“I won’t die in peace unless you are married.”
“You’re too picky.”
“You are a leftover woman.”
Beginning with some comments “leftover women” often receive from people, a commercial ad of a skin-care product by P&G boldly campaigns for these women who are often seen by Chinese society to be incomplete. The ad has now over 2 million views on YouTube.
“Sheng nu,” which literally means leftover woman, is a derogatory term for women who are over 25 and unmarried.
“Leftover women” often suffer from social pressure in a culture which recognizes traditional roles and expects women to marry early.
Bloomberg reported that Chinese parents, many of whom have only one child, anticipate their child’s marriage to give them grandchildren, and that the government encourages early marriage to address the aging population.
It was mentioned in the ad that within Chinese culture, respect for parents is a very important quality and not getting married is like the biggest sign of disrespect.
In Shanghai, there is even a Marriage Market being held at the People’s Park where parents post their children’s profiles in hopes that they will find a suitable partner for them.
The daughters in the ad, all tagged as “sheng nu,” decided to go to the Marriage Market not to finally give in to the stigma and social pressures but to give a personal message to their parents.
“I don’t want to get married just for the sake of marriage. I won’t live happily that way.”
“I have a great career and there is another term called 'power woman.'”
“I feel free and enjoy the single status.”
“I am a pretty outstanding woman.”
The whole ad looks more of a social campaign with the product name only appearing at the end of the 4-minute video. The P&G product being promoted was the SK-II skin-care line.
Markus Strobel, global president of SK-II, said that the ad helped in increasing the sales in China by more than 50 percent in the past nine months.