(Ecns.cn)--After a public diplomacy campaign video in Times Square and one of China's largest official news agencies, the People's Daily Online, moving to a 3,025-square foot office in the Empire State Building, China has once again drawn people's attention in the Big Apple.
Not very long ago, Xinhua News Agency, a highly recognized governmental media, rented a large billboard at the north end of New York City's Times Square for long-term advertising.
Here comes Xinhua
In 1955, upon pointing out the insufficient aspects of Xinhua's overseas business development, Chairman Mao said that the agency should cover the globe, letting the whole world listen to the voice of China. Now it seems that what Chairman Mao had wanted Xinhua to do, has been achieved in some sense.
Beginning August 1, 2011, many New Yorkers can now see that atop the Samsung and Coco-Cola advertisements, a new huge LED screen measuring 19 meters (60 feet) in height and 12 meters (40 feet) in width, has been lit in Times Square.
The screen was previously leased for the past decade by HSBC bank until the lease expired and was not renewed. On the screen, promotional videos by Xinhua News Agency and its sub-corporations including China Xinhua News Network Corporation (CNC), China Finance Corporation (CFC), China Image Corporation (CIC), and China Enews Company (CEC), are now being shown.
Other advertising videos from Chinese companies like the Wu Liangye Group and cities across China such as Shanghai, Chengdu, and Hangzhou are also being displayed. It is has been said that Xinhua is the first Chinese "brand" to enter Times Square.
Putting an advertisement in the heart of the United States may have been impossible if it were still in the time of Chairman Mao. Yet, although this can be seen as a big step for Xinhua, some people seem to give no heed to the big fancy advertisement. For many Americans, Xinhua's advertisement does not trigger many feelings. It is mostly seen as just a business billboard.
"It is too old fashioned, and compared to other advertisements, this one is not that attractive," said Yao Xueye, a Chinese tourist in New York.
"With a red background and white Chinese characters, the advertisement is not that appealing and it doesn't strike a chord with its US audiences. It's more like an announcement to the Chinese people, saying that the agency is now capable enough to land in New York," said Richard Burger, a former commentator for an official Chinese newspaper.
