Luo Zhixiang is embroiled in a scandal. How can brands provide quick emergency assistance?

When a star falls from grace and is embroiled in an irreparable scandal, how can the associated brands protect themselves?

Nowadays, celebrities fail so frequently that the general public is no longer surprised by it. Among them, the latest to join the battlefield is Luo Zhixiang, who is on the hot search list today.

On April 23, Zhou Yangqing, the ex-girlfriend of well-known entertainer Luo Zhixiang, broke the news that Luo Zhixiang had a chaotic private life, "wherever he went to a city, there were girls he could date in hotels," and that he had "long-term improper relationships with many women."

Afterwards, some scraps of information about Luo Zhixiang's early years were dug out, including his drastic responses during an interview and his triangle relationship with Ou Di and Makiyo.

At 12 noon, Luo Zhixiang responded on Weibo: "Many things cannot be explained clearly in just a few words, and I will not explain any more." But judging from public feedback, fans don't buy it.

As a representative figure who has developed rapidly in the mainland in recent years, Luo Zhixiang has served as the star captain of "This is Street Dance" and the mentor of "Produce 101". He is also a top streamer on Douyin with 44.23 million followers and is currently ranked ninth on the AiDOU list. After Zhou Yangqing wrote a manifesto, Luo Zhixiang made headlines on social media platforms such as Weibo and Tik Tok.

Netizens who liked to watch the show also participated enthusiastically, from denouncing the scumbag to discussing time management techniques, countless memes were created in just one morning, such as "Repost this about Luo Zhixiang, who can still have group sex at the age of 40", giving Luo Zhixiang the new title of "Time Assassin". Even brands got in on the fun - L'Oreal eye cream was placed on the hot search list of Weibo as "Dark Circle Killer", and was called a "marketing genius" by netizens.

The negative news kept snowballing, and the traffic disadvantages of public figures became more obvious, which affected third parties such as the brands endorsed by Luo Zhixiang and cooperative projects. No matter how public opinion changes, the moral requirements for public figures will never be low, and the many brands implicated must quickly come up with ways to respond.

Who will face the impact?

Under the gossip, fans are crying, passers-by are partying, and partners are trembling.

The first thing that must be a headache is the two programs that Luo Zhixiang is deeply involved in recording, "Extreme Challenge" and "Creation Camp 2020".

Luo Zhixiang joined Dragon TV's "Go Fighting" in 2015, and from then until 2019, he was a member of the core "Men's Gang" and participated deeply in this national variety show with artists such as Zhang Yixing and Sun Honglei.

In early April, Luo Zhixiang said on Weibo that due to the epidemic, he has not been able to "reunite with everyone" recently, and he will appear in a "special way" when the first episode is broadcast. But it seems that after this incident, the audience will not have the chance to see what this "special way" is.

The production team of another program is probably going to have an even bigger headache, that is "Creation Camp 2020".

In March of this year, Luo Zhixiang announced that he would join Tencent Video's "Creation Camp 2020" as a coach. The official behind-the-scenes footage released by the program previously included clips of Luo Zhixiang. "The Law of Hot Products" received news that the clips related to Luo Zhixiang are likely to be re-recorded.

Talent shows like "Creation Camp 2020" are already known for their high recording pressure. Now, the "scissor hands" will probably have to work overtime late into the night again, with no tears to cry.

Another program that may be affected is Youku’s "This! "Street Dance of China Season 3". In 2019, Luo Zhixiang served as the host of Youku's street dance selection program "This! He is the star captain of "Street Dance of China Season 2" and has attracted a wave of fans with his excellent professional ability in this program, which has a rare Douban score of 8.9.

On April 22, rumors in the industry revealed that Wang Yibo, Luo Zhixiang, and Zhang Yixing have confirmed that they will join "This! Street Dance of China Season 3 is coming soon, and the show has already aired its first audition episode. Once the negative news about Luo Zhixiang comes out, I'm afraid that "This! "Street Dance of China Season 3" must also urgently begin to readjust to avoid the program being tainted.

In addition to the program team, the related brands are probably also in a state of panic.

Thanks to the popularity and reputation he has accumulated in variety shows and social media in recent years, Luo Zhixiang has won endorsements from many well-known brands in recent years, such as Mengniu Chunzhen, which happened to be advertised on WeChat Moments today.

Chunzhen is one of the main sponsors of "Creation Camp 2020". The cooperation with Luo Zhixiang is probably based on "Creation Camp 2020". Another mentor, Victoria Song, already has Chunzhen-related promotional materials online. Therefore, many netizens speculate that the cooperation between Chunzhen and Luo Zhixiang should be a package endorsement for "Creation Camp 2020".

From the current perspective, the brand has responded quite quickly and is replacing and cutting materials at the speed of light. Some netizens said that they observed that Chunzhen had immediately removed its Weibo homepage and replaced it with the brand's original spokesperson Zhao Liying, which in turn received a lot of praise for its quick response.

Another product that is strongly tied to Luo Zhixiang’s image is the card strategy battle mobile game “Sword and Expedition”, which spent a lot of advertising money at the beginning of this year.

—This card game from the domestic game manufacturer Lilith was widely promoted on major social media platforms at the beginning of the year. I believe many people still remember Luo Zhixiang’s magical video advertisement.

Such strong occupation of users’ minds seemed to be an achievement of the marketing department at the time, but now it is estimated that the brand will be left with “suffering in silence and unable to express it”. Currently, there is no content related to Luo Zhixiang on the official Weibo of "Sword and Expedition".

In addition to the two victims mentioned above, in May 2019, Luo Zhixiang also endorsed TST Apple Muscle Mask, a skin care brand initiated by celebrities such as Zhang Ting and Tao Hong.

