The Guilin Merryland Theme Park, located near the popular tourist city of Guilin in the south of China, has launched a two-month campaign to attract female visitors by offering half-price admission if they wear a skirt shorter than 38 centimeters.
In charge of measuring the skirts are the female staff of the park who can only accept applicants aged 18 and over. The park normally charges 110 yuan ($17) for a day ticket, but by wearing a short skirt, admission is reduced to half price. There are no discounts for women wearing dresses or shorts.
On July 21 and 22 the park is offering further reductions for women who arrive before noon.
According to the campaign's promotional poster, the park is trying to break a record and attract more than 10,000 short-skirted girls. In an interview with the Shanghai Daily, the park manager Li Wenxing said that the campaign "aims to encourage female visitors to showcase their beauty in summer." The promotion is timed to coincide with the park's water splashing festival in July and August.
The campaign seems to be successful: TV footage on national TV showed long lines of young women in miniskirts at the entrance of the park. However many have criticized the marketing strategy for being inappropriate, like Zhang Quan who told the China Daily that "I will never allow my wife or sister to wear such short skirts for cheaper tickets, it sounds bad to me."
International media outlets such as CNN and The Huffington Post have been reporting on the "Love Miniskirts" campaign, with readers' comments ranging from calling it "crass" to saying "why not?"
Li Wenxing commented on the negative reaction noting that "we have been hearing negative comments about the campaign since we launched it, but the number [of complaints] is decreasing every year."
