Advertising business revolutionized in China

By William Ide
Associated Press

Norwegian diplomat Trond Lovdal describes the details of an early Chinese advertisement, or "Shanghai poster," during an exhibit featuring his collection. Associated Press

Norwegian diplomat Trond Lovdal bought the deco ad poster and in the past six years, he has collected about 500 more originals. He is part of a growing number of art collectors, history buffs and antique lovers worldwide who are fascinated with the images or "Shanghai posters."

The pictures now appeal to Lovdal because he said they are a visual tour of the birth of modern commercialism in China, the liberation of Chinese women and the blending of Eastern and Western culture in the 1920 and 1930s in Shanghai — China's brash capital of style and business.

"Whenever you buy a new poster, you learn something new about that time," said Lovdal, who is the deputy director of the Norwegian Trade Office in Taiwan.

Lovdal is displaying 60 posters from his collection in the Taipei County Cultural Bureau's arts museum.

In one picture, a pink floral silk gown appears to be slipping off the body of a smiling beauty with thick curls, revealing her bare back and her shapely thighs and calves. Another ad for Lever Bros. soap shows a woman in a lime-colored traditional "qipao" — a tight-fighting, high-necked dress with a slit that reaches high up the thigh.

When the pictures were made, Shanghai had already gained the reputation of being the "Paris of the East." The latest fashion, cultural and business trends flowed into the southern port city.

But when the Communists took control in 1949, their aversion to Western ideals and "capitalist decadence" closed Shanghai to the outside world for about 30 years. It wasn't until the past two decades when China began to open up again that Shanghai began climbing back to its former position as an Asian business and style capital.

"People are fond of the posters because they represent the Shanghai back then, which is very much like the Shanghai now," Lovdal said.

The posters are popping up everywhere — in Shanghai, Hong Kong and Singapore, as well as art galleries in Paris, Boston, New York, Tokyo and San Francisco. The motif lives on in postcards, coasters, refrigerator magnets and calendars.

When Lovdal started collecting posters, originals cost $50. Now, they fetch as much as $8,000 in places such as New York, he said. He estimates his collection is worth at least $40,000.

The posters revolutionized the advertising business in Shanghai. Before they appeared, ads by foreign companies featured past U.S. presidents such as Abraham Lincoln and George Washington and failed to catch the attention of Chinese consumers.

It wasn't until a Christian missionary tipped off foreign companies to how popular poster calendars were that the advertising fad began, said Wei Te-wen, a Taiwanese publisher and serious poster collector.

"It was the beginning of modern advertising in China," Wei said.

The range of products displayed increased with the popularity of the posters, and included some more familiar brands such as Eveready batteries.

Although the posters exploited women as sex objects, they also celebrated the new liberation of women who weren't consumed by domestic drudgery.