Regular readers know we just love what you might call Great Dumb Moments in Advertising, and this has been a good week for them. 

Yesterday, we had an airline promoting tourism to Nepal with a picture of a mountain in Peru. Today, we have an advertising agency in Russia creating a chewing gum commercial featuring China’s national anthem as background music.

The agency has withdrawn the ad, calling the mistake a “monumental misunderstanding.” The director said the agency had paid for commercial use of the music, and that “it was impossible to determine that it was the Chinese national anthem by the name of the track.”

Of course, that’s assuming he’s sure nobody at the agency would have said, “Hey! This Chinese National Anthem here sounds pretty good! Let’s use this baby to sell some gum!” Here’s the story:  

China’s Yao Ming (2nd R) listens to the Chinese national anthem before their game against Slovenia in the first round of the world basketball championships in Sapporo August 24, 2006.  REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson