CPN apologizes, pulls ‘controversial’ Chinese New Year ad

Time to screen-capture that questionable Chinese New Year ad from Central Pattana and archive it in your library of poorly considered marketing campaigns.

The giant mall management company this evening apologized for an advertisement some deemed racially insensitive and said it would be removed from circulation.

“We would like to make our heartfelt apology on this issue,” said CPN spokesman Sakorn Thavisin in a statement. “We are extremely sorry for the lack of judgment in this issue as we did not realize that the gesture of the model in the advertisement would be offensive to the Chinese communities.”

The advertisement featured a Caucasian model dressed Won Kar-wai-style stretching her eyelid in a gesture widely considered racist, at least outside of Asia.

Saying “immediate action” would be taken to correct the problem, Sakorn said the advertisement had been taken down from all of CPN’s advertising platforms, while taking measures to avoid such incidences in the future.

Given the ad’s prominence in promoting a Central give-away of free trips to Hong Kong and other tasty rewards, now is probably a good time to enter their contest. If you can figure out how, without the ad.

 

Related:

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Dear Editor,
    It has come to our attention that CPN’s recent Chinese New Year campaign advertisement may have been seen controversial among the Chinese communities.
    We would like to make our heartfelt apology on this issue. We do not have any intention to offend to the Chinese communities. We are extremely sorry for the lack of judgment in this issue as we did not realize that the gesture of the model in the advertisement would be offensive to the Chinese communities.
    We put this issue as our top priority and have taken an immediate action to solve this problem. The advertisement has been taken down from all of our advertising platforms.
    CPN is striving to give the best and rewarding experience to our customers in every aspect. We promise that in the future we will strengthen our advertising review process and take other steps to prevent this type of issue from happening again.

    Sincerely yours,
    Central Pattana Public Company Limited

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