Hassan Tayir writes for CNN about a new trend among Chinese men and women, created by inventive sellers of advertising space in public spaces.
Every citizen can feel like a star
The idea of selling advertising space to private individuals, not just entities, turned out to be a bullseye. As it turns out, Chinese citizens have many different reasons for deciding to advertise themselves.
Xiaotu, 23, was looking for a soulmate. For 999 yuan (about PLN 540), he bought an advert at his local subway station in Guangzhou, where for five days a 6.5 x 1.7-metre billboard encouraged people to add his profile to their WeChat friends. He has already gained 200 new friends, met a few people, although he has not yet found his soulmate. And he has experienced unforgettable moments. “I felt like a star,” he recalls the day he saw his face on the billboard. He added that other passengers recognised him and started congratulating him. “It was a magical feeling,” he said.
Li Linyu, 30, wanted to give her husband a fun birthday present and thought a personalized greeting at a subway station would be a great idea. Others use ads to find jobs or the love of their lives. Whatever the advertisers’ motives, it seems that Chinese subway operators are making a good deal out of them.
Instead of energy-saving light bulbs?
In Guangzhou, where Xiaotu advertised, half of the city’s 19 million citizens travel by subway every day. The reach of such advertising is excellent, so why shouldn’t subway operators use it to shore up their budgets? Especially since the latter are suffering because they are mainly financed by a government that is cutting spending in an economic crisis.
In Guangzhou, the personal advertising program was launched after local authorities cut the subsidy for the metro, which was 958 million yuan (about 518 million złoty). The advertising campaign has increased operators’ revenues by 20 percent per month. In addition to Guangzhou, according to the government news agency The Paper, operators in Beijing, Chengdu and Hefei are also saving their finances by selling advertising space to individuals.
Subway operators are looking for savings in various areas – in Beijing they installed energy-saving lighting, and in Hangzhou they shortened the operating hours of escalators. Selling advertising may prove to be a tempting alternative to the need to cut costs.
