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Get an insight into life with the flick of a switch

By Joseph Christian (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-11-09 08:02

It was one o'clock in the morning. I was bored but didn't want to go to bed. I grabbed the remote and, as the TV flickered to life, my eyes were greeted by one of the strangest commercials I have ever seen.

On the screen in front of me I watched in dazed horror as a man climbed into a machine that looked like a medieval rack. First, he strapped in his ankles and then proceeded to fit his head into a specially designed chinstrap that groped his head like a giant hand. With a smile on his face he turned a crank that pulled his body from both ends.

I would have been wincing in pain but the man took it like a pro. After all, the machine was supposed to make him taller. All I can say is that you have to be either an incredibly stupid or an incredibly talented marketer to try to sell a former torture device as a consumer product.

It did, however, get me thinking about how commercials can be a reflection of society.

In my native America, TV ads are a celebrated art form. They are funny, smart and get your attention. With big-name stars, million-dollar production budgets and a team of designers and writers, sometimes it seems a bit overboard. Yet the purpose is focused. The goal is not to present the utility of a product but to create a desire for it.

This makes sense because such commercials are a reflection of America's consumer society. It is this consumption that is one of the main driving forces behind United States GDP, so it should be no surprise that so much effort is put into getting people to buy things.

In China, TV ads aren't as peppered with the fantastic or funny as their American counterparts because consumerism isn't as entrenched as it is in America.

But that is quickly changing. Every year, Chinese commercials seem to be getting better. There are more stars, better production and even emotional story lines; all of this in an effort to coax save-happy Chinese people to jump headlong into a consumer lifestyle.

In addition to encouraging consumerism, they also offer us a mirror into Chinese society. The plethora of medicine ads that claim to cure various ailments reflect the traditional Chinese focus on physical health. In contrast, medical ads in America are largely limited to Viagra because we value ... well I think you can get the picture. It is funny how culture can be encapsulated into a little blue pill.

If you are looking to understand the residents of Beijing, maybe there is no better place to look than TV commercials. Beijing is blessed with around 10 dedicated stations for its citizens and if you flip back and forth between these channels you should notice some trends.

More than other places in China, there are many more commercials for foreign products. In fact, commercials aired on Beijing TV are largely monopolized by Apple and various European car manufacturers like Volkswagen. But that makes sense because Beijing is in the process of trying to establish itself as a truly international city and its citizens clamor more than most for the latest cars and electronic devices.

I was quite repulsed the night I watched that a Chinese man willingly climb into a rack in an effort to get taller, but when I woke up the next morning I realized maybe I was missing the point. The poor man just wanted to get taller, maybe because he was embarrassed about his height because most Chinese women prefer a taller man.

While such a machine probably won't help, at least it can give the man some hope. In the process, it accomplishes what any good ad does, in plays on a need, real or imagined, in order to make you buy. Advertisers aren't stupid. If you want to know what a society wants, needs and desires, TV commercials are an excellent place to start.