Four years after China abandoned its “one child policy”, car brand Weima dares to touch the topic of extended family directly in its two recent advert campaigns. Tianyukong, the agency behind the ads, thought up of two very different angles to promote a more spacious car. The first is a 2 minutes spot that starts with an extended family walking down a street, when they stop to look at a pretty dress in a window shop. But nothing can prepare you for what happens next, as the father starting to rap the lines “Oh, this dress is so pretty, let’s have a daughter, so we can buy it for her”. “One child is hard enough to raise”,— responds the mother, also in a rap.
中国结束“独生子女政策”已有四年，汽车品牌威马，艺高人胆大，在其近期的两部广告片中直面“生不生二胎”这个话题，对此展开了讨论。作为这两部广告片的代理商，天与空广告从两个完全不同的角度，展示了品牌大空间新车型的优势。第一部广告片以一家五口人（包括爷爷奶奶）逛街时，看到沿街橱窗里的一条好看的童裙展开。然而下一秒剧情开始魔幻，爸爸突然开始有节奏地说唱起来，张嘴就是“看这小裙子多好看，我们再生个女儿就能买来穿”， “一个就够难管了，两个谁来带” 妈妈也不示弱，跟着节奏说唱回怼回去。
Produced by HiCoolFilms, the video continue to unfold with the parents stepping into a boxing ring, conveniently close by, in the middle of the street for a full-on rap battle. The father, mother and later more characters, step in to prove their point in favor or against having a second child. “Don’t give birth to another child, it will stop your career cold for a year”,— joins another working mother. “Have, have, have another child. Six-members family is really a full one”— contradicts the husband’s mother. The argument heats up as more participants join, and then the sound of a battle is muffled, as another extended family driving the new Weima Ex6 passes by with one child, and another empty seat. “No matter what you chose, we left a space for your future” concludes the slogan.
由HiCoolFilms制片，这部短片的意外展开并没有就此结束，紧接着父母双方走上了恰好在旁边的拳击擂台，在街道正中央，开始了一场精彩的说唱对决。片中的爸爸，妈妈，以及后面出现的其他角色，一个个地走上擂台，说唱出自己支持或是反对二胎的理由。“别别别，劝你别生，生一胎工作就要停摆一年”—— 另一位职场妈妈也加入了进来。“生生生，就是要生，六口之家才是完美的配置”—— 婆婆也跳上了擂台，奋力反击。而双方的对决也随着加入的人越来越多而逐步白热化，突然热闹的说唱音量骤减，原来另一家人驾驶着崭新的威马Ex6汽车缓缓驶过，车里也是一家五口一个孩子，但还有留一个空位，短片以广告语“无论你如何选择，我们都为你的未来留出空间”结尾。
The commercial film might leave you with a lot of questions, but it does capture your attention. At some point a group of hip dressed youngsters jump into the ring, but it doesn’t seem to justify a somewhat questionable form of a rap battle between the ordinary characters. The times are gone, when rap in advertising was a collateral of raving success of “Rap of China” show. It’s also doubtful, that the target consumers, who will pay estimated 190-288K RMB for the Weima new model really are the right audience for a rapped commercial film.
这部商业片可能让观众看完后满脑子都是问号，但不得不说它抓住了你的注意力。虽然在片中出现了一群穿着潮流的年轻人跳上擂台，但普通人说来就来的说唱还是很突兀。综艺“中国有嘻哈”的热潮已渐渐退去，中国广告蹭说唱热度的黄金时期也已翻篇。甚至，那些愿意花19-28.8万人民币去购买威马新车的目标客户群，也不一定对说唱式广告非常感兴趣。
The first film is a stark contrast to the other angle used for the brand’s second film which uses a more documentary style video to promote the family SUV. In the second video, small children are asked if they would like to have a brother or a sister… with the majority responding negatively. That is until the kids have a chance to interact with small babies, and from the cute shots of kids hugging, kissing, and holding the babies, the silent message of “second child is a bliss” is delivered clearly.
而第二部广告和第一部广告的角度可谓是泾渭分明，第二部广告片采用了纪录片的拍摄手法来宣传这款适合家庭的SUV。在第二部广告片中，孩子们被问到他们是否愿意有一个弟弟或妹妹……而大部分孩子都表示不愿意。但当小宝宝真的来到了哥哥姐姐们的身边，孩子们有机会与宝宝们互动，情况就不一样了，镜头下的大宝和二宝们互相拥抱，亲吻，老大抱着老二，无声之中“二胎是福”就清晰地出现在了我们的脑海。
Both Weima’s films surely stands out among the sea of countless cookie-cutter car commercials out there. Perhaps, the exaggerated rap film with its out of place format is exactly what allows the brand to raise the sensitive topic of second child, which is a triggering one for many Chinese families. The human toll of over 3 decades-long “one child policy” has been immense, most visibly causing a dramatic gender imbalance, rapidly aging population, and a whole generation of “little emperors”. On the other hand, the end of the policy in 2016 is not working as policymakers would have hoped, so far failing to boost birth. Decades of economic growth and urbanization have changed the country’s culture: women are working, raising a child is expensive, and young generation has very individualistic priorities. Last year new births reportedly dropped to the lowest level since the Great Chinese Famine in the early 1960s. This November, a once-in-a-decade National census will be held, offering the most accurate picture of China’s demographic situation. It’s not entirely unlikely scenario, that there will be stronger propaganda of “two children” families, and we’ll also see more ads reflecting that. For now, the trailblazing Weima commercial daringly tests the waters.
威马的这两部短片在铺天盖地的，程式化流水线的汽车广告中脱颖而出，或许，正是这种夸张魔幻的说唱广告形式，让品牌能够大胆地去碰触二胎这个在多数中国家庭中都能引起纠纷的敏感话题。长达30年的“独生子女政策”，在中国产生了巨大的影响，最明显的影响就有男女比例失衡，人口老龄化加速，还催生了一代“小皇帝”。而另一方面，2016年的政策效果与决策者们的期望相去甚远，目前对于增长生育的努力还未见到显著成果，生养孩子的成本很高，而年轻的一代人又都比较个人主义。据报道，去年新增人口数量跌到了自60年代早期三年自然灾害时期以来最低的数值。而即将到来的11月，中国将进行十年一次的人口普查，为中国人口现状提供最精准的数据。而对于“二胎”家庭的宣传，或即将到来，我们也会看到更多的广告开始反映这一“旋律”。而威马开拓性的广告片，正在新时代的浪潮中，大胆试水。
CREDITS 制片团队
Client 客户: 威马汽车
Executive Creative 执行创意总监：贺师洋
Production 制作方：HiCoolFilms嗨酷传媒
Executive Producer 监制：Jonathan Zhang、Hunter Huang
Director 导演: Kevin Lee
DOP 摄影指导：标、黎振豪
Art 美术：Junta Hou 侯富贵
Offline 剪辑：波波
TC：许维达（8G studio）
Online：8G Studio
Music 音乐：磐时文化
Mix: Fantasy Music Studio（非凡音乐）
BAM Music Library Brings Edgy, Indie Sounds to Chinese Creatives
