China News Finance, March 30 (Zuo Yuqing) "About", "Thief big"... Weilong spicy strips, which are loved by young people and even minors, have been overturned this time because of the packaging copywriting.
Recently, some netizens pointed out that the Weilong spicy strip packaging copywriting plays a vulgar edge ball, such as the big gluten food packaging writes "about it", the big hot stick writes "thief big", the small hot stick writes "tough" and so on. The series of copywriters immediately caused controversy online.
WeiLong apologizes: Stop the production of controversial copywriting packaging
For the packaging copywriting dispute, on March 25, some media reported that Weilong customer service said that the copywriting was marked according to the characteristics of the product, and the design may not have thought so much.
In the early morning of March 30, Weilong official Weibo officially issued a statement: "Recently, some netizens put forward relevant opinions and suggestions on the packaging of the company's products, and the content of the layout copywriting of the product packaging caused some netizens to be controversial, and we apologize deeply, the company attaches great importance to the opinions of the majority of netizens and consumers, and decided to stop the production of controversial copywriting packaging, while optimizing the layout copywriting and design." ”
Wei Long responded with a screenshot.
Zhongxin Finance noted that at present, the product pictures of Weilong's official flagship store have no packaging suspected of playing vulgar edge balls, but in many unofficial e-commerce merchants, packaging pictures such as "about it" and "tough" can still be seen.
In the spicy noodle market, Weilong can be described as a rising leader, not only in the snack circle mixed up, and even submitted prospectuses twice in 2021, trying to impact the Hong Kong stock IPO. Weilong's latest prospectus shows that in 2020, Weilong's total revenue was 4.12 billion yuan, gross profit was 1.566 billion yuan, and the gross profit margin was as high as 38%. Among them, of the company's revenue of 4.1 billion yuan in 2020, the revenue of seasoned noodle products (that is, spicy noodles) reached nearly 2.7 billion yuan, accounting for about 66% of the total revenue.
On the 30th, the controversy caused by Weilong's advertising campaign seems to have been unable to settle down, and in the comment area, many netizens are still arguing. Some netizens said that the copywriting is playing a vulgar edge ball; some netizens think that some netizens "think too much".
But then, some netizens pointed out that Weilong's marketing had played the edge ball many times before. For example, on the eve of "Double 11" in 2016, the flagship store of an e-commerce platform in Weilong was filled with more obvious vulgar hints.
WeiLong packaging copywriter suspected of playing vulgar edge ball. Screenshot from Weibo.
He was accused of applying for a number of trademarks suspected of playing vulgar edge balls
According to the Tianyancha App, the company to which the Weilong brand belongs, Luohe Weilong Trading Co., Ltd., has also applied for a number of trademarks suspected of playing vulgar edge balls, including "happy to pick up", "thief big", "thief stick", "yellow explosion", "hey hey hey fungus", etc., and the international classification is mostly convenience food and food. However, none of these trademarks have been approved and are currently invalid.
As for the packaging copy of the controversy, Jiang Zezhong, a professor at the Capital University of Economics and Business and a researcher at the Research Center for Private Enterprises of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, believes that the vulgar meaning is unquestionable: "If you just look at a single word, it may not be relevant." But when these words are put together, the metaphors in them are very obvious. ”
Jiang Zezhong told Zhongxin Finance that even if the copy is "labeled according to the characteristics of the product", some words are not appropriate: "Words like 'tough' are difficult to use to describe the taste or texture of food." ”
"The popularity of foods such as spicy strips by teenagers is in line with the characteristics of their age groups." Jiang Zezhong pointed out that teenagers prefer foods with pungent tastes, and the spicy spicy strips cater to this mentality. "Generally, parents are reluctant to give their children this particularly spicy food, so many teenagers will buy it in the store and avoid parents to 'secretly eat'."
Jiang Zezhong said that weilong spicy strips deliberately played a vulgar edge ball on the packaging copy, which will have a negative impact on teenagers.
According to the Weilong prospectus, 95% of Weilong's consumers are aged 35 and below, and 55% of consumers are young people aged 25 and below.
Weilong products on the shelves of a supermarket. Photo by Zuo Yukun of Zhongxin Finance
Zhongxin Financial Review: Mo makes excuses for playing pornographic edge ball advertisements
Spicy strips are loved by young people because of their unique color and flavor, which has become the childhood memory of one generation, and may also become the childhood memory of the next generation.
Zhongxin Finance noted that even among today's youth groups, the spicy noodles of brands such as Weilong are still deeply loved. In the shops near the primary and secondary schools, you can still see Weilong spicy noodles everywhere. On the e-commerce platform, there are also consumers who post photos of their children eating Weilong spicy strips.
Here, remind enterprises including Weilong that advertising and publicity copywriting needs to be carefully written and sentenced, and do not play ambiguous and vulgar routines; some consumers who like Weilong are also blinded by feelings, and do not help the vulgarity of enterprises to find excuses. (End)