The 10 best Advertising Posters I have seen

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The MTR Hong Kong | The 10 best Advertising Posters I have seen

Me Jamie, a retired Private Tour Guide and a Hong Kong resident for 52 years and I have been travelling on the MTR (Mass Transit Railway) since it opened in 1979, it has obviously evolved over the years and it has to be one of the very best subway systems in the World.

Advertising posters are everywhere and I always make a point of checking them out - I have listed just 10 of my favourites, some will make you laugh and shake your head and some are just disgusting and others will make you think.

Once you have lived in Hong Kong for a while you start to get the humour and the cultural differences - 92% (ish) of the population is ethnically Chinese (something that people forget) but English is still an official language which pretty much means that in the 99 MTR Stations open 7 days a week you will see a lot of advertising posters which are in Chinese and English.

In a nutshell, every now and then something gets lost in translation, I have no explanation as to why other than that the advertising agencies responsible for producing the posters do not run them past a native English person (I would be a good choice!) to make sure everything is in order.

To give you a related example, I subscribe through a local TV cable supplier 5 movie channels from HBO (I will stick to the movie channels) you know that someone must watch all the movies because they have a 100% success rate in bleeping out the word F**K and remarkably completely miss bleeping out the word C**T and the word S**T - work that one out.

It is not just a matter of knowing the language, you have to know culture, humour and context

On the importance scale it seems to be a pretty irrelevant matter, after all the only people that will see the “joke” or “humour” are from countries where English is the first language and hence they get it, I imagine the Hong Kong Chinese do not bat an eyelid so why bother right?

I also imagine with the growing popularity of AI computers in advertising companies they will now do all the context and proof reading leading to even more mistakes and cultural fubars.

The moral of the story - well, the posters made me laugh! even no. 10 despite the sensitive subject matter.

Poster No.1

An absolute classic on how NOT to present your message, this is a Hong Kong Government message ( the Hong Government owns 75% of the MTR ) - taking upskirt images of young ladies on escalators is a crime in Hong Kong and there are lots of huge escalators all over Hong Kong, not just in MTR Stations and Shopping Malls.

This image is all wrong, the young male is decidedly shifty but hardly any males wear flat caps in Hong Kong and those that do will now be branded potential perverts, the wolf (I think it is a wolf or a dragon wolf) has a sly smile but the whole point of the advert goes down the toilet because the young lady has a slight smile as if enjoying the moment.

It is a crime for god’s sake! and it seems to happen every day somewhere in Hong Kong but generally peaks from May to September in our summer when the young ladies wear short skirts.

Hong Kong passed a law in 2021 about upskirt photography, you will go to jail and the maximum sentence is 5 years in jail, they really need to think about posters like this, it should be blunt and uncompromising, the lady smiling in the poster just sends out the wrong message.

Oh dear.

Poster No.2

I did a bit of research with my wife’s family and why you should not blow towards a chickens bottom

Generally the older people blow away the feathers covering the chickens butt so as….

• to make sure it is clean and not leaking and therefore in good health

• apparently you can check the butt and it offers clues as to whether the chicken has laid eggs, they prefer younger chickens who are not mothers so to speak as the meat tastes better

• they check the colour, the more yellow the butt hole the better as opposed to white, why? who knows!

Go figure!

Poster No.3

Not much to say other than generally images of half naked young ladies will make the male of the species want to go pop!

Poster No.4

An absolute classic and I howled with laughter when I saw this, I think when you are advertising feminine hygiene pads discretion is needed, I do not think a handsome young male, sniffing cotton (in the shape of an ice cream cone) is a good way of presenting your product and message…. a real head shaker, perhaps the message is that Kotex cotton pads are 100% effective?

Poster No.5

This got embarrassing as I found myself explaining to certain young ladies why this poster is hilarious, my English female friends got it, my wife and her Chinese female friends and relatives did not.

Try explaining if you will why MOIST, DIANE is not a good choice for a brand of haircare and skincare products for young ladies, you will not be surprised to know that it is a Japanese brand.

I should point out that in all their 2024 adverts I have seen in Hong Kong, they seem to have dropped the MOIST, from the brand name, Diane is now just plain Diane and is no longer moist (sorry!) and then you look at their websites and everything is Moist, Diane, it is all very confusing

…. and sometimes I get the impression that I am the only one to see the funny side of this cultural faux pas

Poster No.6

This is a simple one, they have a 3 letter word in the text C*M that meant something different 50 years ago but has a totally different meaning now and you would be surprised at how often this word pops up on Government Posters and Signs.

Using that word in the context of World Oral Health Day makes for some embarrassing sniggers.

Poster No.7

This message from a Japanese Condom manufacturer certainly wanted to suggest that in Hong Kong the male of the species is hung like a horse so to speak!

My local friends did not understand why I thought this poster was hilarious.

I left them in the dark.

Poster No.8

Having a famous person endorse your products can in many instances be a no brainer but in this case, what the hell was Ronaldo thinking?

Apparently the device improves and tones your facial muscles.

It also makes you look totally stupid if you were daft enough to be seen in public with it and I imagine like most products of a similar design there is no valid scientific research to back up the claim!

Thinking outside of the box, you could hire your friends baby or toddler to do pull ups when the device is firmly lodged in your mouth, that might work!

At least Mr. Ronaldo was smart enough not be photographed with one in his mouth.

Poster No.9

Surulac S | sugar coated laxative tablets to relieve constipation.

I am English and a Yorkshireman and I simply do not want to talk about toilet habits nor would I ever be swayed to purchase a laxative which on first glance seems to imply you will produce swirly pink poo and no doubt in copious quantities, it is enough to put you off soft ice cream cones forever.

…. and my heart goes out to the young lady who was brave enough to wear a pink swirly poo suit.

Poster No.10

The FEHD and their meaningless posters about joining the green movement when it comes to a very touchy subject.

For the life of me I simply cannot understand what “Join the boundless and be free” even means?

Death rituals are a sensitive issue everywhere and rituals here are thousands of years old and very specific, we have 2 public holiday’s a year to allow people to participate in these very important rituals.

Number of green burials quadruples over past decade as Hong Kong authorities look to promote scattering of ashes in designated gardens, sea

Green burials involve scattering cremated ashes of the dead over pebbles in 13 designated memorial gardens or in waters near Tap Mun, Tung Lung Chau and Lamma Island
In 2023, 8,237 chose to have their ashes scattered in memorial gardens, while 1,144 opted for sea burial

This is from a South China Morning Post article on April 3rd 2024

“The growth in numbers is more obvious in the initial period, but the rate has been around 16 per cent of the annual death toll in the past few years.”

While Hongkongers had become more open towards these alternative methods, Li said the department would carry out more promotional activities, such as talks and guided tours to the memorial gardens for the public, to raise awareness on end-of-life planning”

I am not quite sure that carrying out “promotional activities” is the right phrase for such a sensitive subject

So in a nutshell, at the time of these holiday’s you can book a slot on a converted ferry and scatter ashes out at sea.. honestly I doubt these green burials will prove to be very popular

I guess I will never know why they came up with such a meaningless slogan

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