A new TV commercial promoting August’s Taipei Summer Universiade has won a string of positive reviews, marking a contrast with the reception of the previous installment.
The commercial can be seen at: https://youtu.be/gaTw7id9yKQ.
The commercial juxtaposes ordinary people undertaking seemingly dull day-to-day chores with athletes competing in sports events and aims to highlight a resemblance in the motions of the two sets of people.
The focus then shifts to a Taiwanese team walking in slow motion out of a corridor into an arena, accompanied by the words “Ready” and “Welcome,” in English, with the Chinese for “Taipei, my home field” and “Welcome, world,” in the background.
The commercial garnered largely favorable reviews online.
“The public sector has finally dished out a commercial that is up with the times. The athletes look so cool when they make their entry,” a netizen said.
“Much better than the last one,” another said.
The Taipei City Government’s previous commercial featured the Taipei Universiade’s mascot, a Formosan black bear named Bravo, performing a robotic dance with a troupe of dancers. It was widely panned as derivative for having a close resemblance to a music video produced by Japanese pop group World Order.
Taipei Universiade Organizing Committee spokesman Yang Ching-tang (楊景棠) said the latest TV commercial is aimed at showing people that “life imitates sports.”
High-speed cameras and uptempo music were used in the commercial to show the intensity involved in athletics, he said.
The dust that is stirred up by the athletes’ movements comes in three colors: red, white and blue — the colors of Taiwan’s national flag, he said.
Commenting on the final scenes featuring the national team, Yang said: “It means that we are ready, and we will fight to keep the glory in Taiwan.”
Yang said he is glad people liked the commercial, adding that there is a third one to come.
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