Ad Campaign Triggers Fury Storm in China

In recent weeks, Omnicom Group Inc.'s TBWA Worldwide has been working on both sides of China's global image. On behalf of sportswear maker Adidas AG, TBWA's Beijing office has been running a campaign focused on Chinese pride, showing Chinese athletes supported by throngs of fans.

At the same time, the agency's Paris office was working on another ad campaign on behalf of Amnesty International that showed Chinese athletes being tortured by Chinese authorities. In one of the print ads, a person has been attached to a target normally used in the shooting competition at the Games. At the bottom, it says, "After the Olympic Games, the fight for human rights must go on."

Chinese bloggers, spurred by a report in state-run media of the Amnesty campaign last week, are now calling for a boycott of all TBWA ads, among other measures.

Read the rest of this Wall Street article here.