Big in China: Tom Hiddlelston's Ad Becomes a Hit on Asian Social Media

A new Centrum commercial featuring famous English actor and Marvel Cinematic Universe star Tom Hiddleston evoked a very positive response from the users of Chinese social media platform Weibo, ABC Online reports.

The video, filmed from the audience’s point of view to make it look as if Hiddelston was addressing them directly, shows the actor cooking breakfast for the mystery woman before reminding her to take her Centrum in Mandarin.

According to the media outlet, the commercial “seemed to work like a charm on the targeted audience” after Hiddleston shared it on his Weibo page, with users expressing their desire to buy the advertised merchandise.

"Many female fans often consider their idol their imaginary boyfriend or husband”, Professor Zhang Kuangjie of the Nanyang Technological University told BBC. "This ad appeals exactly to those fans' fantasies. The fact that he speaks very good Chinese [in the ad] further adds to [his] likeability."

A spokeswoman for Centrum’s owner Pfizer also told the news agency that the ad was made to "maximise Centrum's international appeal amongst the digital-savvy generation in China".

The commercial elicited a somewhat more mixed reaction on Western social media.