Text | Xiaoyu
"Seeing him rise up Zhu Lou, seeing him banquet guests, seeing his building collapse", this phrase widely used to describe the collapse of the star house may soon have a new applicability.
Zhang Jike, a table tennis grand slam player who was once regarded as a national idol, became the target of public criticism for gambling and lending money and leaking other people's privacy. Once the revelation is confirmed, he will soon face not only the ashes of commercial value, but also serious sanctions by laws and regulations.
From the nature point of view, this is probably one of the worst celebrity collapse incidents after Zheng Shuang's surrogacy, Wu Yifan's rape, and Li Yifeng's prostitution. At the same time, its particularity also lies in the identity of the protagonist Zhang Jike's champion athlete.
As the saying goes, there is no distinction between culture and sports, and it is not uncommon for professional athletes to get involved in the show business. Earlier, gymnast Liu Xuan turned into an actor after retiring, and the "diving prince" Tian Liang also tried to achieve the blossoming of film and television. Later, Zhang Jike, Ma Long, Xu Xin, Sun Yang, Fu Yuanhui, etc., who were famous at the Rio Olympics, began to appear frequently in variety shows. The athletes who have been relatively active in the entertainment industry in the past two years include Zhang Guowei, Wu Dajing, Wang Wei, Gu Ailing, Xu Mengtao and others.
The world champions with national compilations have won them widespread attention and trust, but Zhang Jike and the various scandals he is involved in have slapped netizens hard. At a time when professional athletes are constantly entering the entertainment industry, we can all think about whether this soil is suitable for them to grow?
01
Times create "stars"
Or take Zhang Jike, the suitable social environment and distinctive personal characteristics have created this "star".
Zhang Jike and other national table tennis players all became popular at the 2016 Rio Olympics. At that time, the communication matrix led by mainstream media and supplemented by self-media contributed a lot to their "debut".
On the one hand, on the channel, various new media such as microblogs, public accounts, short videos, and live broadcasts have emerged, and the influence of the communication chain has been further expanded; On the other hand, in terms of content, the entertainment "whole work" redefines sports events and athletes, and mobilizes the enthusiasm of more netizens.
With the blessing of unprecedented attention, it is not difficult to understand that the national table tennis team that "fights invincible hands all over the world" has become the top. Following the Beijing and London Olympic Games, the men's and women's table tennis teams continued to win the team championship and single championship and runner-up in Rio, and Zhang Jike, Xu Xin and Ma Long were the three main players of the men's team.
Although Zhang Jike is not a solo champion, his famous scenes such as "wake up, this is the Olympics" and wild tearing clothes after defeating his opponent have provided enough laughter and cool points for netizens. Throughout the Olympic Games, he became the hottest athlete with 400 million searches.
The public opinion trend of not talking about heroes with "gold medals" has changed greatly, starting from this Olympic Games, Fu Yuanhui, who used the "power of flood and waste", and Sun Yang, who lost on the first day but was comforted by the whole network, are also proof.
The reason why the media is willing to promote this perception and hype the positive image of athletes may also be the good news for the sports industry at the policy level.
The Rio Olympics is the first world-class sports event held after the official implementation of Document No. 46 issued by the National Development and Reform Commission to further accelerate the development of the sports industry and promote sports consumption. This background, coupled with the aforementioned factors, makes the media and the public closer to the sports world and athletes.
From this, we can grasp key advantageous attributes such as professional ability, personality traits, media recognition, and public opinion environment, which are the capital of athletes, especially world champions, to break into the entertainment industry.
In fact, sports competitions themselves also have the characteristics of spectatorship, which is similar to film and television performances. The honors won by high-level athletes are admirable, and the hard-working sportsmanship makes them turn into positive energy idols and attract fans.
In addition to playing competitions, based on being able to attract traffic, commercial endorsements and film and television programs are the two main forces for athletes to monetize, and this set of operation models is no different from the entertainment industry. Looking at the world, star athletes such as Ronaldo, Kobe Bryant, and David Beckham have always been the existence of fish in the entertainment industry.
In terms of the speed of the renewal of competitive sports, the career of athletes is very short, and the development direction after retirement must be planned as soon as possible. They need to generate income and change careers, and the entertainment industry needs topicality and positive energy, and the two are also a hit-off.
