“Having a white-faced person (represent you at events) is good marketing for Chinesecompanies,” said the 29-year-old. “They are desperate to make a good impression in frontof potential clients, who actually buy it.”
And China is not the only country where this is going on, said Hutton, whosecompany has branches across Asia. The use of foreign faces to gain an advantage over rivalsis reportedly popular in South Korea, Japan, Thailand and Vietnam.
Model workers
Dressed in a black, tailor-made suit, Hutton arrived for his interview in a Soho officeblock to find four equally well-fitted laowai already waiting.
“Looks like we’re really in demand, so fingers crossed,” he joked as he sat down to takehis place in the queue. Thirty minutes later, he walked out of the meeting room with a bigsmile on his face. He had been told he fit the bill for “window dressing” perfectly.
“(My interviewers) looked at my resume and were happy with my major at university,which is marketing, but they said I wouldn’t be using any of it,” said the American.
“I don’t need to be a professional, I just need to look like one,” he added. “I need toremember my lines, just like an actor.”
In the meeting, Hutton learned that he would earn on average 300 yuan (45) anhour or 1,500 yuan for a day, each time in cash. Contracts were only signed for individualevents, he was told.
Of the five people interviewed that afternoon, only two of them were hired: Huttonand a man in his 40s. The others were rejected because they looked “too student-like”,according to Liu, the agency’s manager, who spoke to China Daily on the condition his fullname and company would not be identified.
“We prefer guys who look mature and with a bit of a beer belly,” he said. “They haveto look the part. At the end of day, they are just something on display.”
Liu explained that he opened the agency five years ago to provide foreign models forfashion shows and photo shoots. However, it was not long before he began receiving callsfrom clients wanting models to pose as employees to impress their business contacts.
“It’s been going on for years and my clients are getting pickier and pickier,” he said.
“They don’t want good-looking models with perfect bodies anymore because people doubtthey really work for them.”
Today, about 30 percent of the business Liu receives is from companies looking for“white guy window dressing”.
“It obviously works for them, otherwise the number of clients I get wouldn’t increaseevery year like it is doing,” he said. “Most of them hear about me through word of mouth.
I don’t advertise this side of my business.”
Most of the laowai models on the agency’s books are English language teacherslooking for extra cash or are unemployed, added Liu.
Job agencies catering to foreign tutors also offer “window dressing” services, albeitmostly on the quiet.
ChinaESL advertises teaching vacancies on websites and in Beijing listings magazines,such as The Beijinger. When a ChinaDaily reporter approached them posingas an executive looking to hire expatsby the hour for corporate meetings,a member of staff surnamed Tangresponded by offering a price list.
“We charge 600 yuan for an hourand 3,000 yuan for the day,” she said.
“I can promise you they will look andact like professionals during your event… (our laowai) are all experienced andknow what they are doing.
“You can choose from different skincolors and accents if you want them totalk,” she added.
Later that same day, the China Dailyreporter called ChinaESL and asked thesame question, only this time revealingtheir true identity. “We only provideforeigners for English language teachingpositions, that’s all,” the customer serviceworker insisted before hanging up thephone.
Dressed to impress
Three days after Hutton’s interviewwith Liu’s agency in Soho, he was offered a job: He was to accompany the manager of aBeijing-based trading company as his foreign consultant to a day of contract negotiationswith a firm from Central China’s Henan province.
“I’m really excited about my small role in this game,” he said as he practiced the “lines”
he was provided by the client.
Along with the 1,000 yuan he received up front, he was also provided with a newidentity - just Sam, no last name - and a set of company business cards printed inEnglish and Chinese.
All Hutton was required to do during the meeting, which was at the Jiuhua Resortand Convention Center, near the city’s Capital International Airport, was shake hands withthe client’s business associates, nod quietly when the boss said anything and smile.
“My boss’s partners were obviously impressed to see me there, although I didn’tunderstand what they were talking about,” said the American. “Each of them even tookpicture with me, one by one.”
With the contract quickly secured, Hutton joined staff from both companies - about10 people - for a luxurious banquet before retiring to his free room at a four-star hotel.
He received another 1,000 yuan from his client after seeing off the Henan delegates at theairport the next morning.
“It was mission accomplished,” said Hutton as he later recalled the experience ofearning one-fifth his monthly salary in just a day and with very little effort. “I was told Idid a good job.”
Although a profitable exercise, he insisted it was a one-off experiment that had lefthim uneasy about the ethics of such a practice.
“Such a marketing strategy is great but I still think it’s fraud,” he said. “The companywill definitely lose all credibility if a partner or client finds out what they have done.
“It’s not a case of laowai trying to fool Chinese, though. This is Chinese trying to foolChinese,” he added.
A survey of 482 netizens by chinadaily.com.cn found that more than 45 percent saidthey would never agree to be “window dressing” for a Chinese company because they feel itis fraudulent. About one-third said they would do it because it requires no skill, while therest admitted they would consider it if the money was good.