October 19, 2004 The Apprentice 2
The second series of The Apprentice is airing on Pearl TV on Saturday. Those clever marketing folks imply that during the first season of The Apprentice, Hong Kong’s unemployment rate fell by 6.4% or something like that. While I doubt that Donald Trump’s grand-standing show has anything to do with a country’s economy, it doesn’t surprise me that in a place like Hong Kong the show might have an impact – it shows ambition, greed, luxury and power. All things that, on the surface, Hong Kong people aspire to. Indeed, Hong Kong has often been likened to Asia’s New York with its Times Square, WTC, SoHo and so forth.
But it wasn’t corporate America or some equally power-hungry values that built Hong Kong and its success. From my perspective, Hong Kong and its success can be attributed to its people, its own values and its own drive. Certain community and social values are what drives Hong Kong success – the desire to work for long hours with comparatively little pay, the social responsibility to family to demonstrate success, and an almost stoic dedication to work, to name but a few.
It would be a shame if Hong Kong and its yuppie set decided to adopt the method of achieving corporate success portrayed by The Apprentice which by no means is the only stand-point on what Western corporate success is about.
Tags: Random Thoughts
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Feng Shui Chinese
said
Yeah I saw that also, crappy idea that watching the Apprentice helped the unemployment rate, in fact it should be the opposite since one person on the show gets fired every week.
Everyone knows that Pearl is a poor man’s Channel 5 TV (or Live TV, does anyone remember this in the UK?)
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Eshin
said
Can’t say I remember Live TV…was it a satellite stations?
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Feng Shui Chinese
said
Yep a satellite station back in England…they were famous for Live Bunny and Topless Darts.
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Eshin
said
Topless Darts…I think I would have remembered that.
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Chris
said
Live TV – Topless Darts. Yes, indeed. I think we are talking about ten years or so ago. Apparently Kelvin Mackenzie said it as a joke but someone thought it was a good idea and they went ahead and made the show.
Your only chance to watch it in Hong Kong would have been when there was a ‘technical fault’ and people watching the lunchtime news on TVB saw a few seconds of the show instead of a dreary report about a wet market in Yuen Long. Allegedly there was some sabotage involved rather than a genuine error.