In addition, the relaxation of restrictions on the commercial activities of active athletes by the competent authorities seems to have relieved them of some worries about entering the entertainment industry.
In July 2019, the IOC amended Rule 40 of the Olympic Charter, which states that "Olympic participants may, if permitted by the rules, use their names, photographs or sporting events for advertising during the Olympic Games", breaking the IOC's previous ban in this regard.
A month later, the State General Administration of Sports also updated the rules for commercial endorsement, announcing that "without affecting training competitions, athletes and coaches may, on their own or with the consent of the unit, engage in commercial development activities in their own name or by hiring professional brokerage agencies and brokers." Of course, the approval process is still treated strictly, athletes will still overturn when they cross the line, and the reason why Ning Zetao was expelled from the national team is "unauthorized endorsement advertising".
There is no need to argue that whether starting from the reasons or going backwards from the results, it is very reasonable for athletes to develop their acting careers. The last Summer Olympics and the Winter Olympics were linked, coupled with the frequent collapse of celebrities, many netizens said that "athletes are the stars we should chase". Unfortunately, since the embezzlement of national football head coach Li Tie, the women's basketball "Xiaosanmen" and Zhang Jike's gambling, this trust and respect have obviously declined, and the wind direction has quickly changed to "the original sports circle and the entertainment industry are as vigorous".
02
Difference in profession makes one feel worlds apart
After becoming popular because of the emoji, Fu Yuanhui participated in variety shows such as "Daughters in Love" and "My Girl", which can be regarded as further rooted in the entertainment industry. Yan Ji, the general director of "Daughters in Love", once said that the reason for choosing Fu Yuanhui was "unique", her performance was different from stars, and her identity as an athlete was different from ordinary people.
But this "uniqueness" is more like a double-edged sword for athletes, the advantage is popularity and good effect, the disadvantage is mismatch and error-prone. You know, although artists are always criticized for being "false", they can greatly reduce the possibility of them being "guilty of speech". True temperament is not necessarily suitable for the entertainment industry under the super spotlight, look at the "crime" that Zhang Jike was accused, there is a help endorsement brand Anta live broadcast but bluntly said that the shoes are ugly.
As long as they are celebrities, any behavior will be infinitely amplified, and it is their fate to be cautious in their words and deeds. Even if the national team is strictly managed, the direction of focus is always different, and the athletes who come out of it need to adapt to the environment again.
To make matters worse, athletes have a criminal record before they enter show business. For example, the earliest record of Zhang Jike being caught involved in gambling comes from the "Sports Weekly" in 2004, and these buried mines will explode sooner or later.
For celebrities, there can be no moral and legal flaws on them. Lin Dan, a popular badminton player, lost almost all his commercial endorsements after cheating in 2016; The Zhang Jike incident has not yet been concluded, and brands such as Anta, Shufajia, and Runbaiyan have also deleted materials related to him and publicly cut them.
If the truth of undisciplined training may only bring controversy, then the public opinion caused by the decline in competition performance will definitely have a negative impact on athletes. As we all know, the entertainment industry is easy to become the target of everyone's attack. Athletes are saddled with the mission of winning glory for the country, and when performing arts activities affect them, they will inevitably incur dissatisfaction among netizens.
Unlike the acting skills that are all flowered into each eye, the performance of athletes is a quantifiable number, and the decline in level cannot be hidden. When this aura dissipates, what else can support them to maintain decency in the entertainment industry? Fight for appearance, here handsome men and beautiful women grab a handful; Fight "easy to use", their cost performance may not be able to match the waist and tail artists; Fighting talent, they don't have so many skills to show. In short, it is not easy to "keep" traffic for a long time.
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Fu Yuanhui had the idea of retiring after her performance dropped in the 2019 competition. Although everyone knows that an athlete's short flowering period is the norm, and her injury is the main reason for her backwardness, there is still a layer of talk that blames it on show business. Including Guan Chenchen, who became popular at the Tokyo Olympics because of "kangaroo shake" and winning the championship, retired to study and gained weight due to reduced exercise after retiring, and was also picked out as comfortable pleasure.
The aura of professional athletes may eventually turn into a tool for public opinion to attack them.
