The front page of the China Daily English newspaper today is taken up by a full page ad for Louis Vuitton. The ad announces a new store opening in Shanghai that will open this Saturday, on July 21.
As the media and PR blogger Imagethief pointed out on Twitter
The strange thing about China Daily page 1 LV ad was that it wasn’t a wrap – there was no actual front page behind it. Just page 2.
Three small headlines are displayed in a row above the newspaper title: One is about a recent suicide bombing in Syria, one relates to controversy surrounding a Tobacco Museum in Shanghai, and the last is about an athlete’s prospects in this year’s Olympics.
The headline about the Tobacco Museum in Shanghai points the reader to page 5, where an entire page is dedicated to smoke-related questions. The article itself is called “Decision to honor museum questioned.” It describes how Shanghai residents and experts have questioned their city’s decision to honor a tobacco museum for its service educating teenagers. The China Tobacco Museum in Shanghai was built by the country’s tobacco industry, and opened in 2004. It includes exhibits on the history of the development of the tobacco industry, tobacco farming, tobacco trade, tobacco management, tobacco and smoking control and tobacco culture.
The museum was recently honored for its excellent performance in service as the city’s education base from 2010 to 2011. The honor was given by the Shanghai Municipal Education Commission, the Shanghai Municipal Education Commission and the Shanghai Committee of China Communist Youth League. One critic was reported as saying, “It’s widely known that tobacco is harmful to your health and may cause various diseases. How can such a museum be selected as patriotic education base? Supervision departments should pay more attention to it.”
Meanwhile, Tang Weichan, an official from the museum, told the China Daily “Many of those who are against the museum have never visited the museum, which provides a platform for people to understand the stories behind tobacco.”
Page 5 also includes a story on how the “WHO urges China to tax smokers,” and how an anti-smoking organization in Beijing is seeking the recal of an award presented to the China National Tobacco Corp. in June in recognition of its contributions to the environment.
Links and Sources
Beijing Cream: Got A Pretty Penny? The China Daily Front Page Can Be Yours
China Rises / Tom Lasseter: Read all about it
China Daily: Decision to honor museum questioned , Group slams award for big tobacco