We have a strange little piece of corporate propaganda for you today. About a year ago General Electric wanted to tell the Chinese people how GE was changing their lives for the better. To do this the company launched an ad campaign themed around traditional blue porcelain. Ars Thanea studio said they drew “from the iconic visual texture of porcelain (to tell) the story of how GE transforms the lives of Chinese people.” With the cultural weight of porcelain backing the studio up, they produced some engaging (albeit odd) advertisements like the one below. You can see more of the images here.
In addition to that, they also produced a television spot, animated by the extremely talented Karol Kolodzinski. Kolodzinski brought a porcelain vessel to life, animating a traditional scene in the iconic blue and white which, like water lapping at a beach, swells and recedes.
We have to admit that the messaging doesn’t quite make sense. It’s probably just equating a culturally agreed-upon treasure such as porcelain with GE and that’s all there is to it. We don’t see how the two relate to each other otherwise. The anachronism is a bit shocking as well. The commercial starts very traditionally and then we go through the rabbit hole of someone’s gas burning stove and end up at a blue and white oil pipeline. It’s jarring, but that’s not the animator’s fault. The animation is well done and is a fun curiosity from the world of corporate advertising.
What do you think of this animation? Let us know in the comments.
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