Motokai emailed overnight with an Ad Age story pointing out how Nescafe is tapping China's leading gentle social dissenter, the car-racing megablogger Han Han, to flog premixed sweet coffee to young people who think they cherish the idea of independent thinking. It's a great topic, and a big risk for Nescafe -- especially if grandma's hammer ever comes down on Han Han.

I'd seen that Han Han ad somewhere, and made the required association (Nescafe). But then I started obsessing not about who the model was (thinking, "There's no one like that in China") but about the motorcycle -- "What on earth is that bike????"

Then all the other "normal" thoughts: Where is his helmet, and why isn't his hair toussled? A mug of hot coffee out in the middle of nowhere; where did he get the hot water? Gloves? Other safety gear? "These advertising guys know nothing about authenticity, and think just putting a motorcycle in a picture makes the model a motorcyclist...."

Last thing I thought was, "Who's the poseur?" Now I realize I'm not very dialed into China media culture, presumably because I avoid most Chinese media....Anyway, here's the ad in youku:

http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMzIyOTU1ODI4.html (Sorry, still can't manage to insert a youku player.)

And here's a framegrab of the front of the engine.

Screen Shot 2012-02-16 at 12.07.40 PM.jpg

So what is this bike?