Regardless of the capital of the country, the purpose is to pursue the return on investment. Investing heavily in a company, only to shoot a "humiliating" advertisement a few years later to greatly reduce its income - this kind of brain hole is too outrageous
Wen | Ma Lin
Snack brand Three Squirrels advertised after being accused of "insulting China" and "maliciously defaming Chinese image", but things are still fermenting, and it has also triggered a chain reaction. On December 28, a group of Mercedes-Benz cars was accused of discriminating against Chinese looks with squinting and hanging-eye model makeup. The model in the Mercedes-Benz car advertisement has similar makeup to the three squirrel advertising models.
A newly released domestic movie "Lion Boy" was also reprimanded and insulted by netizens because of the small eyes and wide eye distance design of the animated characters.
Three squirrels ads in controversy, Mercedes-Benz car ads and screenshots of the "Lion Boy" cartoon. /Image from the web
Even the star Wang Yibo was "shot". Netizens flipped out a screenshot of the small video taken for him by the organizers when he participated in the GQ Zhizu event in 2019, and said that he made an insulting gesture that Westerners usually use.
Image from the web
After watching the complete small video, netizens understood that in fact, this is the cameraman guiding Wang Yibo to do an eye exercise, which is very different from the behavior of some Westerners who deliberately make squinting gestures and discriminating against Chinese.
Some Westerners have long had stereotypes about Chinese's appearance, and 100 years ago Western movies portrayed Chinese men as squinting, evil faces. Today, China's economic power in the world has been greatly enhanced, and in terms of image, Chinese is also eager to hope that the eastern face will no longer be defined by western aesthetics. Therefore, it is understandable that Chinese netizens are very vigilant and sensitive to whether there are elements of "insulting China" in design creativity and artistic expression.
However, it is unreasonable to say that companies such as Three Squirrels and Mercedes-Benz deliberately use "insulting China" advertisements to "dwarf Chinese" and "control the aesthetics of Chinese", because doing so is only bad for the company itself and not good.
Starting from business logic, the three squirrels have no motive to deliberately "insult China". Three Squirrels is a 100% Local Snack Company based in the Chinese market, and it will not be stupid enough to deliberately do a set of ads that provoke consumer anger, which is not good for the company's product sales and stock price.
As for the statement that "three squirrels are controlled by American capital", it is even more untrustworthy. Chinese innovative enterprises take overseas funds, Chinese capital also invests overseas, and enterprises and capital seek the best resource allocation and returns on a global scale, which is a very common thing. What's more, no matter which country's capital, its main purpose is to pursue investment returns. Capital invested heavily in a company many years ago, only to control the company a few years later to shoot a "humiliating" advertisement and make its own income greatly reduced - this kind of brain hole is too outrageous.
But apparently, the three squirrels actually fell behind because of this set of advertising ideas. Rationally, since the three squirrels sell nut snacks that are consumed by the general public, their advertising design should respect the feelings and aesthetics of the vast majority of people. Most netizens feel uncomfortable with squinting eyes, low-hanging eyelids, and slightly hanging eyes, and commercial brands must respect this feeling. If you ask the same model to take a more affinity, smiling photo, the effect may be very different.
As a car brand, Mercedes-Benz advertises to attract car consumers, rather than showing "100 makeup techniques of Mercedes-Benz". Therefore, it is not wise and unnecessary to make a fuss about the makeup of the model.
The same is true of Lion Boy. It is a commercial product that is tested by the audience in the market. Using squinting character images to "insult China", resulting in word-of-mouth and box office smashing, which is not good for directors, producers and investors.
British director Covins also recorded a video to talk to Chinese netizens after watching this animation, and he believes that a film that tells a Chinese story so carefully should not be complained about because of the size of the eyes of the animated characters, "Of course, the animation will have exaggerated character images, which is beyond reproach." ”
In fact, many people who actually watched this animation have a very positive overall feedback, they think it is a bloody film, but also promote Chinese culture. After watching more exaggerated big eyes in traditional Japanese comics, Chinese directors can make an animation film with ordinary looks as the shape, which is actually an aesthetic progress. Of course, the controversy that emerged after the release of the film shows that the specific design of this "ordinary look" is still debatable and improved. We can express our views on the style of painting, or we can vote with our feet not to go to the cinema, but we should not simply put the hat of "insulting China" to the creative team that is also Chinese.
Today, when any detail may trigger the topic of public opinion, whether it is a film and television work or a commercial brand, it needs to be careful. If commercial brands such as Three Squirrels and Mercedes-Benz want to be innovative and distinctive in advertising and marketing, they need to bear the corresponding public opinion risks.
Commercial brands must respect consumers, and this respect is not "I feel that I respect consumers", but to let consumers feel respected. The bitter lesson of the three squirrels this time, I believe other companies will take it as a warning.
The author is a reporter from Caijing; Editor: Yu Le
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