It is also worth noting that the mainland's sports industry has not really reached the public level, at least many people's attention to athletes is still focused on the world's two top sports events, the Olympic Games and the World Cup. Together with the Winter Olympics, the Olympics are held every two years, and the quadrennial World Cup has little possibility of creating Chinese sports stars. Therefore, in terms of the speed and number of stars made, not all athletes with outstanding achievements can get tickets to the entertainment industry.
03
Leave the professional things to the professionals
After analyzing the pros and cons, it can be concluded that there are many advantages for athletes to develop their performing arts careers, but they need to have a sense of risk avoidance and sustainable development.
At last year's Winter Olympics, freeskier Gu Ailing was the strongest new star. She won two golds and one silver for the Chinese team as a Chinese-American mixed-race child, pulling the patriotism and pride of netizens to the highest point. At the same time, superimposed on the aura of Stanford students, she has become the representative of a talented girl in the eyes of everyone.
Unlike other sports stars who first won the championship in the professional field and then entered the entertainment industry, Gu Ailing ran her acting career as a model earlier.
On June 6, 2019, Gu Ailing officially changed her nationality and revealed that she would represent the Chinese team in the Winter Olympics three years later. On the same day, the sports agency Endeavor Weimei official blog forwarded Gu Ailing's Weibo and officially announced the cooperative relationship between the two sides.
From this process, Gu Ailingfang obviously has a clear plan for her future career, and the entertainment industry is a direction she wants to focus on development.
Endeavor, formerly known as IMG, is one of the world's largest sports agencies, with business segments including IMG Modle, which is responsible for modeling and fashion, IMG Academy, which has both cultural and sports education, and UFC. He has signed Chinese models and athletes such as Xiaowen Yan, He Cong, Du Juan, and Li Na, and around the world, Japanese tennis player Kei Nishikori and NBA star Durant.
According to media reports, Endeavor brought Gu Ailing a wealth of fashion and business resources, and she collected the covers of five major magazines before the Winter Olympics. At the same time, the company will also arrange professional nutritionists and physical training programs for her to continue to develop in an all-round way.
Like celebrities such as actors and singers, brokerage companies that know the rules of the industry and have sufficient resources can escort athletes into the entertainment industry.
Su Yiming, another champion at the Beijing Winter Olympics, is also Endeavor. Su Yiming participated in film and television works such as "Outsmart the Tiger Mountain" and "His Royal Highness Wolf" when he was a child, and also set foot in the entertainment industry very early. But given his young age and few scenes, he did not impress too many people. In 2015, Su Yiming decided to temporarily give up acting and focus on ski training. Seven years later, he was a blockbuster in the arena, and the roles he once played were also specially turned over by netizens to see.
Su Yiming said in an interview that he will definitely act again, and acting in a movie with the theme of snowboarding is one of his dreams. Continuing the parallel path of sports and performance, a professional sports and entertainment agency should help him.
Of course, there are similar brokerage companies in China, but the scale and operation are not yet mature. For example, Meiji Culture, founded by stylist and agent Wu Mingquan, has sports stars such as Wu Dajing and Jia Haidong, as well as actors and singers such as Ren Rongxuan and Wang Yangming.
Between the contracted agency and the self-operated family workshop, some domestic sports stars will also choose to set up their own brokerage companies. It's just that for now, most of these brokerage companies are in their infancy, and the boss has to sign external contracts to support his own development, and then seek other opportunities to drive the company. For example, Wang Meng's Wandao Sports, Zhang Jike's father's shareholding is Jiru Zhizhi Sports, Wu Dajing's Dajing Sports, etc.
Regardless of the model chosen to run their show business, sports stars need to extend their careers as long as possible as possible for their athletes, and this is the main source of their popularity. Secondly, relying entirely on sports skills to stay in the entertainment industry is not a long-term solution, and other competitive advantages must be tapped. For example, focusing on variety shows requires creating a character that is enough to attract the audience and be recognized by the program team, and is determined to change careers to become an actor and practice acting skills.
Last but not least, don't test the moral and legal boundaries. There is no immunity to win glory for the country, and it will even make the public form higher expectations of them in terms of moral quality. For this reason, athletes who cultivate themselves, are strict with themselves, and improve their business are likely to take root in the entertainment industry.