What Comes To Pass

"Live it. Love it!"

"Live it. Love it!"

Currently Listening To: Five O'Clock World by Vogues

Yep the Hong Kong advertising board is going on another spending spree it seems. Each day when I watch the TV my beloved isle is spammed all over the place. In true keeping with the history of Hong Kong tourism advertisements Jackie Chan can be seen, only at the beginning this time but it still counts as his requisite cameo.

Hong Kong is the only place that advertises itself on its own TV. I don't often see ads which say "England! Boy does it kick ass!" on the TV here, occasionally I see "Visit York" or something but never anything which just advertises England as a country (generally because those who are watching the channel have already made England their home)

A division of the "shut up and make money" ministry

Anyhow as I understand it "Hong Kong: Live it. Love it!" is the new slogan for the Hong Kong Tourism Board, anxious to make up for the number of 'fraidy cat tourists scared off by SARS (I think I made my opinions on that subject clear before - namely that I'd consider it an excuse for really cheap air travel to the Land of the Shiny Green Suit).

It's everywhere!

The ad also has the great junk shot which everyone loves so much. The red sailed vessel is shown clearly on the Hong Kong Tourism Board's logo on the right. As you may have noticed this junk is everywhere. "But John," you ask "what do you mean 'this' junk? Surely its just one of the ones they happened to photograph?" Well I shall tell you what I mean, there is only one. Thats right, in the whole of Victoria Harbour only one sail-driven junk remains and its used every single time there's a tourism campaign. Don't get me wrong I love Victoria Harbour, seeing the shipping and freight gliding through makes me happy for reasons I can't quite fathom. However that's me, if you want to see a lot of those quaint little ships you're not going to have much luck so buy a postcard of one instead, heck all the postcards have it on. It wouldn't surprise me if the next photo of the Po Lin Monastery Buddha for a postcard was taken from 3 miles away so that they could fit in the junk in the foreground ;)

Well its coming up to 3pm now and I want to call up my family. In addition to which I have some washing to pick up from the kitchen which ought to have dried by now.

(edit: I changed the layout to stop it from going crazy, sure its uglier than my usual style but I'd rather that than have it the unreadable mess it was being rendered as before ;) )

Later

John

Posted by John Swaine at September 18, 2003 01:44 PM