The scandals in the March 15 consumer gala are getting WEAK, so have consumers noticed. They used to expose news that riled up the nation and regulators for years and now, the show exposes the bottom-of-the-barrel level scandals that people donât care much about.
Why? Itâs widely known in communications that whether a corporation can avoid negative light in state media is contingent on its large advertising contracts. For that matter, deep-pocketed tech companiesâthe hotbed for scandals in terms of work conditions and easily exploited loopholes in its vendor/merchant networkâhas steered clear of negative portrayals.
This yearâs list (Chinese): Sanitary pads and diapers with defective materials being resold; Unsterilized disposable underwear; Excessive charges on home repair platform; Shrimp processed with excessive water-retaining agents; High-interest loans on mobile platforms; Illegal data extraction masked as online lottery; AI robocalls.
The most unexpected thing is how consumers denounced a regional reporterâs exposĂŠ of Mixue (2097.HK)âs food safety issue (one store in Hubei province was using overnight lemon slices, and some flies were spotted on cup covers) by rallying behind it. Online users made videos joking that their mothers should be investigated instead, given the overnight and even years-old ingredients in their fridge. Mixue has not responded to the potential-scandal-turned-meme.
Disney's 'talent' loss đ
Is Disney China laying people off? No. Sorry itâs a bit misleading. What happened is that Disney let go of an employee whose influencer side hustle had taken off.
Big Uncle 995, a Shanghai-based Taiwanese blogger, had been a long-time performer at Shanghai Disneylandâs El Teatro Fandango (ĺĄčżćĺ§é˘). His content on RedNote first picked up steam with his convenient store snack reviews, and heâs beloved by fans (especially female fans) across China. He has 1.7M followers and 13.2M likes, compared to Shanghai Disney Resortâs 1.3M followers and 9.8M likes on the platform.
In his farewell video on Mar. 9, he recalled his joy when receiving the call from Disney 9 years ago, explained why he leftâhe didnât want to cause trouble for his supervisor after being continuously reportedâand said that he would welcome Disney bringing him back as an ambassador.
Big Uncle 995âs post-Disney life has been swell. Building on the momentum of his local restaurant visits, he embarked on an initiative named âone-day store managerâ for small food and beverage establishments, including a cafe in Nanjing, a noodle shop in Xiamen, and a sticky rice dumpling store in Guangzhou. Comments under his posts and reposts showcase how he has touched many lives: âDisney let him go, now heâs turning wherever he goes into Disney.â
This feels like a missed opportunity for Disneyâs China PR on RedNote, possibly due to departmental silos or the fact that the China team doesnât want to stick its neck out by proposing something China-specific.
New cancelations in Asia (Pradaâs 7 âDragon Ballsâ) đŤ
We havenât had this in a while in China, since singer Cai Xukunâs murky personal situation, mostly because brands have learned their lessons with traffic stars and switched to safer options like athletes.
Now, a well-known Korean actor Kim Soo-hyun is canceled for allegedly dating the late female actor Kim Sae-ron when she was underage, and causing her suicide. The topic, with ongoing updates, has been trending on Chinese social media for a week, and thereâs no sign of fading. This shows that despite of the 2016 K-content ban, the mass market has still been widely influenced by Korean entertainment.
On March 14, Prada announced the termination of its contract with Kim just four months after signing him. Chinese media tallied up Pradaâs cancellations, revealing that across both Chinese and Korean markets, seven of its ambassadors have been either dropped or thrusted in the background.
It started with Taiwanese actor Ko Chen-tung being arrested in Beijing in 2014 for smoking pot, Korean singer and actress Bae Joo-hyun (Irene) bullying her make-up artist, and EXO member Park Chanyeol cheating. The more recent China-based cases are Zheng Shuang (surrogacy and tax evasion), Li Yifeng (prostitution), and the murky matters with Cai Xukun and Chun XiaâCai was exposed by his ex for forcing her to have an abortion, and Chun was censored by Beijing temporarily for supporting the White Paper Protest online. Altogether, Chinese online users joked that Prada has finished collecting 7 âdragon ballsâ, a reference from Japanese manga.
After Cai Xukunâs case in mid-2023, Prada eventually seemed to give up on traffic stars, becoming China womenâs national football teamâs official partner; in mid-2024, the brand signed YOLO director and female actor Jia Ling to be its ambassador.
Interestingly, while itâs rare for brands to face backlash over Chinaâs sovereignty issues, a new controversy has emerged in the hottest space right nowâcycling.
Pas Normal Studiosâ creative director posted an illustration on Instagram featuring a cyclist holding a Taiwan flag, which caught the attention of mainland customers. The brand issued a Chinese-translated apology from its CEO, but it was met with disdain because it was only shared on Chinese social media, not globally. There are ongoing discussions in the cycling community about whether PNS products should still be worn.
Justice delayed again in animal protection âď¸
For all the companies and publications covering Chinaâs pet economy, this is a case worth following: Westie Papiâs poisoning case.
I donât mean to sound emotional, but as a pet owner, Iâm sick and tired of reading articles that only hype up about Chinaâs pet economy, saying that millennials and Gen-Zs are choosing fur babies over human babies. I think thatâs acceptable when the mainstream trend was just picking up during COVID, but post-COVID, itâs quickly becoming irrelevant.
Because these pieces never addresses the dire situations that we are in: there is no law to protect the animals we see as family members.
As the most prominent animal protection case, the owner of 13-year-old Papi sued a 65-year-old neighbor who left poisoned food near the community childrenâs playground, which caused the Westieâs death. She has not given up since 2022, studying criminal law herself, making content online to raise awareness of the gaps in Chinaâs legal system. However, the pet ownerâs recent appeal was delayed for the 7th time on Monday.
Just on top of my mind, here are some of the horrific animal cruelty cases in recent years:â seven tons of frozen beagles were discovered in a garage in Henan, they were gutted and ready for sale after being lab animals their whole life, serial poisonings cases in Canto area, cat abuse in Zhejiangâs Quzhou, with the white catâs four limbs were broken in public. I can easily list a dozen more, and these are only just the public ones.
The sad thing is the misalignment of values and realities. The middle-class pet owners are up in their arms online, but who is the government more worried aboutâpet owners or the dog/cat meat trade? I think itâs the latter.
We can do nothing except claim that our âassetsâ have been damaged.
I can safely say this: If the government doesnât provide legal protection for animals, Chinaâs so-called pet economy is just an illusion. đ
That is a pretty standard policy for Disney. They are extremely strict about freelancing because of rights ownership issues, and public appearances generally require a certain level of approval to ensure the brands aren't tarnished. In the US, it probably wouldn't have lasted as long as it did here.