In this advertisement, Homa Appliances is playing off of the similarity between the sound of the company’s name to that of the Chinese translation for Obama to sell refrigerators. And, as part of this campaign, they’re using an image which bears a striking resemblance to a poster designed by artist Shepard Fairey, which itself resembled an image taken by an AP freelance photographer Mannie Garcia.

Okay, putting aside the possibly copyright issues (and, this is a case which I would love to see goto court), think about what is happening here. A Chinese brand is trying to sell refrigerators in China by referencing the president of the United States. I can tell you that nothing like this happened under the Bush Administration (who, btw, wasn’t well liked here). I also cannot remember seeing any current leader from another country being held in such high esteem.

I think you’d have to go back to Lenin (before the fallout) to find anything similar.

And, this is even after being two and a half years into the administrations disastrous “pivot towards Asia”.

Now, if you think this is interesting, wait until tomorrow’s posting. 🙂