Illustrator and designer Wong Mau-lun cringes as he watches an anti-smoking commercial from the Hong Kong Council on Smoking and Health on television. Released in June, it features a choir of different characters, from robed spa customers to karaoke singers, urging a young smoker to quit his habit. 'You can do it!' the choir sings. 'You can do it, you can do it, you can do it, just quit!'
Wong rolls his eyes. 'What was that?' says the 24-year-old former smoker, joking that the ad makes him want to reach for a cigarette instead.
Every year the government fills the airwaves with millions of dollars worth of tax-funded advertising (last year, they took up more than 1,340 hours of television time and 164 hours on radio). Known as announcements in the public interest, or APIs, they aim to inspire, motivate and improve society.
A Family Council commercial launched in April, for instance, tries to promote domestic harmony by depicting an overworked father who is re-energised when he comes home to his wife and son. Other ads tout the benefits of better English skills in the workplace and the dangers of gambling addiction.
It's all very well meaning but how effective are such ads? To many advertising professionals, APIs often miss the mark, irritating people rather than resonating with them.
The tone of government advertisements is usually too instructive and moralistic, says Spencer Wong Kwong-yiu, managing director of McCann Worldgroup Hong Kong. 'When you watch one of those commercials, you know a government logo will flash at the end. It's predictable and has less impact.'
Eugene Tsoh Yue-ching, executive creative director at Ogilvy Advertising Hong Kong, reckons APIs sometimes try to stuff too much into a typical 30-second spot.