Society, by and large, is forgiving of advertising. We may frown when Alipay takes a few seconds to open in order to serve us a sponsored message, but in the main, it’s ok. But when does commercialism come crushing in on culture？
Enter a metro station in China and what is the first thing you see? An ad. Or many of them as you descend the stairs or escalator to the station hall. The trend continues on the trains themselves, even to the point that many cities also now feature trains which can magically project ads onto the tunnel walls as you whisk by.
Away from the metro and mostly up above ground level, there are China’s even-more magical high-speed trains. These also now often feature advertising, not just on the headrests and elsewhere, but also the exterior of the train itself; its bodywork adorned in the logo of an adoring sponsor.
Yes. Yes. Yes. Such advertiser support helps underpin the monumental investment that goes into these tremendous feats of engineering, efficiency and job creation that afford us all the incredible convenience that we enjoy today, for some of us, on almost a daily basis.
The ads also supposedly drive down the cost of our tickets.
But what price is too much? This correspondent’s first journeys to Nanjing from Shanghai exclusively took place on green trains. The journey time was 6 hours. But the nostalgic memories thereof will last a lifetime.
As they do for hundreds of millions of people. The undeniably-beautiful green trains continue today to reunite families each year and are the obedient means helping to manifest dreams of a better life, serving also, as they have, as the meeting point for countless couples to be.
And as for advertising thereon, during this correspondent’s conversations with local people, there was unanimous and unequivocal agreement. The practice of sponsoring green trains in China is abhorrent.
Touch what you will; the metro, the high-speed trains, the stations, the billboards and hoardings, the announcements, the windows even. Et al.
But you will never, ever, covet with your repugnant, rampant commercialism that most beholden to the Chinese nation; our dearly-loved green trains.
