During the 2008 Olympic Games, NBC aired a Coca-Cola spot featuring animated versions of Yao Ming and LeBron James facing off, backed by icons representing their respective nations. The tension is disrupted by an untranslated chant, tuanjie de liliang da, tuanjie de liliang jiushi da! (there's strength in unity, there's truly strength in unity!), as the two men exchange Cokes labeled in their respective native languages, clink bottles, and gulp them down to cries of “cheers” (Yao) and ganbei (James). This same commercial could easily be—indeed probably was—used in China. Such interpenetration of the local with the global, where “local content” proves successful beyond its target cultural audience, is but one of many advertising trends detailed by Jing Wang in Brand New China.

Branding the nation, the local, and the corporate product, each highlighted in the Olympic commercial, are the three topical axes of Wang's ambitious project. This timely, important,...

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