Puffed Up Advertising

Would drinking this coconut milk make your chest look like theirs?

On the eve of International Women's Day, many Chinese companies still don't get how sexist they are in 2019 when it comes to their marketing slogans. But at least consumers are speaking up and shaming these companies into correcting their puffed up claims.

Wahaha said the "testimonial" was taken off the packaging

Case in point -- Chinese beverage giant Wahaha removed a "consumer quote" that claimed drinking a package of milk regularly would increase a woman's breast cup size from A to D.

The drink, called Vitamin A&D Calcium Milk, which is a popular drink for children, has a so-called testimony that reads: "When I was in high school, someone in my class said drinking Vitamin A&D Calcium Milk can help [your cup size] grow from A to D. That started a craze in our class and all the girls started drinking it."

Maybe it did increase their chest sizes from all the hormones injected into the dairy cows, but I digress...

Consumers complained, saying the so-called testimony was misleading and inappropriate for a product targeting children to carry a message about breast enhancement.

This milk product is actually geared towards children

Wahaha apologized on Tuesday and said it had stopped producing the packaging. It tried to explain that the testimonial was from actual consumers and got their permission to use the quotes.

But really? A story claiming apparent breast enhancement printed on a drink for kids?

Meanwhile another drinks company, Hainan Coconut Palm Group was also criticized for claiming that if women drank its coconut milk, then their breasts would get bigger.

The ads featured women frolicking on the beach with large chests with slogans like: "drink one can ever day, [your] curves will excite people, whiter and more plump", or "I drink from small to big", or "drinking more coconut milk every day can make [your] breasts fuller".

That's not the first time Hainan Coconut Palm Group got into trouble about unverified claims about its drinks. In 2017, it released an advertisement for its papaya juice, with large-chested women in bikinis on the beach with the slogan: "when I'm full of papaya, I'm ample-chested".

Claims of big chests after drinking coconut milk are false

It's quite obvious these companies don't have women in senior positions otherwise they would never have gotten into trouble with these silly marketing slogans in the first place. Do they really think women are gullible enough to consume these products to get a bigger chest?

How about just focusing on promoting how good it tastes instead of making such puffed up claims...

Cooking Up an Unappetizing Show

Sexist: Three male hosts watch three women cook

Last night I was reminded by how bad -- no atrocious -- the programs are on TVB when I watched an episode of Cooking Beauties.

Three male hosts and a guest judge observe three female celebrities prepare the same dishes for them to sample and decide who is the winner.

Cantopop singer Joey Wong has trouble handling a live fish

The women wear sleeveless tops so they have to wear "sleeves" that go up to their elbows in case they get their arms dirty or splattered with hot oil. And the dishes they are making aren't easy -- presumably there's someone behind the scenes instructing them on what to do.

However, not all the female contestants know how to cook -- some of them have very bad knife skills and they almost chop off their fingers, or they have no idea how to cut up meat, let alone fish.

Back in June when the show started, the Communications Authority received over 800 complaints from viewers about how the three contestants handled a tiger grouper.

In order to kill them, one fish was thrown into hot water, another thrown on the floor. This is meant to elicit laughs from the audience, but many viewers at home were not amused.

A statement from Happy Animal Lab and Hong Kong Veg Society condemned the "unnecessary pain to animals". It also criticized the amount of food wasted, as many of the dishes were inedible (again for laughs) and had to be thrown out.

The contestants wear "sleeves" and the men watch them cook

"When fish and crustacean are thrown on the floor or a heating saucepan alive, as they cannot make any sound, the audience would not realize their pain. Because of their silence, the audience ignore their suffering. Their silence also results in their sacrifice in a farce," the statement read.

"If the animals are replaced by a pig, a chicken or a cow, will the audience still find this interesting?"

All good points.

But my main beef is that the show is sexist -- why is it that the women have to cook for the men who will judge them? And why just expose these women's short-comings when it comes to their culinary skills? Why not make both men and women compete? And have the judging panel include both men and women?

Some of the female competitors were so bad in executing their dishes that some of the judges gave them negative points, again for laughs. How is that amusing?

These "interns" wear form-fitting chef jackets and short skirts

Another part of the show are about a dozen "interns" dressed in form-fitting chef jackets and short skirts. Sometimes they are called on to compete against each other in a 10-minute cooking test. Real female chefs don't wear short skirts and aim to look pretty in the kitchen. They are there to do their job and do it well.

Cooking Beauties is a horrific show on so many levels. The fact that it still isn't cancelled just shows how tone deaf TVB executives are and it send the wrong message about women, men, and cooking.

Actor Nicholas Tse who has a cooking show and is a judge is looking more credible even though he isn't a bona fide chef either...

Giordano Ad Criticized as Sexist

Are these four words the way you would sum up a "family"?

Hong Kong society's expectations of women are back in the imperial dynasties when it comes to images of them depicted in advertising.

