Don't Mess with ...... Beijing

Here is a photo of a street signboard I took near the National Opera House in downtown Beijing earlier this year. It has fourteen forbidding signs on the board. I could understand most of them, but still have not quite figured out the difference between nor the need for the two different bike signs. I wonder how many people actually pay attention to the signs other than a curious photographer. Some of the signs are obviously unnecessary since those activities are likely forbidden anywhere in the city. I doubt you could set fire, play with fireworks, or pick street flowers in Beijing, or anywhere else in China for that matter.

Effectiveness aside, I also could not help but to think of the need to add another sign on the board so that at least the graphic would line up nicely in a three by five design from an artistic point of view. I can think of several other ones to add, no smoking, no running, no drones, no motorcycles.

This reminds of another public campaign, which is widely considered one of the most successful public campaign ads ever: Don't Mess with Texas. 

The slogan was first introduced in 1986 to combat the littering problem on highways. The key insight was the identification of the profile of a typical litter which was an 18 to 35 year male driving a pickup truck and loved sports and country music. The slogan and the subsequent campaigns by using sports celebrities and country musicians resonated instantly with the masculine Texan identity. Say “please do not litter” to that group of audience would probably have fallen on deaf ears. 

It was an instant success. According to a book by McClure and Spence in 2006 on the topic, the campaign drastically reduced littering by 71% from 1986 to 1990. The book “Made to Stick” by Chip and Dan Heath has an entire chapter devoted to the development of this slogan and the psychology behind how to invoke emotion to connect with the intended audience.

During my recent travels to China, I have seen an enhanced public ad campaign for tourists, especially those travelers who go overseas that are perceived to carry more significance to China’s reputation. I have seen many campaign ads which are artistically very attractive, but none, in my opinion, conveys the kind of really punchy and simple message which resonates with the intended audience as well as the Texas campaign slogan did. I wonder if any market studies were conducted to assess the effectiveness of those ads. This signboard from the Opera House is not likely to win any prize. “Do not mess with Beijing” probably won't work either.

I will end with another one of my favorite travel slogans which was attributed to a native American chief who was such a famous nineteenth century figure from the Duwamish tribe that the city of Seattle is named after him:

“Take nothing but memories, leave nothing but footprints!”