'Made in China' ad campaign wins applause in China
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A 30-second TV commercial remains a hot topic in China nearly two weeks after four Chinese industry associations launched a "Made in China" ad campaign on the CNN news network.
The ad, currently airing on the International, U.S. and Headline News channels of the CNN, highlights international involvement in producing high-quality Chinese goods.
It features an MP3 "Made in China with software from Silicon Valley" and clothes "Made in China with French designers," among others.
"It is necessary to let the world know China is not the only country that benefits from 'Made in China.' Those who set trade barriers would themselves suffer from their own measures," a netizen by the name arsw said at the online forum of www.sina.com.cn, a leading Chinese portal website.
The TV commercial was designed to tell overseas consumers that Chinese companies work with overseas firms to produce quality products, the China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Light Industrial Products and Arts-Crafts, one of the ad makers, said in a statement.
The Ministry of Commerce (MOC) has said it was supportive of the ad campaign.
"The global setting and international elements in the ad provide a new angle for the world to reflect on their stereotyped assumptions about Chinese products," said Zhao Yumin, a researcher with the MOC.
Such an ad campaign in international media is rare in China, and it highlights the efforts in image building, said Zhang Yansheng, a researcher with the National Development and Reform Commission.
While benefitting from China's quality and affordable products, some foreign people and media often pointed their fingers at Chinese products when under pressure of unemployment and shrinking market share.
The misreading was intensified by the international financial crisis, and Chinese products were facing more protectionism.
Zhao Jinping, a researcher with the Development Research Center of the State Council, said most of China's exported products were the fruits of cooperation between Chinese and foreign firms.
More than half of China's manufacturing exports were made by foreign funded enterprises, and for high-tech products and electronic products the proportions were 83 percent and 75 percent respectively.
Ninety percent of the high-tech products exported to the United States were made by foreign enterprises, "so China's trade surplus with the United States can be interpreted as the world's surplus," said Zhang Yansheng.
Meanwhile, more than half of China's manufacturing exports were done in processing trade, which means China has to import raw materials, accessories and machines to make the products.
"I think it will be great for foreigners living in the West to learn more about what goes into China products," Nickolas Topjian, an American doing business in Beijing, said after watching the ad.
Fear of job losses was not the only concern arising from "Made in China". "Chinese products are often blamed for quality and safety problems," said Zhang Hanlin, a researcher with the University of International Business and Economics.
"The ad campaign is an effective and sophisticated attempt to reposition China as trusted manufacturer to the world drawing on international expertise," said Martin Mulligan, an observer from London.
"As part of a process to shake off an outdated image of China as a giant manufacturer with safety and quality deficits, the ad is quite valuable. China is still perceived in that way by some so-called developed world audiences so I think the ad has a part to play," he said.
However, different opinions have been voiced, saying the ad might be counter-productive and reinforce China's image as "the world's factory."
"We do need this kind of campaign, but what matters more is to improve the quality of our products and create China's own world-famous brands," a netizen said on China's popular online forum www.tianya.cn.
Another netizen remarked "We would like to see more 'Designed in China' rather than 'Made in China'."
Zhang Yansheng said it was a hard fact that China was now the "world's factory" as its manufacturing output was 15 percent of the world's total, compared with its 6 percent share of the world's total GDP.
He said China's future ad campaigns should focus on the topic of "upgraded 'Made in China'", telling the world that the country was on the way to become the world's innovator and designer.
