Wuling Motors asked the media to apologize for 15 days, but it was only 5 days and I couldn't stand it

Source | Media Observations

first asked for an apology, and then said that there was no need to apologize... Why couldn't Wuling Motors bear it 5 days after the media person apologized?

Recently, a very interesting thing happened around Wuling Motors.

Wang Fei, the host of Zhejiang Minsheng Information Broadcasting, was identified as "slander and insult" by Wuling Motors in a lawyer's letter sent by Wuling Motors because he received some problems from Wuling car owners in the program, and demanded an apology for 15 consecutive days.

Then Wang Fei really apologized.

Not only did he apologize continuously on multiple platforms, but he also thoughtfully made a collection of videos called "Wuling Apologize" on his Douyin account for netizens to view.

As of December 7, the video collection has exceeded 42 million views on the Douyin platform alone, and the 5 updated videos have more than 100,000+ views.

After viewing the video, the media found that Wang Fei's language art was very superb, and he also gave an example to all the media colleagues present - how to respond with the right attitude when facing the company's apology request in the future.

First of all, all five videos are titled "Wuling Motors, I was wrong, I solemnly apologize to you" to strengthen the audience's impression of Wuling Motors.

Secondly, in almost every video, Wang Fei has to repeat the problems encountered by car owners, and by the way, emphasize the relevant propositions of Wuling Motors.

For example, Wang Fei will mention in each video:

"Today is the Xth day that I apologize to you for the charging power problem at your request. For the complaints of the car owners in my program, the Wuling Nano charging interface is marked with a rated voltage of 250 volts and a rated current of 32 amps, while the on-board charger is 2 kilowatts. The rated voltage and current and the rated power are two different things from the actual charging power, which is the wrong understanding of the owner and me, and the physical knowledge of the owner and me is not up to par. (It seems to imply that the actual charging power of Wuling is not in line with the advertisement)

"The 7 kilowatts that your store sells and describes to customers is a slip of the tongue, because after later understanding, Wuling Motors provides three different power options for 732, high and low, and consumers can choose by themselves, high power is 7 kilowatts, and low power is 2 kilowatts. (The implication is that Wuling Motors' sales take 7000 watts as a selling point, and do not inform users, in fact, the car only supports 2000 watts of charging power)

Wang Fei also said, "Wuling Motors is still a good Wuling for the people, and it will build whatever the people need..." (at first glance, it looks like an apology, but its expression seems to be ironic)

Moreover, not only did he record a video in the studio to apologize, Wang Fei also went to the Wuling booth of the Guangzhou International Auto Show to find the person in charge to apologize in person.

Seeing this, the person in charge of the Wuling booth did not dare to slack off, bowed to Wang Fei very humbly, and then verbally proposed that "there is no need to continue to apologize."

However, Wang Fei believes that the person in charge's oral statement is very imprecise without resorting to paper, and he should not stop apologizing before officially receiving the letter of dismissal from Wuling Motors, so he decided to continue to apologize in the process of participating in the Macau Grand Prix.

Perhaps Wuling Motors was very low-key, and finally Wuling Motors took the initiative to contact Wang Fei, hoping to sign a memorandum of settlement with him, and entrusted a lawyer to make it clear that "Wang Fei is no longer needed to apologize continuously".

A PR told the media that the purpose of the company asking the media to publicly apologize is to alleviate the public's criticism and doubts and maintain the company's image and reputation through an apology. However, whether this is wise or not needs to be analyzed on a case-by-case basis.

"If there is indeed a mistake in the media's statement, an apology can help you and your company save your reputation. But if a company asks the media to apologize publicly but does not produce enough evidence to prove that the media is wrong, then such an apology may lead the public to perceive the company as avoiding the issue or even bullying others. In this case, an apology can backfire. The PR said.

The media saw that under Wang Fei's 5 apology videos, there have been many comments that damage the image of Wuling Motors.

"Wuling is no longer the original Wuling. ”

"Five-0 actually means: no fast charging, no airbags, no air conditioning, no spare tire, no rear impact beam. Abbreviated as 50. ”

"Everyone knows that the charging power of Wuling is 2kw, and the longer the apology takes. The more people know. ”

"Brother Fei, your apology, Wuling's stock price has collapsed. ”

Wuling finally realized: the longer the apology lasts, the more widely the news spreads. ”

"Who told me, after apologetic for 5 days, how much Wuling's stock has fallen?"

"Wuling's charging twice an hour was originally known only to car owners, but now dozens of millions of people know about it. ”