Three Squirrels Inc(300783) netizens questioned that the models in the advertising had “squint” makeup, which has not yet dissipated. On the 27th, some netizens found that Mercedes Benz suspected of using “squint” model makeup in the advertising, which attracted attention.
On December 27, some netizens released the advertising cover promoted by Mercedes Benz Mercedes Benz in the wechat circle of friends, with the text “Mercedes Benz advertising, speechless”.
On the eve of the outflow of this advertisement, a series of “rollover” events such as Chen mandio’s advertisement, the film “lion boy” and Three Squirrels Inc(300783) have greatly aroused netizens’ aversion to the stereotyped image of “squinting eyes”, while Mercedes Benz chose to publish similar advertisements in this sensitive period, which is suspected of “committing crimes against the wind”, deliberately stimulating public opinion and even reverse marketing. A microblog netizen left a message saying, “one, two, three… Advertisers use squinting eyes. It’s strange if there’s no problem!”
Some netizens accused “these people are Chinese consumers in PUA”, and some netizens said that they received this group of “squint” advertising push from Mercedes Benz in the circle of friends, “I feel a little deliberate”.
Some netizens commented that ” doesn’t mean that squinting people are not good-looking, but that advertising deliberately guides them like this , which really represents the appearance of Chinese people? How many people around you look like this? Why exaggerate this image and say what high-grade beauty? Why, other looks are not high-grade?”
In fact, the video advertisement of Mercedes Benz was published on its microblog official account on December 25, with a video duration of 50 seconds. In the video, Mercedes Benz used two model partners, a man and a woman, to promote the new car. The whole video adopted the mode of flipping through magazines, changing venues and changing clothes quickly. The male model also has two or three close-up facial shots. The female model basically focuses on the mid shot of the half body or the whole body, basically has no facial close-up of the female model. but the makeup of female models basically did not change, female models suspected of single eyelid were mainly depicted with eye tail and lower eyelid, and there were basically no eyelashes, making their eyes more slender.
Figure: screenshot of Mercedes Benz advertisement
Question the “intentional” advertising of Mercedes Benz and the microblog account @ comment immediately, He said on his microblog: “we are not criticizing the appearance of models, but criticizing the slight makeup of deliberately” advanced face “, and criticizing this kind of deliberately catering to the stereotyped definition of East Asians in the West! So, Mercedes Benz, are you sick for putting on this makeup for models? I don’t believe Mercedes Benz didn’t mean to make such a scene these days when the lion boy was so fierce at Three Squirrels Inc(300783) !”
In the message area of Mercedes Benz microblog, some netizens criticized this, “Chinese women have such faces? I see…” and some netizens said, “why don’t you choose an eye for your male model? Chinese women will be targeted by you!”, However, some netizens said they didn’t see any problems. Some people said they should “be more open-minded and inclusive”.
However, before 21 Jun published, he didn’t find this advertisement in Mercedes Benz microblog, which seems to have been quietly deleted. As of the evening of the 28th, Mercedes Benz had not responded to the matter.
it is worth mentioning that deliberately forming the expression effect of “squinting” and “hanging the tip of the eye”, such as pulling up the corner of the eye, is now an internationally recognized discriminatory action against Chinese and even Asian Americans. in June this year, a Serbian women’s volleyball player winked at his opponent in the game against Thailand and was punished by the International Volleyball Federation with a two match ban and 20000 Swiss francs (about 142000 yuan).
Mercedes Benz advertising has been controversial
In fact, it is not the first time that Mercedes Benz has caused controversy in advertising.
In October this year, Mercedes Benz released several sponsorship advertisements at a Chinese fashion media dinner on the Chinese social platform, including the new Mercedes Benz C-class car and talk show actor Yang Li. Afterwards, some netizens questioned that it was inappropriate for Mercedes Benz to invite Yang Li, who had made controversial remarks, to speak for him. While working, Yang Li immediately clarified that she denied the endorsement behavior, saying that she was only invited to participate in a fashion media activity and shoot promotional materials.
