
Hong Kong tries and fails to hire PR firms to rebuild image - baylearn
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-49728071
======
al3xandre
Always found it weird to see governments paying for PR consultants.

It's like : I give you tax money to do a good job, but you spend it to
convince me that you're doing a good job instead of actually delivering
getting shit done.

~~~
Green_man
"The people must learn how well I govern them. How would they know if I did
not tell them?" -Dune, by Frank Herbert

~~~
contingencies
Added to
[https://github.com/globalcitizen/taoup](https://github.com/globalcitizen/taoup)

~~~
telchar
This looks like a neat program. (As someone who has never used ruby): how do I
run it? This isn't obvious to me.

~~~
slenk
Since it declares the interpreter at the beginning
([https://github.com/globalcitizen/taoup/blob/master/taoup#L1](https://github.com/globalcitizen/taoup/blob/master/taoup#L1)),
you should just be able to chmod +x it and run it as ./taoup

Since it's an executable like that, this would also allow you to put it in
/usr/local/bin (or wherever you keep bins) and call it from anywhere in your
shell with 'taoup'

(my technical wording may be off)

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irate314rate
Saudi Arabia also makes use of PR firms to improve their image.

[https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/spoof-ad-campaign-
mocks-s...](https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/spoof-ad-campaign-mocks-saudi-
crown-prince-reform-claims)

[https://www.politico.eu/article/saudi-arabia-the-pr-
client-n...](https://www.politico.eu/article/saudi-arabia-the-pr-client-no-
one-wants-to-talk-about/)

~~~
onemoresoop
Can a PR company manage to fix Saudi Arabia's image after the Jamal Khashoggi
murder? But, hey, why not take the money

~~~
spamizbad
Technically you only need to repair their image with the powerful. I don't
think there are any single-issue Saudi Arabia voters out there.

We're already seeing the effects of this. I saw on the news recently where
someone described the recent Saudi Oil attacks as "Saudi Arabia's 9/11" \-- an
ironic statement, given the fact that more Saudi nationals died hijacking the
planes on 9/11 (15 of the 19) than in this attack (0)

~~~
s_y_n_t_a_x
Most people should be concerned about the environmental and economic impact of
the attacks.

~~~
onemoresoop
This type of thinking should be applied at all times not only when it affects
our bottom line. How about the attacks and massacres that SA is doing to the
Yemenis? How about US attacking Iraq? Etc.. Yes we should always be concerned!

~~~
s_y_n_t_a_x
Iran backs a proxy terrorist group in Yemen. Iran sparked the Iran-Iraq War.

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phowat
I guess PR firms understand enough about PR to know taking this job would be
awful PR for themselves.

~~~
pcurve
Bingo... They certainly how to know how to spin their reason

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potatofarmer45
This is an example of attempting to treat the symptom not the disease. Rather
than fix the underlying socio-economic issues such as income inequality, lack
of affordable housing, and the lack of social mobility and opportunities- the
instinct is to hire PR to pretend it is better.

To be fair, that's what happens on the mainland where they don't need PR
companies, they just censor everything everything that doesn't
enthusiastically support their view.

~~~
munk-a
I am sure some people protesting are advocating for socio-economic fixes but
mostly the protests seem to be concerned more with "I'd rather not be
kidnapped in the middle of the night and sent to a labour camp."

~~~
idlewords
The protests are more about indiscriminate police violence and demanding the
right to vote.

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alephnan
> “It would perhaps not be the most cost-effective way to use the government
> resources to launch any campaign to rebuild Hong Kong's reputation”

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exabrial
Step 1: Don't associate yourself with a country that brutally oppresses basic
humans rights.

(not saying my country is an angel)

~~~
chillacy
> (not saying my country is an angel)

Then we both know how difficult it can be :(

Based on slicing social opinion polls by age though, one could say that
progress advances one funeral at a time.

~~~
tempest345
Or one could say that oppression advances by one funeral at a time. It is not
like there haven't been examples of societies changing towards more
totalitarian and oppressive over time.

I find it shocking how common this line of tough is now. Maybe the world
dreamed about by people who actively celebrate the deaths of those who don't
agree with them, is not such an utopia as we like to believe.

~~~
chillacy
Sure. People have different opinions of things, to some extent social change
is zero-sum. I've just given my opinions.

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rqs
Hong Kong gov pisses their own citizen off:

Cross - Say "Sorry, we will not do it again and we will fix our wrong doings";

️Check - Hire PR firm spreading bad propaganda to "address negative
perceptions in key markets overseas to maintain confidence in Hong Kong"

Why???? It's the best time to show that Hong Kong is a democratic & lawful
place by resolve the issue peacefully and make their people happy. It's a
opportunity for the government if they play this right, don't blow it up!

------
alkonaut
What will happen as the end of the “transition” nears? Few in HK I assume will
accept that the HK system is replaced with Chinese eceonomics and politics. By
the time this question arises, everything indicates China will already be an
Orwellian dystopia. HK doesn’t have natural resources. Its citizens and
businesses can leave. So what China really stand to gain from its claims on
HK?

~~~
Leary
China wants to assert its national sovereignty over HK. By controlling Hong
Kong the communist government gains legitimacy in the eyes of the Chinese
people. There's quite nothing that binds together a people than a city of
young people that doesn't want to be Chinese.

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tokai
Like calling the renovators when the house is still burning.

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PhasmaFelis
Is it weird that we know about this because the leader of Hong Kong _announced
it in a press conference?_ Surely it can only make them look worse in the
international eye. Is this a subtle act of rebellion, or is she that clueless?
Or is it expected to play better with the mainland, somehow?

~~~
dmurray
Maybe she didn't have anyone competent to advise her this would make Hong Kong
look bad?

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flywithdolp
Fails?

Changing people image about a country can take years

If they measure success by only few months, they wont see any change

~~~
short_sells_poo
Perhaps one way to read it is that none of the PR firms that HK approached
wanted them as a client in the current situation.

That's pretty interesting if it were the case.

~~~
fasthandle
That is exactly the case.

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jxramos
Rebuild the image from what to what?

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aurizon
They need to pick up this turd by the clean end...

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billars
is it known what those firms were?

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no_opinions
HK is definitely a spring board to democratizing China.

China can follow a model like Taiwan (ROC) and be very happy. People in Taiwan
have democracy, social services, and feel great pride in their country.

China has choices it can make, it's the people's choice. If it really wants to
be great, it will entrust the power in its people by giving them human rights
like EU and liberties like USA. It will respect intellectual property laws and
have an open internet. It will pay reparations to the people of Xinjiang and
Tibet and give them their sovereignty.

Hong Kong is proof the system works, but the system can't work when they let
property flippers from the mainland drive up real estate prices. The people of
HK are suffering greatly because of the greedy few.

The jist of the HK situation is this: China is trying to subvert the democracy
in HK by taking the voting slots so they're all bought out to Beijing. But HK
is an international city.