A lot of the ads I see in the MTR station or on television expect women to look beautiful -- have flawless skin, a big bust thanks to her push-up bra, and she has to have a flat stomach, in other words not eat.

And if you have a family, then you have to be a perfect mother that dotes on her children and looks after her husband, because after all, he's the breadwinner.

But statistically some 52 percent of women in Hong Kong work, compared to 65 percent men. And many of those women don't know how to cook, let alone have time to clean because they're busy working. The cost of living is so high in the city -- look at housing prices -- that at least two incomes are needed to keep a family afloat these days.

So it was an affront to women in Hong Kong when they saw this ad for casual clothing brand Giordano a few days ago. Called "Team Family Series", it shows a "family" with each member wearing a different T-shirt. The father's says "work", mother's says "cook", while the two kids have "cry" and "play".

If that's how one sums up a family it's very pathetic. Don't kids "study" and not just "cry"?

An expatriate woman, who is also a mother was outraged when she saw the ad showing the mother as being stuck in the kitchen, and immediately went about shaming Giordano on social media for being sexist. Soon there was an onslaught of angry women criticizing the local brand for being way behind the times.

Giordano did respond and said it had received a number of complaints, but added it was proud of its clothing apparel that is designed for everyone regardless of ethnicity, nationality, culture or gender.

"We agree that the ultimate products could be a better way in presentation that is one of the many ways to presenting the love to family which did not reflect our entire true values," said a statement on Giordano's Facebook page.

It added the words chosen for the T-shirts were meant "to depict different, random aspects of life."

Hmmm that's truly random.

While many of the ads have been taken down, this one was spotted at Kowloon station, and the "Team Family series" is being sold in some stores.

The worst thing about ads targeted at women in Hong Kong is that many men have expectations that women should look beautiful, flawless and perfect in every way. Many of the ads in Hong Kong depict fantasy rather than reality, and if it is the latter, it's how sad or pathetic real life is.

Advertisers and advertising agencies have to take some responsibility for their depictions of people and life. Or is it consumers who can't face the reality of life and advertisers are trying to provide some kind of aspiration?

How sad is that?

Still Wearing Skirts? It's 2018

Cathay Pacific uniforms have evolved over the years, but not the skirts

It's hard to believe but in 2018, female flight attendants on Cathay Pacific and Cathay Dragon are asking management to be able to wear trousers as an option for their uniform.

"The stereotype of the flight attendant is very old-style already: looking pretty, full make-up and wearing a skirt. It is a good time to have a revamp of our image," says Vera Wu Yee-mei, chairwoman of the Cathay Pacific Flight Attendants Union, representing 7,200 members.

Wearing skirts in a cold climate is hardly practical

The flight attendants have good reason to ask to wear trousers -- some destinations they fly to can be very cold in the winter -- snow even -- so wearing skirts is hardly practical. And how is wearing skirts a good idea in crisis situations? Hardly seems so.

Oh and also their blouses are on the short side so whenever they reach up, sometimes skin is revealed... it has been an ongoing complaint for years. Doesn't management listen to their concerns? Or was saving money on an extra inch of fabric per blouse an issue more important than someone's dignity?

The job of a flight attendant is hardly glamorous -- serving drinks and meals to passengers strapped in seats for hours on end. There's also the task of cleaning washrooms, and dealing with rude behaviour on the flight.

Hong Kong Airlines also has a skirt-only rule

But Cathay Pacific is hardly the only airline in Hong Kong to have the skirt-only rule -- Hong Kong Airlines and Hong Kong Express also have uniforms where women must wear skirts.

This just proves that men are ruling the boardroom and have no idea or empathy for what their female staff go through on a daily basis. When is this ignorance going to end?

North American and European airlines have allowed female flight attendants the option to wear trousers for years. Surely it's time for Hong Kong to catch up?

Beauty Trumps Brains in HK

Jennifer Coosemans crowned Miss Chinese International 2016

On Saturday night I watched the Miss Chinese International Pageant on TVB Jade, and it was a clear demonstration of how Hong Kong objectifies women.

Every time a candidate had a close-up on television, their name, where they were from, but more importantly, their measurements would flash up on the screen. Is her bust size what's going to help her win?

The swim suit competition bared a lot of skin during rehearsal

Of course there was a swim suit section, though many of them didn't have much to show off. But as if to give a sense of equity to the proceedings, the male dancers accompanying the women on stage were shirtless...

Watching the women parade in costumes that reflected where they came from was fun, but the competition to show off their talent was cringe-worthy.

One did a short ballet rendition of Swan Lake, a woman from Thailand sang an English song, while a contestant who speaks Putonghua thought she'd get extra points by playing the piano and singing in Cantonese. Not. It was already nerve-wracking for her to not flub up on the piano and then to sing in Cantonese with a Putonghua accent...

The questions the hosts asked the contestants were hardly challenging. For one of them, they showed a picture of a Chinese door god and asked the contestant which judge looked most like the menacing-looking deity.

