In
this short presentation I examine briefly the evolving representation of cinesità through the images used in the
advertising campaigns for Rabarbaro Zucca from the 1960s to the late 1980s,
suggesting how this may be linked to changing attitudes in Italy towards the
People’s Republic of China, from the lead up to the establishment of trade and
diplomatic relations in the early 1970s, to a neo-colonialist period in which
China was viewed as a growing market to be exploited. I conclude with a
reflection on the absence of China from more recent advertising campaigns for
the product, placing this in the context of increasing tensions resulting from
the shift in the balance of economic power between the two countries.