A few years ago WPP-owned Ogilvy sprung a big surprise by hiring M&C Saatchi creative director Graham Fink, a veteran of the London agency scene (although he manages not to look like one), and transplanting him to China.
Now Ogilvy Shanghai has produced an interesting (and no doubt controversial spin) on its much-awarded Dove ‘Real Beauty’ campaign with these ads for China showing pregnant bellies painted with questions from unborn girls.
“If you knew I would grow to be a flat-nosed girl, will you still welcome me?” asks one. “If you knew I’d grow up to weigh 140 jin (that’s 154 lbs), would I still be your baby?” asks another. The third says “I’ll soon some to the world, but if I grow to only have an A bra cup, will you tease me?”
Girls in China are a serious issue of course; not always welcomed in a land with a billion mouths to feed. But it’s gradually becoming a consumer society (in the urban areas anyway) with a massive appetite for beautification. So it’s reasonable enough for Dove and owner Unilever to enter the debate.