At the end of 2020, Mercedes Benz released a car advertisement called “more than one standard” in its circle of friends to publicize its 1.33 ton engine with the help of the story of NBA basketball star Allen Iverson, implying that “small people also have great energy”.
However, sharp eyed Netizens found that the “Iverson” in the advertising content was not Iverson himself, but a figure similar to Iverson, and the name changed from “Iverson” to “Iversen”. This means that Mercedes Benz did not ask Iverson to speak for it. This is a fake advertisement.
Subsequently, Mercedes Benz admitted that the character in the advertisement was not Iverson himself, and publicly apologized.
people’s Daily: Thinking from multiple angles
Not only Mercedes Benz, recently, the food enterprise Three Squirrels Inc(300783) became the object of public opinion because of a publicity poster containing the “squinting eyes” makeup of the model. Some netizens believed that Three Squirrels Inc(300783) was suspected of vilifying Chinese people and catering to Western stereotypes, but then the model of the advertisement said through the social network that he was born like this, He was deeply helpless to comment on “humiliating China”, and said that “everything goes on the line, which is a kind of morbid”. The animated film lion boy also attracted controversy because the main character modeling is “squinting”. Similar events have triggered discussions from time to time for some time.
In this regard, the commentator of the people’s daily posted a document saying that squinting disputes should be considered from multiple angles. This paper analyzes the dispute of “squinting” from three dimensions: product, aesthetics and communication.
from a product perspective:
No matter whether the enterprise has the subjective intention to vilify the Chinese people or not, the problem reflected in this matter itself is very real. Whether it is a foreign enterprise, an artist or a film maker, the advertisements and created works broadcast must have a more mature audience awareness, and it is necessary to understand the audience’s cognition and aesthetic taste, We should also respect the cultural environment and historical feelings of the audience. As an audience, consumers have the right to vote for likes and dislikes, which itself is also giving market feedback to the brand. Only by paying more attention to cultural connotation and product quality can we better win the market, recognition and respect.
We must fully consider the mainstream culture, public aesthetics and audience mentality. Without such audience consciousness, it is light to make a joke, heavy to be counterproductive and completely “overturn”.
from an aesthetic point of view:
cultivate healthy aesthetic taste and cultivate strong aesthetic confidence. we contain diverse individual aesthetic tastes, but we also need to form a healthy public aesthetics, and more importantly, we need to shape an upward mainstream aesthetics. Eyes can be big or small, but they should be full of energy and spirit; You can be fat or thin, but you should be confident and calm. In this way, the aesthetic of the whole society can be healthier and more sound.
For humiliating China with symbols such as “squinting eyes”, the act of counterattack is not to go online and self-examination, but based on old stereotypes, discrimination against specific physical characteristics, deliberately pleasing western aesthetics and defining China in flattery.
In addition, only building self-confidence from the inside out is the best counterattack to discrimination. without such self-confidence, it is easy to be led by similar issues. On the contrary, it takes the Western prejudice as the only standard, “human right and non-human right”, which is in favor of and against for the sake of approval.
from the perspective of communication:
adhere to the effect orientation and avoid “capping”. if you think that small eyes are “squinting” regardless of occasions and situations, as long as you use small eye models, they are humiliating China, which is somewhat too sensitive. You can disagree with similar aesthetics and discuss the direction of artistic creation, but there is no need to go online.
Squinting has become a special topic setting. We should be vigilant against the problem of humiliating China. We should also be vigilant against using squinting topics to confuse Chinese public opinion and even force the election team to create division. No matter what you do, no one is perfect. For the topic of squinting, respect for aesthetic diversity is the first level, vigilance against opposition and division is the second level, and calling for rational treatment is the highest level. We should also pay special attention to prevention. Some we media use the public’s simple patriotism to maliciously lead war, pull hatred, engage in confrontation and pollute cyberspace.
Finally, we respect the diversity of aesthetics and the expression of individualization and differentiation, but we must adhere to the effect orientation when entering the field of public communication, especially to avoid falling into the discourse trap set by the West.
frequent faults of Mercedes Benz
According to the data, China is the largest single market of Mercedes Benz in the world, contributing one-third of the market share. in 2019, the sales volume of Mercedes Benz in the Chinese market reached 693433 units. In early December this year, Tang Shikai, head of Daimler Greater China, also publicly said that China is the most critical growth driver of Mercedes Benz and an important innovation base for the company’s “comprehensive electric” transformation.
