Propaganda pig: Hong Kong icon McDull backs political reform – but without creator’s consent

One of Hong Kong’s most popular icons, the cartoon pig McDull, was used in an advertisement supporting the government’s political reform package without authorisation, the character’s creator confirmed on Friday.

The South China Morning Post spotted the advertisement on a giant video screen outside the Kwok Wa Building on Hennessy Road in Wan Chai. The building is the former headquarters of pro-Beijing newspaper Ta Kung Pao, which owns the advertising screen.

McDull was featured in a short slideshow about a recent article written by Zhang Xiaoming, director of Beijing’s liaison office in Hong Kong, which was published in Ta Kung Pao and Wen Wei Po on May 4 arguing that the reform proposal will result in a “democratic and legitimate” universal suffrage system for the chief executive election in 2017.

A similar series of 12 slides was also posted on the liaison office’s website but was removed this afternoon two hours after the Post called to enquire about them. The liason office could not be reached for comment.

The image of McDull, the loveable piglet who struggles to understand how the world works, was used in six of the slides.