Interesting: Advertising With Gay Themes/Characters Shows Up In Mainstream Vietnamese Markets

[attrayant]

Chewy Junior TVC commercial airing in Vietnamese markets.

I found this kinda cute & amazed that Vietnam markets have started testing the waters of DINK advertising.

It's getting a lot of hateful comments on You Tube, and currently at about 83% dislikes. So you might wanna log in and give it a "like" if you've got nothing better to do. Perhaps the silver lining is... a few years ago it probably wouldn't have gotten any "likes" at all.

[endure]

Very good. Worth a 'like'.

[tombkk]

I am so unhappy the guy who first massages the woman becomes to effeminate! I liked him until then - it's too cliche for me, "all gays are really effeminate". But then, I have to admit it's very courageous of the cupcake company to air this.

[Bung]

Pretty brave adding that bit at 0:17.....I'm pretty sure most censors in the west would have put a halt to it right there. Honestly, I don't mind saying I find it offensive.

I guess it is accepted in Asia as so many of the men are effeminate and so is accepted, even seen to be "cute" just like the doughnuts they are trying to sell. Just waay too over the top to be shown on TV.

[endure]

Pretty brave adding that bit at 0:17.....I'm pretty sure most censors in the west would have put a halt to it right there. Honestly, I don't mind saying I find it offensive.

I guess it is accepted in Asia as so many of the men are effeminate and so is accepted, even seen to be "cute" just like the doughnuts they are trying to sell. Just waay too over the top to be shown on TV.

Until you pointed that out I'd never noticed it. I thought the ad was just a bit of light-hearted fun. Did you watch it hoping that you'd be offended? What a lewd mind you must have.

[Bung]

I didn't watch it hoping to be offended but I certainly was after seeing it. You have to admit, as far as visual double entendres go that (at 0;17) was pretty good. If it was between a man and woman it would have offended some others as well but hey, there's nothing like a bit of controversey to help sell something.

Do you feel it is ok to show this ad on TV?

Edited April 12, 2012 by Bung

[Ijustwannateach]

Hee hee hee hee.... very cute commercial.

Bung, I'm going to have to ask you to clarify what offended you- your last remark tends to hint that it was because it was between a man and a man that you were offended. I suppose you are being honest at least, but this is the GAY SUBFORUM (welcome to the gay subforum). We have guidelines here that tend to frown on homophobic expression, without reservation or apology.

[endure]

I didn't watch it hoping to be offended but I certainly was after seeing it. You have to admit, as far as visual double entendres go that (at 0;17) was pretty good. If it was between a man and woman it would have offended some others as well but hey, there's nothing like a bit of controversey to help sell something.

Do you feel it is ok to show this ad on TV?

I'm not quite sure what you saw. I saw some custard hit a man's face. It is, after all, an advert for cakes filled with custard. I would have thought you'd be more offended by the fact that one of them licked the other's face. I think it would be fine to show it on TV.

Edited April 12, 2012 by endure

[Ijustwannateach]

It's amazing, isn't it, to think that one human being licking another's face should be forbidden on TV when people get shot, stabbed, hacked, eaten, and slain in all kinds of dramatically grotesque and uncensored gory ways from moment to moment on almost every channel which shows fictional storytelling.

I mean, obviously there's a gay angle and an erotic subtext here, but face it: in Asia, guys (well, guys who are friends, mostly) are pretty happy with a level of physical intimacy that has been long gone from the English-speaking world (though I think there are signs in literature that it once existed)- they hold hands, they hug, they lie on top of each other, they sleep next to each other as a matter of choice, they give each other massages, they share ice cream- and yes, I bet as a kind of joking around with each other they go further than English-speaking guys would- how do I know this? Because I see it going on all the time, people joking with each other in the markets, in restaurants, out on the street, or hanging out with their friends. I'm not saying that strangers will go up and lick each other- that's a bit of the gay fantasy angle in the ad- but there's a different vibe out there (er, out here) and it's NOT always about being gay, but it IS about not being homophobic. That's why that ad can work in Viet Nam, which is another country (along with Thailand) which has very little homophobia even among straights.

That's why, Bung, your 'offense' (i.e., your phobic reaction) is quite literally homophobia, unless you care to clarify it as something else- perhaps a bit of Victorian sex-phobia as well, if you were really all that upset by the double-entendres which could be read in the ad beyond the licking. I mean, it's the 21st century and sex happens (hopefully even more often in reality than people getting hacked and blown up and all that, but most people don't seem to mind that being represented as graphically as possible on TV).

[attrayant]

Update: Original you tube link is dead (video supposedly removed by the user). But it's still

along with the following remarks:

Eeach of the actors were fined $5 million VND and the production company fined $50 million VND for producing this TV commercal by the Vietnamese government. Also the actors and director are prohibited from working for 6 months in any paid jobs, filmed projects, music videos, tv commercials or concerts.

Which, if true, is a shame. I wish there was a way people could contribute directly to the actors to compensate for this.

However on the upside...

Sexy Ads Draw Fire but Sell Products

The latest controversy surrounded an advertisement with model Tra Ngoc Hang, who is no stranger to such ‘scandals’, where she appeared alongside singer Don Nguyen and actor Chan Than San. The 79-second commercial was for Chewy Junior cake. The ad featured a massage scene that was much too ‘hot’ for the tastes of many viewers.

(emphasis mine)

So, contrary to what some have implied upthread, it was actually the hetero massage close-up scenes that gave the VNese government heartburn.

If the product is selling better as a result of the ad, then that has sealed the government's fate and ads like these will continue to be made, fines and penalties be damned. The VNese government has already tasted the sweet rewards of capitalism and isn't going to be changing course now.