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You Can't Buy That in America

Thursday, 24th April 2008 ~ Maggie ~ Link ~ Comments (0)

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The NBA Playoffs are on, and hoops fans in China don't have to miss any of the action, with live broadcasts on daily. For one reason the NBA loves China, look no further than this screen shot of today's BTV-6 (Beijing TV) broadcast of the Denver Nuggets-Los Angeles Lakers series. Adidas products, logos and ads surround the analysts on all sides. Flanking them are Adidas and NBA logos. The backdrop poster is from the Adidas "Basketball is a Brotherhood" ad campaign featuring Tracy McGrady and some Chinese players. And pride of place is given to the Adidas TS Pro Model basketball shoe, sitting on a bright red stand up front.

Also worth a look is the aforementioned Adidas commercial, which you can see on Tudou.com. "Basketball is a Brotherhood," the sexist advertising campaign first launched in the United States by Adidas, is translated into Chinese as 无兄弟不篮球, "Without Brothers, No Basketball." The six-character translation reflects a Chinese preference for symmetry in marketing slogans. The first three characters, 无兄弟, mean "Without Brothers," and the second three, 不篮球, mean "No basketball."

Tags: Adidas, basketball, marketing, NBA