Monday, August 19, 2013

Putting the boot in on Hong Kong's cultural heritage

From my earliest days in Hong Kong one TV advert kept popping up at odd times - the one for Curcyrin, a remedy for athlete's foot (also commonly called Hong Kong foot because of its local prevalence in our humid climate).  Remember the giant foot and the guy in the tacky checked suit?
It should probably be in the Guinness Book of records as the longest-running (and cheesiest) TV commercial of all time.  [Click the link to see it on Youtube.]

Sadly, this irreplaceable piece of Hong Kong's cultural heritage appears to have been retired after many decades, and a new series of (actually rather good) ads has replaced it.  I quite like the one with the colourful wellies:
Nevertheless I can't help feeling a little sad that another fragment of an earlier and less sophisticated Hong Kong has gone - like the fact that you never see people popping out for a late night bowl of noodles in their pyjamas any more.  This used to be common, but today no Hong Konger would dream of going out without dressing up in name brand clothing.  I miss those simpler times - I must be getting old.  Am I the only one who feels nostalgia for stuff like this?




1 comment:

pui said...

I remember when I was small many old men (or..middle aged, but for a kid anyone above 40 something is just old) wore pyjamids, esp in the morning.

to be honest, I don't miss that at all. haha (but I am a female Hongkie, so may it's different...)

But, I lived in Macau for the last 3 years. One thing I enjoyed a lot was I could just put on anything and went to cha chang teng for example. Nobody gave me any weird glance. Something I def won't do in Hong kong.