The "biggest earthquake" in the entertainment industry came shortly before the announcement to "purify the online environment"; among the fallen "stars", some broke the law, some acted as unethical traitors. No one can stay out, from the fan circle, the celebrities, to the film and television companies behind them, Weibo, Douban, and related video platforms. The iron fist that "Operation Qinglang" swung towards the fandom continued to fall. The cost of making mistakes for celebrities & KOLs who violate the law and moral standards has never been higher.
Let's take you back to the key events of Momentous Shake" in the entertainment industry this year so far:
18th Jan: In the Zheng Shuang surrogacy and abandonment incident, all cooperative brands and magazines have cancelled their cooperation, and related official announcements have all been removed from the net.
5th May: After the "milk incident", Youth With You 3 called off the broadcasting.
18th June: The Cyberspace Administration of China kicked off a two-month nationwide campaign to purify the online environment. "Operation Qinglang" aim to tackle some netizens who had lured youngsters to spend large amounts of money on stars, flaunt their wealth or become involved in mudslinging exchanges with fans of rival performers.
31st July: Kris Wu was under criminal detention on suspicion of rape. All related works have been removed on all major platforms.
3rd August: Artist Dee Hsu was cancelled by four brands for making inappropriate comments relating to Mainland and Tailwan, losing at least RMB¥7.4 million
6th August: Weibo star power list removed
15th August: Actor Zhang Zhehan was boycotted by the industry for his “checking in” at the Yasukuni Shrine. 36 endorsement brands announced the termination of the contract. Film and television works and variety shows were also terminated. TV series and variety shows that appeared on major platforms have also been removed.
16th August: Huo Zun withdrew from the show due to personal ethics (moral) issues.
23rd August: Millions of fans including "Zhao Liying Global Fan Support Club" and "Zhao Liying Wechat" were banned for inappropriate comments. Zhao Liying herself also posted an apology on Weibo.
24th August: Mango TV, terminated the cooperative relationship with Qian Feng due to his sexual assault accusation.
26th August: Gong Yu, CEO of iQiyi, announced that it will cancel the idol talent show and any off-site voting in the next few years.
26th August: As an after wave of Zhang Zhehan's event, Vickie Zhao Wei vanished from media and platforms for the Japanese war flag dress she wore in her early years.
27th August: The Cyberspace Administration of China reissued a notice addressing ten projects, including "cancellation of the celebrity artist list", "optimising and adjusting ranking rules", and "strict management of celebrity agency companies."
27th August: Zheng Shuang was fined RMB ¥299 million, and RMB¥219 million has not yet been paid.
29th August: NetEase Music announces the removal of all celebrity artists list.
1st September: The Douyin platform took off celebrity idol list and celebrity topic list and disbanded 1,900 fan groups with themes such as investment, support, fundraising, control reviews, gossip, and breaking news.
2nd September: The State Administration of Radio, Film and Television officially issued a notice, clearly requiring all TV stations and online platforms not to broadcast idol development programs, variety entertainment and reality shows attended by celebrity children.
Celebrity raised from huge fandom number; it is easy to start phenomenon, but it is also easy to become a "Meteor". We believe that after these series of events, brands will have more considerations in finding celebrity endorsements.
"Half my advertising spend is wasted; the trouble is, I don't know which half." was once said by John Wanamaker. For the brand, the wrong choice of celebrity will waste more than half of the resources, or even more!
When the brand chooses celebrity endorsements, it must start from the brand value and its benefits to the consumers and must not tolerate negligence and "self-righteousness". When choosing a celebrity, a brand should consider their "personality", fan base and matching degree, traffic, also validation of prospects and potential/possible risks. Before finalising, it is imperative to make a comprehensive quality and risk assessment.
Below are the keys that we think are important.
1. Principle-oriented
On issues of principle, public figures should have a positive attitude and firm stand. Therefore, before choosing a celebrity endorsement, you need to carefully judge from the comments on multiple social platforms, comprehensive past interview videos, books, etc. The person in charge of brand marketing needs to understand the proposed celebrity through numerous channels and platforms fully.
2. Public Reputation & Word-of-Mouth
Male celebrities had cheated on marriage and signed contracts to become the spokespersons of baby and toddler brands. After the advertisement went online, the brand also encountered resistance and criticism from consumers. Celebrities' public reputation and word-of-mouth are a compliment to each other from time to time. If a celebrity has nasty rumours occasionally, it is undoubtedly a dangling knife for the brand. In particular, the more popular one will get hit harder if the lousy news blew out; it is so easy to form a backlash against the brand.
3. Professional Competence & Future Potential
Zhang Zhehan, who had just made his debut for ten years, and was banned from the entire platform within two days, had 27 business endorsements. Brands place too much emphasis on the fan economy rather than the long-term accumulation, which can easily lead to mistakes in selecting celebrities. Brand endorsements use the celebrity's popularity, reputation, and appeal to fans to increase their influence. Only by thoroughly evaluating their professional capabilities and future potential can the person be selected more accurately.
4. The Effect & Evaluation Of Past Endorsement
The effect of past endorsement has also been of great help to the brand in choosing. You can search for past events and evaluations that occurrences during past endorsements to assist in decision-making. Most top celebrities have many business endorsements, which is very unfavourable for the brand side. Simply, the fans cannot distinguish or remember the brand, which might render the investment invalid.
After The Blow, What Are The Other Implications For Brands?
The unique features of a local environment always give special characteristics to its inhabitants. Chinese believes that the enterprises and brands should always stand behind the country. In China, brands must put national justice and sentiment first. Any behaviour that undermines national unity or infringes sentiment will be resisted, or even to the status of unforgivable!
Any foreign brand that wants to establish in China also needs to abide by this point, respect Chinese culture and history, especially on sensitive issues, and have a clear attitude and firm stand. For example, the one-China principle resists issues such as Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Tibetan independence that will divide the country and the historical issues involved in the Japanese invasion of China.
With the help of the celebrity fan economy, the brand can quickly increase in volume and awareness. But it can be a double-side blade. The brand itself needs to return to a more solid promotion method and build and accumulate the brand content marketing matrix. Let the content influence the product from the source, give the product higher value, and further realise the "integration of product and effect". At the same time, good content creates a brand new sales angle, accelerating the conversion from traffic to sales.
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