However, while the sales of Mercedes Benz cars are rising, the troubles brought to consumers by vehicle faults are also increasing.
According to the announcement of the State Administration of market supervision:
Mercedes Benz recalled a total of 2778791 vehicles in 2021, mainly due to safety hazards caused by many factors, of which the largest single recall exceeded 2.6 million vehicles; In 2020, Mercedes Benz launched 18 recall campaigns, recalling more than 800000 vehicles in total.
Therefore, Mercedes Benz is called “recall king” by many consumers.
In 2021, Mercedes Benz’s largest vehicle recall occurred on March 12, involving more than 2.6 million defective vehicles.
The recall information shows that due to the design problem of the communication module software, when the vehicle collides and the emergency call service is automatically triggered, the temporary drop of the voltage of the communication module power supply caused by the vehicle collision may lead to the deviation of the vehicle position automatically sent to the Mercedes Benz emergency call center, resulting in rescue delay and potential safety hazards.
In this regard, experts said: now the competition between car companies is fierce and new products emerge one after another. Mercedes Benz is eager to accelerate the development of new products, and many development processes have been omitted. Therefore, the new cars produced by Mercedes Benz have frequent problems after they go to the market.
the sales platform is unreasonable and it is difficult for consumers to protect their rights
On April 2, 2020, the consumer Mr. Li Qingsong purchased a black Mercedes Benz minibus from Tianjin dingjiahuasheng international trading company. On April 4, Mr. Li found that the odometer was abnormal, so he returned to Tianjin the next day to report the situation to the Trading Co., Ltd. On April 9, the staff of the trading company said that there was no problem with the vehicles sold, and Mr. Li could go to the testing agency for vehicle inspection.
On May 18, 2020, Mr. Li entrusted Tianjin Dongxu motor vehicle appraisal and evaluation Co., Ltd. to conduct technical appraisal of the vehicle. The appraisal report shows that the ordinary bus has “rear paint repair phenomenon, abnormal odometer display, and the model of a windshield at the rear right side is inconsistent with that of the whole vehicle”. Mr. Li believes that the car is not a good new car, and the refurbished car is shoddy.
After Mr. Li told your staff of the trading company, the other party responded that it would replace the vehicle for Mr. Li. However, the staff member unilaterally cut off contact with Mr. Li, and other staff members of the company prevaricated each other in the face of Mr. Li’s request for rights protection. Mr. Li has not yet succeeded in safeguarding his rights.
there are many consumers who have been infringed by Mercedes Benz’s sales platform, but few consumers can successfully protect their rights.
In 2019, female Mercedes Benz owners in Xi’an, Shaanxi Province cried on the car cover, which impressed many consumers. Ms. Wang’s reasonable appeal was not resolved until public opinion gradually fermented and attracted the attention of the regulatory authorities.
under the fierce competition and multiple disputes, Mercedes Benz’s sales in China have declined significantly.
In the past few years, with the bonus of the overall expansion of China’s luxury car market, Mercedes Benz has entered a period of rapid growth in China and once topped the sales champion of China’s luxury cars. However, due to the shortage of parts supply and the run on competitive products this year, Mercedes Benz’s sales in China have declined significantly compared with the past. According to the data of the passenger Federation, from January to November this year, Beijing Benz sold about 510000 vehicles in China, down 8.1% year-on-year, behind FAW Volkswagen Audi and brilliance BMW by nearly 70000 and 100000 respectively.
China’s auto market is surging. Tesla, Xiaopeng, Byd Company Limited(002594) and other new energy vehicles have attracted many young consumers and gradually occupied China’s auto market. Whether Mercedes Benz has strict requirements on the production process and distribution platform and whether it has enough respect for Chinese consumers may be the key to “Mercedes Benz” in the Chinese market in the future.
Source: Global Times, Beijing Youth Daily, people’s Daily commentary, people’s famous products, observer.com
(21st Century Business Herald)
