Batgung

There was a major advertising campaign on recently for a weight-loss plan called 'Royal BodyPerfect'. Like most ads of this genre, it has before/after photos of a young woman. But if you're accustomed to ads in western countries done in this style, you're in for a shock.

In this particular ad, the 'before' picture shows a very nice-looking young woman who weighs, according to the caption, 120 pounds. She looks mildly padded, but certainly 'normal' according to almost any sane definition of the term.

The 'after' photo is of a stick-limbed, praying-mantis-like creature in short shorts and a halter top. She weighs 104.

In US ads, of course, the subject would have embarked on her road to weight-loss glory at oh, let's say 238. Her 'after' photo would show a woman who's still significantly heftier than the 'before' woman in the Hong Kong ad!

To those of us who enjoy the famously lithe figures of Chinese lasses, what Royal BodyPerfect is trying to sell is an anorexia program. May they fail miserably!