Does Sexy Translate?

North American movie stars engage in endorsements abroad. It is no big secret, but it is surprising when you see the ads. They promote things in other countries that they would never been seen overtly promoting back home. Coffee. Shampoo. Watches. And they sell these things with their “sex appeal.”

George Clooney sells coffee in Europe. In the ad he finds himself amazed as women walk past him to get to a good cuppa and don’t seem to notice him. Brad Pitt was selling watches in China. As we were walking down a street in Chengdu a little girl looked up at a Brad Pitt ad and ran over to stroke my nephew’s hair and point to his blue eyes excitedly. Aiden is only ten and the attention was a little overwhelming. Seeing these ads has made me watch movies a little differently. The next time I see George or Brad in a movie I will be watching to see if these products end up in the movie. Maybe they are advertising stuff back home and we don’t even notice it?

One of my most disconcerting moments with this type of ad occurred in China. Treesa and I watched a grown man in a suit stroke George Clooney’s giant lips. He pressed himself up against a billboard and went up on his toes so that he could stroke a picture of George’s lips. Now don’t get me wrong I understand the desire to touch George’s lips, but if I’m going to do it I hope it is in private. And I hope it doesn’t stop with his lips. But it was bewildering to me that a grown man in what appeared to be an expensive suit, would stop in the middle of a busy sidewalk and take time out to stroke a picture of a “star”. I felt very much a voyeur watching this moment. The other remarkable thing was that my sister and I seemed to be the only people to find the incident peculiar. And like all places in China, there were literally hundreds of people walking by. No one even slowed down.

Tonight a woman at the movie rental store wanted to rent Richard Gere. She brought back a movie that he had starred in pointed to his face and asked the clerk something that my limited Portuguese could not understand. The clerk took her over to the wall and pointed to another Richard Gere title. But, the woman wasn’t happy. She took the box of the movie she had just seen and held it up to the other movie. She pointed to the two faces that were clearly different. In the second movie Richard Gere was playing a role that required him to adopt a character. She didn’t want Richard Gere the actor she wanted Richard Gere. Luckily my immense knowledge of romantic comedies came to the rescue. I pointed out Pretty Woman and Runaway Bride to her and the clerk. The woman happily left with the two movies. The clerk smiled at me and shrugged her shoulders. She watched movies for the movie. I am pretty sure I lost a few coolness points with her for knowing those titles, that and the fact that I went home with a Ryan Reynolds romantic comedy. Oh well. She still in awe that I am from Canada, don’t speak any Portuguese, and have a bonito cachorro.

And now me and my cachorro will go curl up on our sofa and watch our romantic comedy. Hope K feels like snuggling. How’s that for sexy?