A respected German research institute, seeking to illustrate a special report on China with Chinese characters, mistakenly ran an ad for a Chinese brothel on its cover page.
“The idea was to publish an aesthetic picture illustrating Chinese writing”, Max Planck Institute spokeswoman Felicitas von Aretin told AFP Thursday.
Only after the special report was published and in the hands of subscribers did they realize that part of the text was an ad – for a brothel’s stripping housewives service.
Inquiring minds want to know how many new subscribers from China the institute has received since publication.
I am reminded of an incident I ran into decades ago — source and credibility long-forgotten — about some restaurant which wanted to class-up the restroom doors. Well, somebody found an old plate with something on it which nobody understood, but what the Hell. Shortly thereafter, they got gales of laughter from a guest who informed them that it read, “Chinese Relief.”