Despite its communist government, Vietnam remains steeped in Buddhist tradition and animist spirituality. You can see it in the dun- and pink-colored pagodas, the ancestor shrines on every street corner, and the incense sticks burning in the bumpers of transport trucks.

It’s a unique combination, a culture shaped by not one but two ostensibly anti-materialist philosophies, and it makes it especially intriguing that Vietnam is now being introduced to the fine art of advertising. In the early 1990s, the country opened its doors to the free market, and termed this political maneuvering "market socialism." So while Prime Minister Phan Van Khai's government continues to control the media, the brand names are given free reign.

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