SHANGHAI, July 18, 2014
This train is brought to you by…
China has started selling naming rights for its bullet
trains to commercial sponsors, state media reported Wednesday, as it
increasingly commercialises its state-controlled railway sector.
Passengers
on a train in southern China recently found it had been named for
"China Unicom", one of the country's three telecom service providers,
the Shanghai-based Oriental Morning Post said.
The
Bank of China, one of the country's "Big Four" banks, and a food
company, Luziyao -- whose products include nuts and pickled fish -- had
also named trains after themselves, the newspaper said.
A city outside Beijing extolled its natural beauty by naming a train "Grand Rivers and Mountains Zhangjiakou," it said.
A
one-year sponsorship of a bullet train could cost 12 million yuan ($2
million), the Oriental Morning Post said, citing unnamed sources.
The
move was driven by the fact that train operators were now accountable
for their own profits and losses, sources told the Shanghai paper.
Social media users have leaped on the marketing possibilities.AFP
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