Wanghong Grace Chow Reveals Ex Luo Zhixiang’s Scandalous Lifestyle
On April 23, Chinese wanghong Grace Chow (周扬青) posted on Weibo saying her long-term relationship with celebrity Show Lo (罗志祥) had ended. She also revealed that throughout their relationship, Show frequently hooked up with different girls and has a second phone just to contact all his hookups. She also shared that he and his friends stayed up late at night engaging in what she called “team sports” with these girls 😉*wink wink*.
The post immediately started spreading like wildfire and soon ranked #1 on Weibo’s hot topic board. Three hours later, Show posted on Weibo saying that he was sorry, and he would reflect on his behaviors. But that didn’t stop things, if anything it made it worse. A couple days later he wrote another public apology.
Why does this matter? Show works with a LOT of brands and many of his advertisements have been turned into scandal-related memes. If you read Chinese you should check out the article below and look up the scandal, many of the memes are hilarious!
The Losing Brand:
Ironically, the day before the scandal broke out, a yogurt brand called Just Yogurt (纯甄), part of Mengniu Dairy (蒙牛), officially announced Show as its ambassador, and even bought Weibo’s opening screen for this collaboration. They have also put ads in WeChat Moments. In the ads, Show was asking “What is the thing that you are most proud of?” Netizens poked fun at Show replying “I have two cell phones”. Just Yoghurt quickly changed its opening screen ambassador to another celebrity Zhao Liyin (赵丽颖).
Accidental Winner:
L’Oreal accidentally became a winner in this scandal. On the same day that Grace Chow posted about her and Show’s relationshhip, L’Oreal had purchased a spot on Weibo’s hot topic ranking board to promote its eye cream which could help ease dark circles. As I mention above, Grace Chow’s post revealed Show often stayed up very late with other girls, and he does have very dark bags under his eyes. Naturally, netizens were praising L’Oreal for choosing the perfect timing to promote its product.
Read more:
罗志祥人设崩塌，蒙牛品牌“受伤”，企业到底如何选代言？
罗志祥周扬青分手上热搜：蒙牛「躺枪」，欧莱雅「躺赢」
罗志祥今早第2次道歉，段子手们的文案绝了！哈哈哈哈
Taobao CEO Jiang Fan and Ruhnn’s Top KOL Zhang Dayi Accused of Having an Affair by Fan’s Wife
On April 17th Taobao CEO Jiang Fan’s wife posted on Weibo tagging famous KOL and CMO of KOL incubator Ruhann Zhang Dayi (Eve) and warning Zhang to stay away from her husband. Her post quickly went viral and although it was quickly deleted the damage had already been done and Ruhnn’s stock price dropped 7%. Neither the company nor Zhang responded to the allegations. Fan quickly issued an apology, not admitting or denying his behaviors, but instead apologizing to everyone at Alibaba for the disruption and negative press that he has brought the company.
Aside from the fact that it is an affair, why is this so scandalous? Well Ruhnn and Zhang’s MASSIVE success have relied heavily on both Taobao and Taobao Live Streaming, which Fan runs. Zhang’s stores have repeatedly made it into the top women’s apparel store lists during 11.11. And prior to Ruhnn going public on NASDAQ last year, Alibaba had invested in the company.
Read More:
网红张大奕的“瓜”里藏着什么样的资本局
大公司头条：淘宝总裁蒋凡道歉，阿里将启动内部调查；沙特主权基金海外抄底，买入英超球队、邮轮公司和石油公司
Quarantine Ends = Uptick in demand for wedding and pregnancy products
I’ve heard some reports about an increase in people filing for divorce after the COVID-19 quarantine lifted, but not all couples hated their time stuck together. Many couples were forced to be apart for several months and came back from quarantine wanting to get married ASAP.
- On April 8, the first day of Wuhan being free, 171 couples registered for marriage.
- On Tmall, during April, sales of diamonds grew 82%; sales of xitang (喜糖 the candy Chinese trandtionally hand out as part of their wedding announcements) grew 68%, and sales of red packets or hongbao grew 129%.
- On ecommerce platform 1688, the number of people looking for wedding dresses is 3 times more than usual.
- Wedding photographers in Suzhou are fully booked in May, and if couples want to have a shoot on weekends they need to wait until August.
This article points out that fitness and weight loss brands should take note of this trend because before a wedding or photo shoot couples typically want to lose weight and get in shape.
For couples that were already married, there are predictions that we are going to see a huge uptick in pregnant women soon. There is a joke that was trending online in China, saying that after a few years, kids will ask their dads why there are so many children in their class born in October and November. And their dads remain silent for a few seconds and say: “The story begins with a bat…”
An increase in pregnancies and births will lead to increased demand in ancillary products.
Read more:
报复性消费不会来了？你去婚姻登记处看看
报复性消费不会来了
Esprit Closing Stores in China
Not all brands made it through COVID-19. Starting at the beginning of April, apparel brand ESPRIT’s Tmall home page started a buy 2 get 80% off sale. Offline stores such as the ones in Beijing were spotted with sales as steep as buy 10 get 90% off. It is expected that the brand will close all of its stores in China by June.
Read more: ESPRIT内地门店将在年中全面关闭，清仓折扣低至0.5折
China Marketing Podcast Episode 70: The massive growth of e-commerce livestreaming during COVID-19
This week’s episode discusses China’s ecommerce livestreaming industry. As mentioned in episode 69, this industry has experienced massive growth due to COVID-19. In fact, leading ecommerce livestreaming platform Taobao Live reported that in early February, livestream sessions on the platform had increased by 110% year over year.
Today, Lauren explains the ways in which the industry has grown and changed. She also shares specific examples and case studies that have been seen over the past several months.
Topics include:
- How famous streamers adapted their product offerings
- The creative (and sometimes odd) ways that many traditionally offline businesses began using livestreaming
- Thoughts on WeChat’s and Xiaohongshu’s newly launched livestreaming functions
- Will the trend continue after COVID-19?
