New Oriental subway advertisement copywriting failed: Can children’s words be free?

Yu Minhong’s New Oriental has recently gotten into trouble again due to speech issues.

On the afternoon of August 4, some netizens found many shocking "childish words" slogans in New Oriental's floor advertisements in the carriage of Shenzhen Metro Line 1, including "Dad, I want to marry you when I grow up" and "Mom, I want to marry you when I grow up".

After these advertising copies were exposed, they were generally condemned by netizens, and "such rubbish copy" basically represented the general attitude of netizens. It can be said that New Oriental’s heavy investment in booking subway cars for this promotional campaign not only failed to achieve a positive effect in promoting the brand, but instead produced considerable negative impact.

As we all know, in marketing activities, the copy shown to the public generally undergoes layers of review to avoid content that may cause discomfort to the public. Why did New Oriental make such a low-level mistake?

In response to netizens' questions, New Oriental staff said in an interview with the media that the starting point of the copy was mainly to express the love for parents from a child's pure and simple perspective. The staff member also emphasized that the topic was chosen to express simple and pure family affection. At the same time, they also understand that the wording of the advertising copy will cause ambiguity when placed in the public space.

Judging from the response of New Oriental staff, they had actually anticipated the problems that might arise from the copy, which is why they said in their response that “understanding…causes ambiguity.” But the copy that was finally released was not modified, which means that New Oriental did not think it was a big deal - since the theme of this marketing campaign is "Children's Words Are Innocent", the copy should be more willful! Perhaps causing controversy was also the initial assumption of this marketing copy.

In response to the advertising controversy, Shenzhen Metro Commercial Management Co., Ltd. said it would remove the advertisement. It also stated that the content was legal and compliant during the review, but that the management of advertising business units will be strengthened in the future to ensure that subsequent advertising content reviews must further strengthen the review and evaluation of ethical and cultural aspects while ensuring legality and compliance.

But is “children’s words are innocent” a reason for adults to act willfully?

The so-called "children speak without restraint" means that children are innocent and speak honestly, so there is no need to be surprised even if they say something unlucky. On the one hand, the words and attitudes of children are naturally sincere; but on the other hand, the words and attitudes of children are also innocent, which indicates that they have a shallow understanding of the world and are prone to making mistakes. Therefore, children’s words do not necessarily mean they are correct, nor do they mean they can be used indiscriminately for propaganda just because they come from children’s mouths.

Just like some children express their love to their parents by saying “Dad, I want to marry you when I grow up” or “Mom, I want to marry you when I grow up”, the “marry” and “marry” in children’s mouths are actually mostly just a simple expression of willingness to live with their parents for a long time, which is a very private interaction between children and their parents.

The reason why we tolerate children's innocent words is that everyone needs time to grow up, and everyone has to go through a process from not understanding to understanding. As the saying goes: "God cannot enter every family, so he created mothers; God cannot educate every child, so he created teachers." When children make mistakes, we can just laugh it off, because there is no child in the world who does not make mistakes, but when adults deliberately make mistakes in the name of children, that is a bit sinister!

Children can say whatever they want, but adults should not speak without thinking, otherwise it will be hard to gain people's trust. When brands disseminate content to the public through advertising, if they still hope to gain the trust of the audience, they should not act arbitrarily with the mentality of skirting the rules.

All these arbitrary brand advertisements that skirt the rules are actually playing with fire and are more likely to backfire. For example, Modern Sky, the organizer of the Strawberry Music Festival, released a promotional copy before the festival last year. The copy said, "It is Strawberry's unshirkable responsibility to make the whole village pregnant with a second child." After being criticized, it had to delete the copy and apologize.

As a well-known educational institution, New Oriental should have a deeper understanding of "children's words" than the general public and should be more cautious in its actions. But in an advertisement in a public place like the subway, New Oriental put such advertising slogans in a subway car filled with mostly adults, which showed a lack of respect for these children and their parents, and it was not unfair for it to be criticized by netizens.

Moreover, the main audience of New Oriental’s advertisements is not children, but adults. Imitating children’s “wrong words” under the banner of “children’s words are not restrained” does seem to be exploiting children. Is it worth it to build a well-known brand with great effort just for unnecessary traffic?

If I have to find a reason for New Oriental’s mistakes other than cutting corners, I think it might be its style!

Looking back over the years, New Oriental has produced Luo Yonghao, the former CEO of Smartisan, who vowed to "acquire Apple" but finally bid farewell to the mobile phone industry sadly; it has also produced Li Xiaolai, who used to tell inspirational life stories but faced the collapse of his image due to his suspected involvement in issuing coins to raise money... Even Yu Minhong, who is still there, once apologized for his inappropriate remarks that "the degeneration of women has led to the degeneration of the whole of China."

The love of talking and speaking freely are probably the genes that New Oriental cannot get rid of in the short term. I hope that after being slapped in the face time and time again, New Oriental and Yu Minhong behind it can understand that in front of the public, even if they have childish words in their hearts, they should not speak so recklessly.

Author: Jun Huaiye

Source: DoMarketing-Marketing Think Tank