going to china? #1 rule: bring gifts

Lucky you, you're off to Beijing, perhaps a well-earned perk of slaving away on a CPG you once thought you wouldn't touch with a ten-foot vaulting pole. Wish I was going with you, sigh. (Hey, not too late, need a translator? my bags are packed!)

As someone who's been lucky to enjoy several opportunities to visit China and to witness its stunning cultural (and consumer) evolution since 1982…two words of advice: bring loot. Lots of it. Day to day China runs on a gift economy. Translators, concierges, drivers, guides all expect booty, and, though they won't mention anything, so do your hosts, but forget Tiffany keychains or pricey Polo shirts--counterfeits can be had over there for a song and recipients won't appreciate the subtle difference between real and fake. What they will appreciate are things you'd never think to take, things you might be insulted to receive yourself:

bottle of multivitamins (Centrum and Costco are favorite brands) Yes, there are supplements in China, but lots of counterfeits, so people prefer vitamins bought overseas.

deodorants--still hard to find in China and (as you'll soon realize) largely ineffective

American ginseng (for some reason it's considered a more premium variety--here's a website to buy it

moisturizers--don't waste money on La Mer, most appreciated are "famous" drug store brands like Pond's and Oil of Olay.

Ditto cosmetics--preferred brand is Clinique.

"typical" American sweets and treats like maple syrup, salt water toffee, Sour Patch kids, California Raisins, Jelly Bellies. And peanut butter.

Lots of smokers in China, a habit you may not want to encourage, but smokes are appreciated. Ironically, American cigs are readily available and cheaper over there than most good Chinese brands (tobacco media bucks shunned here flood overseas markets) so pick up Zhong Hua cigarettes in duty free…or bring cigars instead. (Davidoff is a good brand)

calendars with photos of your hometown (especially if your hometown is a "famous" brand like New York or Toronto)

CDs with music that is considered American - blues, jazz, gospel

If you're looking to impress a host or bribe an official for something really big--MP3, IPOD, USB stick, digital camera. Even though a lot of these items are made in China, they're quite a bit cheaper over here and the Chinese may be the only people in the world who still associate the US with quality.

What NOT to give:

scissors, knives or other cutting utensils (unless you wish to indicate intention to sever your relationship)

clocks, handkerchiefs, flowers or straw sandals (these are associated with funerals, death)

anything with the number four (considered unlucky number--for this reason, don't give four of anything)

And you should know: When giving a gift (or even a business card), don't be barbarian. Always present (and receive) card or gift with both hands. To do otherwise shows extreme lack of respect. Polite people generally don't open gifts when they receive them, and if they are old-school, may refuse gifts three times before accepting them. No need for wrapping, Chinese generally present gifts au naturel, or in a bag--but if you do wrap, don't use white, blue or black paper.

And that's all for today from your Sinophile Emily Post.

are aussies more civilized?

Buying something online from Australia? Here are the drop down options available when specifying your address:

Bshp
Cptn
Dame
Dr
Drs
Eldr
Lady
Maj
Miss
Mr
Mrs
Ms
Prof
Pstr (?)
Rev
Sir
(and, lastly, my personal favorite ) The

what did mad men have that we don't?

I couldn't have answered this better than Lenore Skenazy who writes for The New York Sun , the new best newspaper in New York:

..So much has been lost since [1962]...when men wore hats with sly little feathers, and women wore dresses that looked ready to twirl on a music box. And what have we gotten in return? Oh right. My job. Feminism. Civil rights. Pilates. Is it worth the trade off? Here's a look:

LOST

MEN IN HATS: Why oh why have these gone the way of the cha-cha-cha? Men looked better in hats — taller, richer, smarter. They looked great taking them off, too, as a sign of respect. What simple gesture can men do now to show their respect to a woman? Unlock the car door using their key-chain remote? Oh boy. I'm swooning.



WOMEN IN HATS: We looked better too.

THE BRILLIANCE OF BRILLIANTINE: The only men still slicking back their hair these days are the villains in action movies. And yet, even the dweebiest guys in "Mad Men" look polished because their hair is polished. It shines. It stays in place. And when it doesn't, it gets put back there several times a day. The results of an informal survey of the men in my office disclosed exactly how many of them even carrying a comb? Zee-ro. And yes, these are guys who still have hair.

