Three squirrels dare to "insult China"?

Recently, the domestic snack brand Three Squirrels has appeared on Weibo's hot search in a different way.

Some netizens posted a three squirrels in 2019 a chutney product promotional poster, saying that the model's "squinting eyes" and ultra-thick lips and other makeup in the poster were deliberately scandalizing the Chinese people and suspected of "insulting China".

After the incident, the three squirrels issued a statement apologizing, and said that the replacement of the page had been carried out at the first time, and other product pages of the company had been arranged to prevent similar situations.

The statement also said that the product was launched in October 2019, and the model on the page is a Chinese, and her makeup is based on her personal characteristics, without deliberate ugliness.

From the response of the three squirrels, it can be seen that what they say is basically the truth, but there are still many netizens who question that the three squirrels are suspected of "intentionality", at least objectively there is a follow-up Western aesthetic.

Today, public opinion has been fermented for 4 days, how to look at this matter, in fact, is very simple, in short, mainly involving two core issues:

First, do the three squirrels have "deliberately" insulted China?

Speaking of "insulting China", there are two most typical incidents that have occurred in the past two years:

One is that last month, after the French luxury brand Dior exhibited a work by a well-known Chinese photographer Chen Man 10 years ago, some netizens criticized the model's makeup as insulting to China.

The other was earlier in 2019, when Spanish fashion brand Zara was criticized by netizens for using freckled photos of Chinese model Li Jingwen in its promotion, which was criticized by netizens for defaming Chinese image.

These two incidents, which are defined as typical "insults to China", on the one hand, have been unanimously opposed by including official media and netizens; on the other hand, they have basic "insulting Chinese characteristics".

1, are foreign brands, there is a "humiliating" motivation.

2. The model's makeup and the real situation are far behind, and there is a suspicion of deliberate ugliness.

3, many foreign brands are already "habitual offenders", and the aesthetics of the Chinese people have not been improved.

According to the comparative analysis, the three squirrels actually do not have the motivation of "insulting China".

1, three squirrels are authentic domestic brands, it is impossible to eat their own meals, but also want to smash their own pot.

2, engaged in the response of the model "vegetable widow", I "eyes, indeed look like this, because my personality, and performance style was selected to be this advertising model", did not deliberately want to create any insulting image.

3, even if the three squirrels are suspected of "insulting China" this time, they are also first-time offenders, and it is necessary for everyone to give him the opportunity to reform himself, rather than giving him a big hat of "insulting China".

To put it more directly, there are indeed many people with small eyes in China, the so-called "squinting eyes", but this is not the criterion for judging a person's beauty or ugliness, nor is it the primary factor that determines whether it can be used as a model for commercial cooperation, and the aesthetic should be diversified.

Yi Jianjun has always believed that the real "humiliation of China" is to stay in the backward era of the aesthetics of the Chinese people, and deliberately maintain a stereotypical understanding of the Chinese in order to generalize the whole.

The three squirrels do not deliberately "insult China", does it mean that they can stay out of the matter in this incident and have no fault? The answer is no.

The second and third squirrels have at least two major "faults".

1, the company's aesthetic is indeed not online.

It can be seen from the poster released by the three squirrels that although it exists objectively, the image of "Vegetable Widow" is somewhat similar to the image of Chinese in the posters of Dior and Zara, and it is easy for the outside world to think of "squinting".

It is hard to believe that the three squirrels did not know about similar events that occurred before releasing the poster, and did they really not know that such a poster would touch the sensitive nerves of the audience?

On this point, the Shanghai Consumer Protection Commission is very right, the society is developing, consumption is iterating, and only by keeping pace with the times can businesses keep pace with the times, meet the new aesthetic needs of consumers, and establish cultural and emotional resonance with consumers.

In its latest commentary, the People's Daily also said that regardless of whether the enterprise has the subjective intention to scandalize the Chinese people, the problem reflected in this matter itself is very real, that is, whether it is a domestic and foreign enterprise, or an artist, a film producer, the advertisements broadcast and the works created must have a more mature audience awareness, not only to understand the audience's cognition and aesthetic taste, but also to respect the cultural environment and historical feelings in which the audience is located.

"Consumer brands choose models in order to increase the public's liking for them, and they can guide the public to accept it, but they cannot challenge the general aesthetic of the public." The comment said.

2. There is a suspicion of novelty.

From the style of the poster released by the three squirrels, it can be seen that although it is "nostalgic", the overall tone is cold, the model is strangely shaped, and the audience's first glance does not focus on food at all, but the model itself.

"So many advertising models, why do the advertising posters of three squirrels have to choose small eyes?" Many people think that three squirrels are typical sensationalism, that is, they want to be different.

Under this thought, the clothing models in the advertising posters of the three squirrels are also weird, wearing modern clothes but wearing buckets used to prevent rain in the south; wearing fancy modern flower clothes but with hot water bottles from the fifties and sixties; imitating the pictures before liberation, but letting the female model bare her thighs...

"Anyway, how to go against the tide, how to come." What is this trying to do? Some netizens asked rhetorically.

On this point, the People's Daily believes that whether it is a poster or a video, it is made for people to see, which requires taking into account the aesthetic interest of the public.

Yi Jianjun felt that advertising is also a form of literary and artistic creation, which must have values and aesthetics, and cannot blindly pursue individuality and anti-public aesthetics. For the three squirrels with the public as consumers, they should especially realize the importance of values and aesthetics.

The recent Eleventh National Congress of the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles and the Tenth National Congress of the Chinese Writers Association have a passage:

Literature and art must be popular, but they must not be vulgar, vulgar, or kitsch. Literature and art must live, but they must not become the makers, followers, and advocates of unhealthy trends. Literature and art must be innovative, but we must not engage in strange and absurd things. Literature and art must be effective, but they must not be contaminated with the smell of copper and become slaves to the market. Creation depends on painstaking efforts, performance depends on strength, image depends on shaping, efficiency depends on quality, and reputation depends on virtue.

The weight of this sentence is very heavy, and it is worth three squirrels to carefully ponder.

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