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Nike apologizes to Chinese for TV commercial
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2004-12-09 00:42
Nike, the multinational athletic shoe and sportswear giant, issued an apology
to Chinese customers Friday, not long after China banned its new television
commercial "Chamber of Fear" for insulting Chinese national dignity.
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The Nike's new TV commercial featured NBA
Star Lebron James is deemed hurting the national dignityu of
Chinese. | "Nike Inc. is sorry for concerns and worries aroused among Chinese customers
after the commercial was aired, and we by no means disrespect Chinese culture,"
it said in a statement sent to major Chinese newspapers and web media based in
Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou through its public relations agent in China,
the Shanghai-based @PR Consulting Ltd..
The commercial, broadcast on local Chinese stations and on state television's
national sports channel, shows 19-year-old NBA star LeBron James defeating a
kung fu master, two women in traditional Chinese attire and a pair of dragons,
symbols of traditional Chinese culture.
The State Administration for Radio, Film and Television on Monday said in a
statement issued on Dec. 3 that the commercial "violates regulations that
mandate that all advertisements in China should uphold national dignity and
interest and respect the motherland's culture."
The ad had been airing in China since Nov. 1, the day before the start of the
NBA season. Chinese newspapers and on-line media this week gave broad coverage
of the ban, with discussions being heatedly carried on the Internet and
commentary columns of many local newspapers.
Immediately following the ban, Maurice Zhou, a spokesman in Shanghai for Nike
Inc. said the company "respected the government' s decision."
In Friday's statement, Nike said the idea of the commercial was borrowed from
Hong Kong's kung fu films in 1970s and combined with today's youth culture.
"Nike wishes to encourage Asian teenagers to overcome fear and strive
forward, showing their own basketball style," the apology said.
It said the commercial tried to show James's growing-up story that he faced
and overcome fears and difficulties. The cultural figures were used as metaphor
of fear.
It is not the first time Nike has run into trouble with its television
advertisements. Observers said the company, targeting the market of the young,
frequently used controversial advertising to grab the attention of youth.
In August, Nike withdrew an ad from Australian television featuring young
girls trying to impress a male tennis coach after local morals groups protested
it trivialized paedophilia.
And last month, Nike ads, also featuring James, designed to resemble graffiti
provoked controversy and protests in famously conservative Singapore.
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