BRAS THAT DID ALL THE WORK: Exercise all you want, ladies, we will never look as good as the women in Mad Men. They're so shapely, it's as if someone taped party hats up there. "Those were firm bras," Nancy Deihl, a historian at the Fashion Institute of Technology, explains. "If you had the bust, it got shaped. If you didn't, there was lots of structure available, padding (not just from below, like our Wonderbra), concentric circles, batting." Let's hear it for concentric circles.

STATION WAGONS: How did we ever decide these weren't cool? How did we ever decide chunky, clunky SUVs are? In SUVs, the back seat faces forward. Sorry about that, kids.



POSTURE: They had it. We lost it. Ms. Deihl, the professor, again explains what was going on: "Posture was really emphasized in the beauty magazines of the '50s and early '60s. Think about the movie stars — Cary Grant, Gregory Peck: tall and lean." Carrying yourself right was more important than working out back then. It still is — guys just don't know it.

MEAT: And here's the secret women today don't know: Meat is important, too — on them. The "Mad Men" women have some meat on their bones, an extra 10 pounds they'd be working like crazy to get rid of today. A little roundness made their skin look young and their legs look nice. In the show, at least, everyone also always seems to be eating meat — steaks sizzling with fat or home-cooked roast beef, and no one is talking about cholesterol. Not even the doctors. Of course, they're weren't talking about the rampant alcoholism, either. But still. It would be nice to eat more steak.

VESTS: Nowadays, they make a guy look like a lawyer. But when everyone was wearing them, they just looked great. Same with cuff links. Same with a smirk.

LUNCH HOUR: Imagine a time when people actually took off a whole hour to eat someplace else. They felt they deserved a little break, and their boss agreed. Even as I write this I am picking at the chicken kebab next to my keyboard.

So what have we gained?

THE PLUS SIDE

POST-LUNCH SOBRIETY: When you're eating a chicken kebab at your desk, you're not going out for any three martini lunches. I guess that's progress.

A SMOKE-FREE WORK ENVIRONMENT: It's great we don't have to smell cigarettes at work. Now we can smell the kebabs.

PANTYHOSE: Whoopee. We've got 'em, the women in "Mad Men" don't. They all seem to be wearing stockings held up by garters. How do we know? The drunk guys are always trying to paw them off. (See cable TV, above.)

SELF-SERVICE ELEVATORS: I'm really relieved no one is pressing the buttons for us anymore. Also relieved we get to grab our own paper towels in most bathrooms, too. But I'm kind of sorry we have to pump our own gas, at least when we're not in New Jersey.

CELL PHONES: No longer do we need an operator to place a call. No longer do we even need to be in the office to make that call. The phone is wherever we are. So is our office! And our work! And — oh wait. I meant to put that in the "lost" column.

EQUALITY: Women, men, blacks, and whites — we're all better off. We just don't look as good.

Contact this writer at lskenazy@yahoo.com

how does a nice kid like you end up in advertising?

If you're a young creative still on your first job, here's a question from a friend who's updating a book about breaking into the business: in what form did you show your prospective boss your portfolio? Hard copy? DVD? Website? Hologram? No correct answers, no cash prizes, just undying appreciation.

finally, mad men get a xerox, now if only they had more fonts to work with

Typewriter fonts available in 1962. (Not shown: IBM selectric’s “Orator” font– meant for typing speeches and scripts to be read at arm’s length from a podium or script stand.) Click on photo for more readable display.



source

candidate for change, 1952

Dwight D. Eisenhower was the first presidential candidate to use TV commercials, though he was skeptical about using the new medium. Here, a homemaker speaks upwards as if to the heavens, "High prices are just driving me crazy." Eisenhower immediately cuts in and answers benevolently, "It's another reason why I say it's time for a change."



Ike's opponent, Adlai Stevenson, wouldn’t appear on television because he thought it demeaning to a man ascending to the presidency. Instead, he had his daughter do commercials for him, literally singing his praises, adulatory as Obama Girl.



Ike answered this with his own musical spot, produced by Roy Disney, Walt's brother. Note similarity to the animation and opening march music of the "Mickey Mouse Club". Roy later produced "Our Friend The Atom", an animated commercial for the White House's "Atoms for Peace" campaign.


tips of the hat to DKR and BoingBoing

just because you now have a door, don't forget that once you didn't

To help you get through until 10 PM tomorrow: Peggy's Promotion.

I remember when, like her, I was finally promoted out of the secretarial pool into an office. (No cubes in those days.) I was so glad for a door, I didn't care that my office was actually a closet I had to share with storage boxes from the Promotions Department.