发布时间：2009年12月09日
“中国制造，无处不在”，近日一则由商务部主导制作的宣传“中国制造”国际形 象的广告宣传片开始在美国有线新闻网（CNN）播出，这则广告着意重新打造与巩固“中国制造”在全球市场上的声誉。 30秒的广告集中展示了中国制造无处不在的身影：运动员脚上的跑鞋、日常使用的电器、时尚人士手中的MP3、模特身上的服装，世界的每一个角落中都留下了 “中国制造”的印记。与这些“中国制造”产品联系在一起的,是美国的科技、欧洲的风尚、硅谷的软件和法国的品牌，这种结合突出了“中国制造，世界合作”这 一广告中心主题。
加拿大《环球邮报》就此采访了长江商学院市场营销助理教授荆兵博士。
原文如下：
China touts its wares in bid to buff image
China is taking to the global airwaves to promote its role as the factory to the world, and combat the dodgy reputation of its manufactured goods.
The government-sponsored television ad – showing a fashion model working a camera, an executive awaiting the takeoff of his flight, a family sitting down to breakfast – aims to remind viewers that many things they do involve goods made in China.
The 30-second spots are being broadcast on CNN in North America and Asia, showing viewers that the running shoes they don for a morning run are made in China with U.S. technology, that their iPods and MP3 players are made in China with technology from Silicon Valley, and that the haute couture world often features French-designed clothes made in China.
The ad ends with an American-accented voice proclaiming, "When it says Made in China, it really means Made in China, Made with the world."
Commissioned more than a year ago around the time of the Beijing Olympics and rolled out late last month, the advertisement is designed to combat the damage done by lead-contaminated toys, melamine-laced pet food, spontaneously-combusting DVD players and countless other recalls big and small of Chinese-made products.
China's Ministry of Commerce and four major industry associations hired Beijing-based DDB Gouan, part of global marketing firm DDB, to produce the advertisement (which was reportedly delayed by the melamine-contaminated milk scandal in summer 2008).
"The whole idea behind it is, these products are made in China, however, with best-in-class nations or best-in-class technology," DDB spokeswoman Karen See said of the ad.
The spot is timed to coincide with the Western holiday shopping season to persuade consumers that Chinese products are both safe and good value. The ad, referred to as a "charm offensive" in state-controlled media, is to run for six weeks.
"The commercial is based on the concept of co-operation and participation, trying to convey the message that China joins hands with the world to produce high-quality products for consumers," the Ministry of Commerce told state-controlled media in a statement.
Chinese experts in marketing and quality control say the campaign is long overdue for the country's manufacturers, many of which have suffered under the bad press from shoddy products.
"I was delighted with this move," said Jing Bing, an assistant professor of marketing at the Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business, who praised both the commercial's content and its timing at the start of the Western holiday season. "It highlights the international flavour of these Chinese-made products. It makes foreign consumers less resistant to Chinese-made products."
It's also no accident that the campaign is being introduced as Chinese officials scold Western nations, including Canada, for what China has called protectionist policies, even as the West complains that cheap Chinese exports are hampering their own efforts at economic recovery.
The World Trade Organization has faced increasing numbers of dumping and subsidization complaints from both sides over such things as U.S. auto parts and Chinese shoes and textiles.
However, Chinese exports are still dropping – 21.3 per cent in the third quarter of 2009, year-on-year – and even dramatic efforts to boost consumer demand at home are not enough to bridge the gap, leaving Chinese manufacturers anxious to stem the loss.
"Do they need this advertising? Definitely they need some image control," said Bonnie Rich, chief executive officer of the Beijing-based Canadian/China Business Investment Group, who specializes in matching foreign buyers with Chinese manufacturers and policing quality control.
Though Ms. Rich said the commercial is done well, she expressed concern that it does not address fundamental shortcomings in the safety and sturdiness of Chinese-made goods. "They haven't addressed the quality issue, and maybe they are throwing a little of it back in our laps," by reminding consumers of the foreign origins of many of the designs, she said.
"It didn't address the quality issue, and the quality is the problem, isn't it?"
It's a truth acknowledged even among Chinese manufacturing's cheerleaders.
"At the end it boils down to consumer experience. If I buy a product once or twice and it works well, I am likely to continue buying it. But if it doesn't, I won't," Prof. Jing said.
"I don't think a commercial itself can correct people's impressions about Chinese products permanently. In the long run, what people trust most is their personal experience … If they've had negative experiences, I think they will stop buying regardless of how beautiful or attractive the products are."
