Powershop – seems it is OK to offend Catholics but not the Chinese

Friday, March 22nd, 2013

Auckland Transport has pulled an advertisement depicting Chairman Mao performing the Gangnam Style dance. It has been banned from Auckland bus stops for fear it will insult Chinese residents.

The advertisement for online electricity store Powershop shows the Chinese former dictator surrounded by Chinese people and soldiers posing with guns, and carries the slogan ‘Same Power Different Attitude’.

Powershop is the same business that produced an advertisement depicting the Pope at the time, Pope Benedict XVI, officiating at a same sex wedding.

Auckland Transport communications manager Sharon Hunter said as a general rule they did not want to have adverts on shelters that were designed to “shock, offend or be controversial”.

“Something which may be funny to one person can easily be offensive to another.

“On this occasion we believed Powershop’s advertisement may potentially cause offence to Auckland’s Chinese population”.

A Blogger on the New Zealand Conservative Website remarks:

“Strange, how potentially offending the Chinese Government (I mean, come on, this is not poking fun at Chinese people – Chairman Mao represents the Chinese Government, not the people!) immediately creates a proactive reaction from the Council-owned company, while as an ad poking fun at the Pope Emeritis (supposedly marrying two men when the Catholic Church is totally against same-sex marriage) who represents almost as many Catholics as Chinese people (1.1 billion vs 1.2 billion) does not result in a ban on that other ad!”

Powershop chief executive Ari Sargent said he was not aware of any official complaints about the advertisement, which has appeared online and on billboards in Auckland and Wellington.

He said previous campaigns had been more likely to cause offence than the Chairman Mao advert. Powershop had received only one complaint through its call centre, and would be asking Auckland Transport to review the decision.

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