Even Yao Ming sidelined as China shark fin debate falls flat

[Guest guest]

Even Yao Ming is sidelined as China shark fin debate

falls flat

AFP

31 August 2006

 

HONG KONG : It was supposed to be a media coup:

basketball superstar Yao Ming took a public stage to

condemn the consumption of shark fin soup and vowed

never to eat the Chinese delicacy again.

 

But the media silence that has since greeted his

pronouncement has only fuelled concerns that growing

wealth in China is likely to boost the popularity of

the dish -- and further diminish dwindling shark

populations.

 

The popularity of shark fin soup is blamed by

environmentalists for drastically reducing shark

numbers worldwide, and is thought directly responsible

for putting four species on the endangered list.

 

Towering superstar Yao's comments earlier this month

won the praise of activists who are urging governments

worldwide to ban fishing for shark fins.

 

Yao, together with Olympic gold medal-winning gymnast

and sportswear tycoon Li Ning, and Chinese pop singer

Liu Huan, all joined the campaign organized by

environmental group WildAid.

 

However, the media snub in China -- and in Hong Kong,

where some 80 percent of all shark fin is consumed --

suggested the campaign will face some tough resistance

in the world's most populous country.

 

In a nation where outside interference is strictly

resisted by the communist government, this was a step

too far -- one of China's " national treasures " had

rounded on his own culture.

 

" I guess editors must have felt it was embarrassing to

China and to Yao for him to have made those comments

about such an integral part of Chinese culture, " said

David Plott, head of media studies at Hong Kong

University.

 

" There had to be a reason for not covering the story

-- any newsman worth his desk would have leapt at it.

It was a great story. "

 

Worse than being ignored, Yao's comments drew him a

reproach from seafood industry associations for making

" rash remarks " that affected " the livelihood of the

global fishery, seafood and catering industries " .

 

They said that as " the pride of China " Yao had a

special responsibility to carefully choose his words

in public and not make groundless statements.

 

Yet Yao's comments were grounded in a very real threat

posed to already falling shark numbers from the

growing appetite for the soup among China's 1.3

billion people.

 

Until recently, shark fin sales had been dominated by

the wealthy of Hong Kong, Singapore and Japan.

 

But China's economic boom has brought more people into

the income bracket that affords them the luxury dish

-- and they are buying it with gusto.

 

" Mainlanders are now our growth market, " said Andreas

Muller, chairman of the Hong Kong Chef's Association

and chef at the Swire conglomerate's Butterfield's

private members' club.

 

Association figures show local demand in the southern

territory has plummeted by as much as a fifth in the

past year while there has been a corresponding 30

percent rise in mainland visitors buying the soup.

 

" They have the wealth and shark fin is the traditional

Chinese way of showing off wealth, " Muller added.

 

Considered among the emperors' delicacies, shark fin

-- a gloopy, almost tasteless gelatinous concoction

given flavour by the addition of chicken stock -- has

long been the highlight of business lunches and

wedding banquets in Hong Kong.

 

Prized for its scarcity and high value -- the best

fins cost a dollar a gram dry, and upwards of 100

dollars per bowl in a soup -- it is regarded as a

status symbol that confers prestige on the meal's

host.

 

" Our Chinese clients ask for shark fin now, whereas

our local clients -- and especially the younger ones

-- ask for it less and less, " said Peter Lai,

financial house sales director with UBS Vickers in

Hong Kong.

 

" Clients expect to be treated like VIPs and for

mainlanders that means shark fin soup. If they don't

get it, you could lose the deal, " Lai added.

 

The threat of 1.3 billion potential shark fin

consumers is not lost on environmentalists.

 

" The problem is that it is being very successfully

marketed in China, " complained David Newberry, among

the more vocal Hong Kong-based activists.

 

" As far as we understand, it isn't a traditional dish

and -- let's face it -- it has no taste. It's just

that people have been led to believe that if they

don't offer it, they will lose face, " added Newberry.

 

Activists are particularly revulsed by the method of

fin harvesting, a process called " finning " in which

the limb is hacked from the fish, which is then tossed

back into the sea to die a painful death.

