euro RSCG agency in greater China, first came to the market 11 years ago, almost all local advertisers had adopted what he calls the 'caveman approach' -- beating consumers over the head with the same message.
陈仲翰说，这种做法总的来说已经过时了，中国商家在发布广告方面越来越精明。可恒源祥却依然我行我素，这在陈仲翰看来不啻是自绝于时代。'This approach has gradually faded, and more Chinese advertisers are increasingly sophisticated with their advertising,' Mr. Tan says. Heng Yuan Xiang is 'still living in a 'lost world' with this approach,' he adds.
从上世纪90年代开始，随着外国广告公司纷纷进入中国市场，以及中国中产阶级队伍的迅速膨胀，中国人的广告消费眼光悄然变化，当然外国公司也有因跟不上形势而马失前蹄的时候。Wieden + Kennedy的东京分公司在2004年为耐克公司(Nike)制作的一则电视广告就被中国政府禁播，原因是它“激怒了中国观众”。这则广告的内容是美国篮球明星勒布朗•詹姆斯(LeBron James)打败了一位以卡通形象出镜的功夫大师。The arrival of foreign ad agencies in the 1990s, together with the rapid expansion of the nation's middle class, altered Chinese consumers' expectations -- though of course foreign shops have stumbled, too. A 2004 Nike ad made by Wieden + Kennedy's Tokyo office, showing basketball star LeBron James defeating a cartoon kung fu master, was banned by the government because it created 'indignant feelings among Chinese viewers.'
如今，中国许多广告的制作质量已堪与欧美广告媲美。据尼尔森公司(Nielsen Co.)依据广告报价单得出的统计数据，中国广告市场的年规模已达600亿美元，预计不久将超过日本，成为仅次于美国的全球第二大广告市场。中国国内企业的广告品位目前也越来越高，所以在广告界人士看来，恒源祥最近推出的这则惊世广告只能说明该公司没有长进。These days, production values on many Chinese ads can be on par with those in the U.S. or Europe. China's ad market, valued at more than $60 billion annually based on rate-card figures compiled by Nielsen Co., is expected to overtake Japan's soon as the world's second-largest in spending terms after the U.S. Domestic Chinese brands now are held to high standards. So the recent Heng Yuan Xiang stunt sent a message that the company hadn't grown, ad executives say.
宏盟集团(Omnicom Group)旗下腾迈广告(TBWA)在中国的规划总监施皇震(Jeremy Sy)说，人们普遍认为，如果恒源祥真是家不错的公司，它应该推出些更好的广告才对，而它春节期间发布的广告并不比当初那则好多少，这说明与中国大多数公司不同，恒源祥的广告品位实际上没有提高。'The expectation is that the company would have produced something better if their fortunes had been good,' says Jeremy Sy, planning director for Omnicom Group's TBWA in China. 'The fact that the ad is not much better than the first ad suggests that, unlike almost every other company in China, Heng Yuan Xiang hasn't actually improved.' TBWA works for Games partner Adidas AG.
而互联网在中国的普及也使消费者在评价广告优劣方面掌握了话语权。恒源祥的这则广告被人贴到了网上，它在中国各视频网站的被点击次数已达百万。Moreover, the popularity of the Web in China is putting consumers in control. The ad has been posted online and viewed about one million times on Chinese video-sharing sites.
一位博客作者看了这则广告后在天涯网(Tianya)的论坛中写道：朋友们，让我们一起抵制恒源祥！！！为了追求利润它对我们进行精神折磨，霸占了我们的看电视时间。我庄严发誓，在有生之年我绝不购买任何恒源祥的产品。'Friends, let's join together to resist Heng Yuan Xiang!!! In pursuit of profit they have done a great moral travesty, and monopolized our airtime!!!' wrote one blogger on popular online forum Tianya after watching the ad. 'I hereby solemnly swear: in the one life I have, I will never purchase anything by Heng Yuan Xiang.'
恒源祥却对这种负面返响不屑一顾。该公司在2月21日的一篇新闻稿中称，一夜之间，恒源祥的十二生肖广告以言简意骇的表现形式，及悦耳简明的音律再次掀起广告热潮。Heng Yuan Xiang has said the backlash is buzz. 'Overnight, Heng Yuan Xiang's 'twelve animals ad' has become a household discussion topic across the country,' the company said in a statement Feb. 21. 'With its pithy message, the 'twelve animals ad' rings in the public's ear and has again become an advertising sensation.'
灵智广告公司的陈仲翰说，他还没看到过哪家公司能通过骚扰顾客培养起品牌知名度的。Says Euro RSCG's Mr. Tan: 'I've seen very few cases where consumers were annoyed into brand loyalty.'
Jonathan Cheng / Geoffrey A. Fowler
