Condom ads and Virgin inroads? Hong Kong remembers 30 years on
A journey back through time to look at some significant news and events reported by the South China Morning Post from this week in history
Older people tend to reminisce about the “good old days” and grumble about how things were better in their day. We shouldn’t live in the past, but as we are rapidly transitioning into the digital age, recalling the past can sometimes be a welcome escape, even for a moment.
Every Friday, Remember A Day will take a journey back through time to look at some significant news and events reported by the South China Morning Post from this week in history.
On August 28, 1987
• The Television and Entertainment Licensing Authority was to lift its ban on television advertising of condoms and specified that the commercials must be “restrained and in good taste” and that “visual treatments” should not feature the “product itself unwrapped”. The broadcast of such ads was prohibited before 9.30pm and limited to two per hour on each station.
On August 30, 1987
• British discount airline Virgin Atlantic announced it had set its sights on Hong Kong, a move that would lead to a fare war with other carriers. A company spokesman confirmed Virgin had applied to take over the routes operated by British Caledonian.
• The Executive Council endorsed a new compensation package that made instant millionaires out of expatriate officers who were passed over for promotion or required to retire because of localisation. The package allowed some civil servants an enormous “golden handshake” of up to HK$1.5 million.
On August 31, 1987
• Police in Seoul searched for 59 missing persons after the discovery of 32 bodies in the attic of a South Korean handicrafts factory; they were apparent victims of a suicide-murder pact among members of an obscure religious cult that believed the world was about to end.
On September 1, 1987
On September 2, 1987
• Macau officials discussed the possibility of importing workers, mainly from the mainland, to alleviate a labour shortage problem. But, eager to restrict their movement, the government said the workers would be admitted to the city only during work hours and then ferried back home.
On September 3, 1987
• The Peninsula’s luxury Rolls-Royces, used to ferry guests between the hotel and the airport, were put on sale after being replaced by a new fleet totalling HK$12 million. The Peninsula began its Rolls-Royce tradition in 1970, stunning the British manufacturer with its largest ever single order at the time – seven Silver Shadows.
