Hai Karate and Kung Fuey: Early Martial Arts Tropes in British Advertising

Chan, Sally, Caston, Emily, Ohl, Maddie and Nixon, Sean 2020. Hai Karate and Kung Fuey: Early Martial Arts Tropes in British Advertising. JOMEC Journal (15) , pp. 1-33. 10.18573/jomec.203

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Abstract

This paper focuses on the responsibility of advertising messages to authentically mirror and reflect British audience feelings towards ‘the Other’ and discusses caricatures of the Chinese in advertising through early martial arts tropes. It provides contextual background to Chinese depictions on screen in Britain before illustrating martial arts representations on print and television advertising during the 1970s. The paper includes examples of two popular brands in Britain: Pfizer’s ‘Hai Karate’ (1973) and Golden Wonder’s ‘Kung Fuey’ (1974-76) to illustrate colonial notions of the ‘Oriental’ during the 1960s and ’70s. This interdisciplinary study borrows from ethical representation and martial arts discourse in film and TV, to explain the exoticisation and exclusion of the Chinese in the context of authenticity and appropriation in advertising.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Journalism, Media and Culture
Subjects:	D History General and Old World > DS Asia H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General) H Social Sciences > HE Transportation and Communications H Social Sciences > HT Communities. Classes. Races
Publisher:	Cardiff University Press
ISSN:	2049-2340
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	12 August 2020
Date of Acceptance:	7 July 2020
Last Modified:	02 May 2023 22:10
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/134173

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