 

They point to studies, such as one recently by Science

magazine, that suggested shark populations had halved

since the 1980s, with numbers of some species, like

the hammerhead shark, down almost 90 percent.

 

Activists scored a major victory last year when they

pressured the newly opened Hong Kong Disneyland to

drop the dish from its menu.

 

That was followed by a vow from the Hong Kong

University never to serve shark fin at college

functions.

 

Yao's conversion was another coup, but one born of a

realisation that the fight to ban shark fin was

entering a new and more difficult phase.

 

" China is going to be unstoppable, " said Muller. " It

is newly arrived to wealth and its 1.3 billion people

are going to want to share the bounty that others have

had in the past. "

 

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_asiapacific/view/227788/1/.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[Guest guest]

>HONG KONG : It was supposed to be a media coup:

>basketball superstar Yao Ming took a public stage to

>condemn the consumption of shark fin soup and vowed

>never to eat the Chinese delicacy again.

>

>But the media silence that has since greeted his

>pronouncement has only fuelled concerns that growing

>wealth in China is likely to boost the popularity of

>the dish -- and further diminish dwindling shark

>populations.

 

 

This is the sort of thing that really fries a lot of us in

the noosepaper racket.

 

On the one hand, we are constantly lambasted for allegedly

being obsessed with sports & celebrities, to the exclusion of

covering the real news, whatever readers think real news is.

 

On the other, we are also constantly lambasted if we don't

give great attention to whatever sports our readers think are of huge

importance, and especially if we ignore staged celebrity events &

statements designed to use celebrity prominence to sell products or

causes.

 

Meanwhile, the logical way for advocacy groups to make use

of celebrity endorsements is to do the same thing that people in

commerce do: take out an ad. Buy ad space & they can do anything

they want with it.

 

Noosepaper ad space isn't all that expensive, considering

the reach. It is in fact the second cheapest form of mass media

advertising. A full page in the New York Times goes for less than

the personal expense account of most major wildlife advocacy group

chief executives. A direct mail campaign reaching comparable numbers

of people costs hundreds of times as much money to launch--but direct

mail of course is more likely to bring in immediate contributions, &

so the big organizations largely reserve their promotional budgets

for mailings to the already persuaded, instead of advertising to the

general public.

 

Web advertising is even cheaper than newsprint. Web

advertising is not yet as established an ad medium, but many a very

profitable company is doing very well by it.

 

The big advocacy groups can well afford to advertise to get

their message out, and ought to be doing it, instead of always

trying to cadge freebies like starving street dogs & peeing on the

media when they don't get the attention the want.

 

Especially in nations whose tradition of media access is

young & still developing, it is essential for would-be successful

players in the struggle for public opinion to learn the value of

paying for advertising.

 

 

Now then, why didn't ANIMAL PEOPLE publish anything about

Yao Ming's position on shark finning?

 

Actually, I have had in mind to do so--when there is

something more substantive going on to report about. Then, Yao

Ming's quite laudable position will be part of the story. Until

then, I get 2-3 items on celebrity endorsements of animal groups &

causes every single day. I'm pleased to see all this celebrity

support, but we don't have the space to mention very many, & I try

to focus on those celebrity activities that are clearly having some

sort of impact, involving real follow-through by the celebrity, the

celebrity's marketing people, and the organization(s) receiving the

endorsement.

 

Otherwise, talk is cheap, paper & postage cost money, & if

somebody making more money than God really wants attention, a full

page in ANIMAL PEOPLE for a full year apparently costs less than

some shark fin soup business dinners.

 

 

 

--

Merritt Clifton

Editor, ANIMAL PEOPLE

P.O. Box 960

Clinton, WA 98236

 

Telephone: 360-579-2505

Fax: 360-579-2575

E-mail: anmlpepl

Web: www.animalpeoplenews.org

 

[ANIMAL PEOPLE is the leading independent newspaper providing

original investigative coverage of animal protection worldwide,

founded in 1992. Our readership of 30,000-plus includes the

decision-makers at more than 10,000 animal protection organizations.

We have no alignment or affiliation with any other entity. $24/year;

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