International Tsingdao

Last week I spotted this series of Tsingdao beer ads targeting Expo visitors. These tidbits on local drinking habits should prove interesting to foreign guests. I was reminded in my first few drinking experiences in China – I was surprised how everyone around slammed down their glasses before a toast until i began to think about how difficult it would be for everyone sitting around a large table to directly clink glasses politely together without causing a tangle of hands in the middle.

Tangled hands aside, Qingdao has been pushing itself to be a global brand for a while; from sponsoring the Cleveland Cavaliers to having Clint Eastwood drink it in a movie.

There’s a beautiful interplay of ideas in these ads between the vastness and complexity of ‘China’ to foreigners linguistically and culturally made simple through the universality of drinking a beer.

Moreover, it’s a timely opportunity for Tsingdao to assert both it’s internationalism to not only a foreign audience, but also a proud domestic one.

This post was written by KeYue.

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This entry was posted on Thursday, June 3rd, 2010 at 12:08 am. It is filed under Advertising, China, Food & Beverage and tagged with Expo. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.