“Who am I? Maybe you’ve never thought about it,” a voice says in the first public service TV ad by the Chinese Communist Party. The video, created in celebration of the 95th anniversary of the CPC, was already released in June but did not become a much talked-about topic on Chinese social media until now.
The 1-minute video shows six different people, including students and traffic police, in different situations in their lives; a street cleaner starting work early in the morning or a doctor sleeping in the hallway after a long day of work. The narrator speaks in the first person about his virtues. Accompanied by emotional music, the video allegedly is meant to convey the message that party members are “always part of the people, closely connected to the people, and devoted to serve the people”.
According to state broadcaster CCTV, the production of the video titled “Who Am I” (“我是谁”) only took 20 days. It was reportedly recorded in Nanping and in Shanghai, which was the home base of the CPC in its early days.
CCTV also writes that the main objective of the advertising to spread socialist values and communicate the Party’s beliefs through “fresh language and rich images”.
The spoken text of the video contains sentences like: “I am the one who is working earliest. I am the one who leaves last. I am the one who does the least for myself.” It ends with the sentence: “I am the Chinese Communist Party. I will be with you forever.”
China News Service was one of the many Weibo accounts sharing the video, writing: “The first time to see our Party video ad :-)”. In the comments below, the video was both praised and criticized by Chinese netizens.
“After watching this ad, I suddenly felt like singing a Communist song,” one girl writes on Weibo.
Many netizens continued the narration of the ad but gave it their own twist, writing things like: “I am the one who is best at deleting posts, I am the one who is best at talking, I am the one who shouts the loudest slogans,..”
Some netizens also point out that the virtues portrayed in the video, such as loyalty and kindness, are not necessarily exclusive qualities of the CPC. “This video just promotes good persons, not a modern political party”, comments Lin Qi (@林奇视角), a history professor at Harbin Normal University.
“This is not about the Party, it is about hard-working people,” another Weibo commenter says.
Besides the widespread criticism of the ad, the video also brings out the patriotism in many netizens: “I joined the Party when I was 18. I feel so proud”, one netizen writes.
“I love my country, I love my Party, I love my home,” another person writes.
“This is just a very good ad,” one Weibo user says: “And it really captures the essence of what Mao Zedong said: serve the people.” One other netizen posts hearts, writing: “I am Chinese. I will stay with you forever.”
-By Diandian Guo & Manya Koetse
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