DECADENCE AND DANGER: Why America's Image of the Unrestrained Self Won't Always Travel So Well

Is decadence an impediment to the one-size-fits-all-countries school of global advertising? Consider the thinking behind a Heineken campaign that ran in Singapore, via Backer Spielvogel Bates’ office there. (The thumbprint teaser gave way to Heineken’s similarly shaped label.) A BSB press release quotes regional creative director Paul Quinlivan on the departure from beer-ad norms: ‘So much of the beer advertising in this region is still derived from Western images of self-indulgence, following formulas from the 1970s and 1980s.’