Phone firm coy on 'gay' adverts

Phone company Sunday has launched an advertising campaign charged with gay sexual innuendo in what appears to be Hong Kong's first major attempt to target the 'pink dollar'.

The company has refused to come out of the closet over its adverts, saying they are not meant to be overtly homosexual. But observers said the gay message was clear and could point to a maturing of the territory's consumer market.

A press advertisement for Sunday's new discount call rate shows three men in revealing dress, one of them kneeling, beside the words: 'You can't miss this opportunity.' The Chinese character for 'opportunity' is pronounced 'gay', and has the same meaning in Cantonese as in English.

The advert also urges customers to be 'happy together', borrowing from the title of the well-known gay film directed by Wong Kar-wai. A Sunday television commercial has a similar theme.

Jeffrey Yu Pui-man, chairman of the Association of Accredited Advertising Agencies of Hong Kong, said the value of the 'pink dollar' or 'pink pound' had been well recognised in the West, where many advertisers focused on gays.

'Here it's relatively new, especially in a public medium, but if you remember a few years ago in the States, even Ikea was developing campaigns particularly aimed at the gay community,' Mr Yu said. 'This is a very good way of testing how tolerant the public is of this kind of message, and recognising that there is a gay community here.'

Sunday made headlines last year with an advertisement showing a taxi driver being visited by a ghost. Parents complained it was giving their children nightmares.