March 26, 2012

Face Cream Ad Mural

Just a couple of months ago on one of our walks around Kaiping, on an otherwise unremarkable back street that would not see much traffic, I spotted this advertising painted on a brick wall. Both the ad mural and the jar of face cream sure have a pleasing vintage feel to it.

Yet I'm not very tempted to go look for this face cream touted as ...(f)ace cream dressing table companion....

The three large Chinese characters translate to snowflake cream, a term my honey figures someone came up with in the 20s or 30s to mean lotion.

Kaiping, 2012
A longer view of the street:


This post is linked to Monday Mural.

21 comments:

Andy said...

The first thing that surprised me was the English writing. I did a Google search on Kaiping and found it to be close to Hong Kong. I think that explains the language.
You are right about the vintage view Francisca. The mural looks like it is still in good shape.

Linda said...

I also immediately noticed the English language! When I was in Thailand, that was quite common, but I know my son told me it was not common in Japan, so I was surprised to see it here...but, as Andy said, being close to Hong Kong might explain it. What a find!

VioletSky said...

It is hard to tell, but that looks like it might be a rather large jar of face cream (which usually comes in tiny 3.5oz containers here)!

Jim said...

Wonderful mural advert. egarding my beach and bridge post, I haven't actually swum there. I actually only discovered that wonderful place, a couple of years ago. It's not close to home so I'm not so familiar with that part of Sydney.

Francisca said...

You are right that Kaiping is near HK (about three hours south), but that would not explain the English on the jar of cream; no one except the rare returning overseas Chinese here speak English. It is just to give the product a foreign allure. LOL!

Francisca said...

I've never seen the real thing (and can't find it online), so I can't say how large the jar would be. But you are revealing your taste for the expensive branded creams, while I mostly use the basic Neutrogena or Nivea... LOL!

Traveling Hawk said...

This is a nice ad, Francisca! May be the word "snowflake" describe the cream as light as a snowflake. Good advertising!

Carola said...

Fantastic mural.

Kay L. Davies said...

I love the wonderful things you discover in your travels, Francisca. You have such a great eye for the unusual.
K

Anonymous said...

wow, they had a mural for advertising. on one hand i think that's clever, on another I'd be cautious as to what they advertise. face cream is benign enough.

Nellies said...

I have a weakness for chinese characters, so there for I like this mural a lot. But I also like the colors they used, and yes it does give a bit of a vintage feeling. (do you know how long this mural has been there? is it vintage or is it quit new?)
Thanks for sharing!

joo said...

It's a really cool mural, Francisca! Sometimes they are works of art, aren't they?
Have a great week ahead:)
Hugs
j.

RedPat said...

Nice one - I like seeing the building that it is on!

Melbourne Australia Photos said...

Great mural. I like these nostalgic looking ads. We have some in MElbourne dating back decades and they are now faded.

Oakland Daily Photo said...

I'm taken by surprise. I figured anything on a wall would be related to politics not advertising. The design looks old but the paint looks fresh; is it possible the product is contemporary? I'm so literal that I thought "snowflake" means "white." A cool find, Francisca. Thanks for participating in this week's Monday Mural.

Dyanna said...

I found your blog today on Monday Murals. I love the mural, and your "so exactly where is home" statement. Great post, and wonderful blog

Francisca said...

Yours is a good question, Nellies. Unfortunately I don't have the answer - we saw no one around to ask.

Francisca said...

I share your thought that snowflake could mean white; and so the question is white lotion or white skin? :-)

Lowell said...

Oh my goodness! I, uh, don't think I'd be too happy in that town! So what are you doing there? I think maybe "fun" is not well-known. Funky sign, though. That's rather "funny"!

My golf is getting incrementally better. Going to try again this morning. Golf is a game at which one might excel one day and fail miserably the next. But one cannot give up. One might hit the perfect shot on any given day!

I think I'd rather be on the golf course than where you are. :-)

Pat Tillett said...

Just one more reason why it's ALWAYS a good thing, to get off the main roads! Nice...

Unknown said...

Painted ads are just great. This is beautiful!