The Revelation Of "Shaw 227 Incident" To Brands

The "227" boycott triggered by Xiao Zhan fans has been fermented on the Internet in recent days.
The cause of the incident stems from a Archive of Our hosted by foreign co authors. Own (short for Ao3) carries a prototype of Xiao Zhan's "falling down" with the humanities. After spreading it through micro-blog V, it causes some fans of the star strongly dislike: it expresses strong dissatisfaction with Xiao Zhan, who is described by the author as a woman with a gender cognitive disorder, and then reports on the platform, resulting in the Ao3 website being forced to stop its services in China, and some works on the platform were also deleted. Lofter, also known as the "old Ford", is the biggest co authoring community NetEase in China. It is also not immune to the creator's "run on the road". The works are sealed and readers can not read the same articles.
This series of operations quickly angered the circle of people and a wider range of interest groups. Xiao Zhan, the actor in the fire of Chen Qing, became the target of public criticism and was boycotted by the whole network. Many of the brands he endorsed are also deeply implicated, and the most influential ones are the beauty brands such as Olay and Estee Lauder.
Many netizens say that unless the brand changes the spokesperson, they will not buy any products or products related to Xiao war.
Despite no explanation, Li Jiaqi, the blogger, immediately withdrew the Olay products that he had been selling live in the evening of March 1st. As for the Olay brand itself, not only did it not remove the publicity map from Taobao's flagship store, but also in the two days from February 29th to March 1st, there were 4 Marketing micro-blog with Xiao war content and two live broadcasts in Taobao in March 1st. The number of viewers in the first scene was less than 40 thousand, and the second games jumped to more than 970 thousand. The number of points increased from 400 thousand to 11 million 800 thousand. At the same time, the live broadcast room was full of quarrels and abuse. Netizens are called "Liang Chang" brand anchors, which means "choice is mutual", implying that they will not give up cooperation with Xiao war, while comforting fans "(boycott Xiao war) they are not important. What kind of climate can they form on a little bit of people?" This round of publicity continues to trigger another round of boycott against Olay brands. Many netizens have produced and forwarded tutorials on how to explain boycotts between friends and family. They even took the initiative to find loopholes in business operations and report them to the business sector.
Xiao Zhan also became the spokesperson for cosmetics and fragrances in Estee Lauder Asia Pacific last year. When BoF reporter asked whether the Estee Lauder brand PR leader was affected by any real influence, the official said that the brand did not reply at present.
Many brands remain silent, and toothpaste brand Crest secretly replaced the official micro-blog top page as Lu Han; Zwilling said that the brand and Xiao war had already lifted the endorsement relationship in December 2019; Mengniu genuine fruit originally planned to publicize Xiao Xiaoling's new small blue bottle in March 1st, which is also temporarily shelved.
When the spokesperson meets the negative news, the brand easily falls into a passive state. How to skillfully handle crisis public relations has become the key. Take a look at the big star endorsement events to sort out several strategies for crisis public relations.
　　 Stand clear and communicate in a timely manner
After the Xiao Zhan fans incident, most brands chose to remain silent. Even Olay, who was pushed to the cusp, did not give the official most formal statement, but did product marketing propaganda according to the established process. Some brands think that it is the best way to avoid crisis if they do not show their opinions. However, just being silent can only make consumers think the brand acquiescence, and even support some fans. This is why Olay, though not speaking, will suffer the root cause of netizens' boycott.
When the situation is unclear, the brand and spokesperson may remain silent. When things continue to ferment, brands need to quickly assess their target customers and resist the overlap and social impact of the two sides. The first time is to show their position and communicate with consumers in a sincere manner. Of course, reaction speed is also crucial. Crisis public relations has a famous 72 hour theory, that is, 72 hours after the event is the golden age of corporate crisis public relations. In the age of social networking, if the brand is processed in a timely manner, it may turn passivity into initiative.
　 Quickly replace celebrity ads
Although Xiao Zhan himself had no direct connection with the incident. But Netizens found that under the influence of their public opinion, some brands had quietly removed Shaw's ad, or the original page had changed to another star. The brand takes the urgent measures to cancel star advertisement, and its purpose is to avoid becoming the focus of public opinion. If the circumstances are serious or the situation can not be reversed, we may consider abolishing the publicity materials of the stars in full, or even the products that are endorsed by them.
In 2014, after Ke Zhendong was arrested for drug taking, NIVEA Nivea (Men) took the lead in the Internet, shocked and regretted the Ke Zhendong incident and reiterated NIVEA's positive and healthy brand tonality. After the announcement, NIVEA men considered replacing advertising plans, and their quick response prevented them from falling into public opinion. In 2017, Dior official Xuan Zhao Liying as a brand ambassador, but also because she did not speak standard in the promotional film, was Tucao Tucao. Finally, the brand side had to delete Zhao Liying Related videos. These two examples illustrate that quickly revoking celebrity advertising is one of the effective ways to calm public sentiment and to damage brand image.
Zhao Liying appeared in the Christian Dior promotional video.
　　 Signing short-term cooperation with stars to avoid risks
Today's traffic stars are fast red and the bonus period is short. The brand may consider signing a short-term cooperation agreement with the stars, or just promoting a product, so as to avoid risks. In the event of Xiao Zhan fans' reports, Zwilling adopted the December 2019 cooperation with Xiao war. Budweiser is trying to explain that Shaw is a spokesperson for Budweiser's products to reduce conflicts with consumers. In this era of traffic and risk, brand decisions and traffic stars must be considered. Signing a short-term contract can not only capture the star bonus period but also reduce the risk.
　　 Choose your spokesperson carefully and prepare for the worst.
In recent years, influenced by the fans' economy, brands often sign contracts with popular stars to attract fans to buy their products. Over time, the threshold of spokesmen has been getting lower and lower. As a matter of fact, the more traffic age is, the more prudent the brand should be for its endorser. When we sign a contract with a star, we should make the worst plan and consider the possibility of some extreme fans. The exemption clause and saving clause in the endorsement contract should be more clearly stated. If the circumstances are serious, the contract can be rescind immediately and the other party can bear certain legal liability. In June 2016, Lancome was boycotted by Chinese consumers due to the Denise Ho incident, which made L'OREAL group of Lancome evaporate by 18 billion 500 million yuan in a few days. In the end, Lancome chose to stop working with Denise Ho to calm down.
In choosing spokesmen, international luxury brands have been very cautious and conservative, and have ensured the safety of brand image by diversify risks. Although Christian Dior has announced many Chinese female stars as brand ambassadors, no one is the real spokesperson of the brand. Chanel will aim at a certain product and announce several celebrities as ambassadors. If one of them has a crisis, they will be replaced by another celebrity advertisement in time to minimize the loss.
Traffic stars and powder culture will not disappear in China for the time being, which means that brands will continue to face similar risks. This time, the "227 incident" triggered by controversy by Xiao Fan fans reminded the brand side again. Caution should be taken when choosing a celebrity spokesperson. Everything is a double-edged sword.