Opinion | Convince Hongkongers that the city is back before appealing to the rest of the world

If Hong Kong’s new campaign to lure back visitors appears to say nothing new, that’s because residents already know what makes the city great

So why doesn’t the government focus on uplifting and engaging its people to sell Hong Kong to the world? After all, no one else could do it better

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Crowds walk past Lunar New Year decorations in Hong Kong’s Sham Shui Po district on January 2. Photo: Yik Yeung-man

Published: 2:30pm, 5 Feb 2023

It’s been quite some time since our film industry’s heyday, when Hong Kong movies enjoyed a cult following around the world. But seeing Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu star in a promotional video for the city’s latest “Hello Hong Kong” campaign – which is basically a mishmash of really tired and uninspiring words strung together – is a real rude awakening. The lower half of the chief executive’s body was cropped out.

After the previous administration’s botched “Relaunch Hong Kong” campaign, which cost the public purse more than HK$44 million (US$5.7 million), brought on the wrath of pro-establishment lawmakers like the now Home and Youth Affairs chief for being a colossal waste of money, the government has got to be careful with these PR blitzes.

When she was still in the legislative council, Alice Mak Mei-kuen was fierce in her criticism of the government hiring of public relations firm Consulum to run the multimillion-dollar campaign after the 2019 anti-government protests.

For what the PR firm found to be Hong Kong’s uniqueness as the only city in the world that offers direct access to the mainland market while boasting a creative and entrepreneurial spirit and being a great place to live, Mak said she could’ve told our government for free. Abraham Razack went as far as suggesting that the officials let the Audit Commission scrutinise the campaign and budget.

So at least we know that most of the HK$2 billion for the Hello Hong Kong campaign is not being spent on production. But cropping out the lower half of our chief executive’s body is just sloppy and unprofessional, even for low-budget amateur work.

Perhaps there’s a long way to go before we can truly claim to have an edge in key creative sectors or in leading the creative industry of the Greater Bay Area.

A still from the Hello Hong Kong Campaign video, featuring Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu. Photo: Handout

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