Miss Bangkok sang an English song in this stunning dress

Oh and can we add that all the judges were handsome men, one of which is a very wealthy businessman in the society pages?

Off to the side was a bevy of women in evening gowns who were previous pageant winners and seemed to take part in the judging but had no major role.

There were no hard-hitting questions, like explaining one thing the candidate would do to make the world a better place, or what what is your favourite book to read and why?

The contestants, who were pageant winners from their hometowns, came from all over, such as the United States, Canada, Thailand, China, South Africa, Australia, and of course Hong Kong. As a result, English, Cantonese and Mandarin had to be spoken simultaneously by the three hosts, Carol Cheng Yu-ling, Janis Chan and Lawrence Cheng.

Miss Jiangsu danced a section of Swan Lake for the audience

The winner this year? Jennifer Coosemans (Chu Ah-lam), 21, of Vancouver, who is half Belgian, half Chinese. Originally from Terrace, British Columbia, she was crowned Miss Vancouver Chinatown last month.

Coosemans has one more year of university before she graduates. And with her model looks, she'll surely be roped into a modeling career here; and if she can brush up on her Cantonese and Mandarin, there will surely be some acting roles for her too...

Chinese Hi-tech Firms Highly Sexist

Adult film star Sola Aoi was cited in Alibaba's recruitment ad

China likes to say that "women hold up half the sky", back in Mao Zedong's days, and even then that wasn't true either.

Seems like the country has hardly moved ahead when it comes to gender equality, but perhaps these days criticism may finally get things going in the right direction.

JD.com's ad for International Nurses Day last month drew ire

Nasdaq-listed online marketplace JD.com promoted International Nurses Day with images of health workers in lingerie-like uniforms.

"I will never buy things from JD again. What disgusting behaviour!" one woman wrote.

The firm quickly yanked the ad and apologized.

Meanwhile on e-commerce giant Alibaba's official recruitment website, its ad said the company was looking for support staff for computer programmers, mentioning porn star Sola Aoi.

"You can be like 'Teacher Aoi' whose virtue and skills comprise a doubly strong and pervasive fragrance, the world in her breast," the ad read.

"You can be like Song Hye-kyo, from a respectable family, a heavenly beauty, who makes fish sink and birds alight, who obscures the moon and makes flowers blush," it said, referring to a mainstream South Korean actress.

Nothing mentioned about what office-related skills they should have or language ability...

It turns out Chinese technology companies have a history of inviting Japanese adult film stars to events. While the authorities ban online content they deem pornographic, illegal downloads have allowed adult film actresses to have huge followings in China.

Rola Takizawa on stage at an event hosted by Qihoo

In 2013, NetEase invited Anri Okita to its offices, where she ate lunch and took pictures with male staff. Shanghai-based gaming company Dream invited Yui Hatano to its annual company party last year, and internet security company Qihoo 360 hosted Rola Takizawa.

One wonders what the female staff at these companies thought of the company fueling their male colleague's carnal desires in the workplace... or they just shook their heads and continued working...

"In mainstream [Chinese] society, there is objectification of women and gender inequality," said Wang Ping of the Zhejiang Academy of Social Sciences. "It might be more serious in technology companies."

For now, though it seems Alibaba has learned its lesson. Following criticism, it removed the ad and apologized.

It was "intended to be an attempt at humorous marketing to recruit IT talent," the company said. "We apologize to anyone offended... Alibaba is committed to providing equal opportunity and fair treatment to all employees on the basis of merit, without discrimination."

Until attitudes seriously change from the top, sexism will continue to be rampant in China's companies... which means with men in charge, it probably won't change anytime soon...

Not Quite Progressive

About two weeks ago a young American male colleague remarked how sexist Hong Kong is.

Coming from San Francisco, he is shocked at how women are treated here, how local men look down on them and the preconceptions they have of the fairer sex.

To verify his point, there's a report out today from Privacy Commissioner Allan Chiang Yam-wang that there are mostly small and mid-sized companies that have made serious breaches with the law.

One shocking case is of an investment company that required all of its female staff to give blood samples for DNA testing after menstrual blood stains were left in the women's washroom.

There is no indication in the news story of how much of a mess was left, but is such a witch hunt necessary?

YTSL expressed frustration to me recently when she went to a restaurant in Tsim Sha Tsui and ordered a dry martini, only to be warned by the waiter that the drink "might be too strong" for her.

Knowing her, she probably gave him a dirty look, but to assume that she wouldn't be able to handle the drink is condescending to say the least.

It's really amusing the preconceived ideas Hong Kong men in particular have of women -- how they are supposed to be delicate pretty things with long hair, big eyes and skinny legs -- and need to be supported by a man physically and financially. And then they get thrown off when they meet a woman who is more than capable of looking after herself.

They are immediately intimidated and perhaps wonder if they are lesbians!

Which explains to a certain degree why there are so many more single women in Hong Kong than men, who pursue women who depend on them.

So much for women's lib in Hong Kong...