A product publicity poster released two years ago caused an uproar on the Internet yesterday (December 26). Some netizens believe that the model’s “squinting eyes” and thick lips in this poster are deliberately vilifying the Chinese people. To this end, Three Squirrels Inc(300783) urgently issued a statement, saying that the model in the poster is Chinese, and the makeup is built based on its personal characteristics without deliberate ugliness. In order to avoid discomfort, the page has been replaced, Three Squirrels Inc(300783) also apologized to netizens.
Figure / Three Squirrels Inc(300783) microblog screenshot
However, the advertising model vegetable lady (cabbage) doesn’t buy it. She said on her microblog that her eyes are like this. They are smaller in daily life than those on the poster. She expressed her support for patriotism, but everything should be on the agenda, which is a kind of morbid. The explanation and apology of Three Squirrels Inc(300783) might have been to calm things down, but the angry words of the model rekindled the controversial war. Subsequently, the online debate about whether “squinting” constituted “humiliating China” once again triggered a quarrel. The model himself also encountered some fierce verbal attacks.
Figure / screenshot of vegetable lady microblog
A poster of two years ago has been dull. Even consumers who highly agree with Three Squirrels Inc(300783) may have no impression of it. However, why did someone find it from the “pile of old papers” to question it and force the enterprise to apologize? Originally, the advertisement of Three Squirrels Inc(300783) is a marketing means, that is, a market behavior, and the constraint means is the relevant market law. This poster of Three Squirrels Inc(300783) belongs to product advertising, which is regulated by the advertising law. The advertising law currently implemented in China is the version revised and adopted at the sixth meeting of the Standing Committee of the 13th National People’s Congress in October 2018. Article 9 of the Law lists 11 advertising situations explicitly prohibited. The major theme of “humiliating China” is that paragraph 4 of the law “damages national dignity or interests and divulges State secrets”. Looking back at the advertising picture of Three Squirrels Inc(300783) , the “squinting eyes” of female models is actually a natural appearance of people. Advertising with such an image is close to the familiar truth of life, which can make some consumers feel close. It is not possible to “damage the dignity or interests of the country”, nor can it produce the effect of “humiliating China”. Therefore, some online accusations are indeed inappropriate.
In fact, the dispute over “squinting” is at best an aesthetic difference. In public aesthetics, they really like big eyed girls, and enterprises are used to using such models to increase their attraction. But the problem is that aesthetics has never been a unified ruler, but a feeling that can vary from person to person and from time to time. The difference of artistic aesthetics determines that the world is rich and colorful, not only one standard and one ruler, but also does not show that those who are not me are ugly and bad. This difference allows some people not to like a certain way of expression, but not to like does not mean that they can put all kinds of unnecessary charges at will. For the advertisement of Three Squirrels Inc(300783) , if consumers don’t like it, they can show their attitude by refusing to buy products. In the final analysis, Three Squirrels Inc(300783) is engaged in a commercial activity. If too many consumers have resistance due to the mistakes of posters, making it difficult to sell this product, the enterprise will be aware of this problem from the market feedback and replace the advertisement by itself. The act of forcing enterprises to change their advertisements by putting on the political hat of “humiliating China” has actually constituted excessive interference in the operation of enterprises, and it is a kind of personal insult to the model.
The controversy surrounding Three Squirrels Inc(300783) this poster seems a little unreasonable, but it deeply illustrates a bad tendency worthy of vigilance in China’s business environment. For the business behavior of enterprises, China has a relatively perfect variety of laws. There is only one standard to judge whether the business behavior of an enterprise is good or bad, that is, the relevant laws. However, in the current business ecology, there are often various requirements that leave the law or even deviate from the law, so that enterprises are at a loss. The requirements put forward by some people seem to occupy the moral highland, but they are far from the spirit of law. Once the law becomes dispensable, the business ecology will be destroyed. Fundamentally, it will only destroy the healthy operation of the economy.
In this regard, the Shanghai Consumer Protection Commission issued a document on December 27 that the aesthetics of the consumer circle should also keep pace with the times. With the development of society and the iteration of consumption, only by keeping pace with the times can businesses keep up with the pace of the times, meet the new aesthetic needs of consumers, and establish cultural and emotional resonance with consumers. At present, China’s economy has turned to supply side structural reform, and revitalizing China’s consumer market has become an important goal, which requires enterprises to play more subjective and dynamic roles and use various legal and compliance means to increase the market viscosity of products and attract consumers, including product advertising. Society should also establish a loose market environment for enterprises to operate legally. In terms of advertising, enterprises must abide by the advertising law, and consumers can only look at advertising according to the requirements of the advertising law. Law is the lifeline of the healthy operation of the market. Only in this way can enterprises and consumers have a common language and achieve “win-win” through their respective business behaviors.
(Beijing News)
