Bus advertisement Hong Kong style

Every morning as I board Citybus, I come across assorted promotions as seen on television. Roadshow has the word ad inside it so it was used as an infomercial across Hong Kong's bus lines where passengers are kept busy looking at ads instead of staring at the crowded streets nor solitary lightpost outside.

I can't seem to like it in any way. Spoken in Cantonese and subtitled in traditional Chinese, a Chinese language illetrate like me has no way of understanding what a talk show host like Kawaii or Angela are talking about. Apart from those, gibberish terms from local guests, the noise it produces is definitely a nuisance. Some bus drivers are considerate enough to lower the volume; people can read the subtitle anyway.

Typical ads currently hot in the market are slimming centres. Ads show up various plump, fat women unable to catch a bus, sit on a public bench or in any forms of humiliation because of their enormous size. Then one friend advises one fat woman to go to this XXX or YYY slimming center; a few seconds of demo on how the process of defattening is done: nurses undergoing some lotion rubbing or laser treatment while the fat woman is asleep. A little later, the fat woman has been transformed into a fairly sexy lady, all smiles while brandishing her two piece suit. She reveals her waistline was down from 33 to 25.

Typical bus ads about medication products, hair growing gels, foot massages or shampoos never fail to show simulation of how the products act on someone's system. According to my ex boss Colin who is a brand expert, this is one way to attract customers into trying the products and promote the brand. Sounds funny but HK ads have been doing all sorts of tricks, most of which are corny, yet they sell and help create the image of a brand.