An article on TST's official website once mentioned: "Show Luo's avant-garde and very friendly image is expected to quickly enhance users' awareness and brand reputation of TST Apple Muscle Mask." Once the negative incident occurred, this wishful thinking became a hot potato.

Another brand endorsed by Show Luo, G-SHOCK, a subsidiary of Casio watches, has not yet removed any promotional materials related to Show Luo. As a result, it has been attacked by netizens, who demanded a change of spokesperson. It has also been involved in meme-mongering, and the impact on its reputation is hard to describe.

Two other brands that will be affected are STAGE and Got no fears, two brands founded by Show Luo.

According to public information, Luo Zhixiang founded his personal fashion brand STAGE in 2006 and withdrew from it in 2019. During the development of STAGE, Luo Zhixiang often wore STAGE clothes to attend various public occasions, attracting a lot of traffic for the brand.

But in 2019, STAGE Group issued a statement on Facebook, in which it mentioned that "Although Luo Zhixiang did not participate in the actual operation, he made an indelible contribution to the promotion of the STAGE clothing brand, from scratch to its current well-known clothing brand. The company is also deeply honored." It announced the severance of Luo Zhixiang from the brand.

Fans accused such a statement of seeming to be amicable but actually being a case of killing the donkey after it has served its purpose. Even in April this year, someone replied to the STAGE official blog, "Without Xiaozhu, this brand has no soul."

However, it should probably be said that STAGE was lucky to have severed its ties with Luo Zhixiang ahead of time, otherwise it would have been the first to bear the brunt of the anger and accusations from the crowd.

In comparison, Got no fears was not so lucky.

Got no fears was the slogan Luo Zhixiang used when he announced his withdrawal from STAGE. At the same time, he announced the establishment of another personal fashion brand. In September 2019, he also released a joint model with the well-known Japanese fashion brand FR2. Today, Got no fears happens to be in the promotion period of a new product, and the comment section of the social media platform has been attacked by netizens, saying "you are finished".

In addition to creating his own brand, Luo Zhixiang, who has worked in the entertainment industry for many years, has started to be an investor after completing the initial accumulation, and can be regarded as a behind-the-scenes operator.

In Taiwan, Luo Zhixiang once opened an agency and launched the boy group "Creativity", but it did not make much splash.

In addition, Qichacha data shows that Luo Zhixiang has three directly held companies, including Xiusang Film and Television Culture (Shanghai) Studio, Xiuluo Film and Television Culture (Shanghai) Studio and Shanghai Niuxiu Culture Development Co., Ltd., with investment ratios of 90%, 90% and 60% respectively.

Many of Luo Zhixiang’s celebrity friends are involved in these projects. For example, Hu Yanbin is the chairman of both Shanghai Dance Show and Shanghai Niu Show. When the incident happened, Hu Yanbin, as the principal of Niuban Music School and already an "education industry entrepreneur", probably had to react. After all, the education industry has a lower tolerance for moral stains.

The relationship between brand and artist is two sides of the same coin. The brand is the commercial manifestation of the celebrity's reputation, while the artist's public opinion will influence the brand's reputation. For brands, the impact of negative word of mouth is so great that they are forced to be extremely cautious when facing negative word of mouth about artists.

Where have all the bad artists gone?

Luo Zhixiang is not the first artist to be caught up in a negative reputation storm. So, what happened to the artists who have been negatively impacted by public opinion due to negative events in recent years?

Let’s first look at another former “male god” Wu Xiubo who fell from the altar due to the “scumbag” scandal.

Before the incident, Wu Xiubo, as an actor and producer, had made high-scoring dramas such as "Military Alliance" and had the character of a "hipster uncle". He had appeared on the cover of a domestic first-line men's magazine and was in the limelight.

But at the end of 2018, a young actress named Chen Yulin accused Wu Xiubo of "playing with the feelings of actresses" and "brainwashing with Buddhist scriptures" for many years, and "sending girls to prison."

Negative word of mouth hit on a large scale, and the brands that endorsed Wu Xiubo terminated their contracts one after another: On January 18, 2019, after the Wu Xiubo incident, the brand he endorsed, Hermand Integrated Kitchen, did not issue a statement, but quickly removed the blog post about Wu Xiubo and changed its Weibo avatar to another spokesperson, Jiang Shuying; the official Weibo account of men's clothing brand George Tommy stopped interacting with Wu Xiubo and his fans.

"The Love Master 2" starring Wu Xiubo was withdrawn from the Spring Festival schedule. Even the Beijing Satellite TV Spring Festival Gala, which had already been recorded, had to use technical means, and the editors worked overtime overnight to cut out "Wu Xiubo".

Beijing TV's amazing editing

However, in December last year, Wu Xiubo, who had disappeared for a year, made his first appearance to cheer on students taking art exams, and the responses were polarized. On the one hand, some people support Wu Xiubo's comeback, saying, "What does private life have to do with the audience?" Others emphasize that society should have zero tolerance for the moral stains of celebrities under the spotlight, saying, "Maybe he thinks the Internet has no memory."

So, can artists with bad records make a comeback? We look to past history for answers.

In 2014, Ko Chen-tung was arrested for drug-related offenses, spent several months in jail, and was kicked out of the entertainment industry. Brands such as Triumph, KFC, and Nivea Men issued statements and removed their advertisements as quickly as possible.

In June 2018, Ko Chen-tung, who had been silent for a long time, attended an event of the cosmetics brand Nars, but netizens subsequently condemned Ko Chen-tung's "suspected comeback."

On July 1, Nars posted an apology on its official Weibo account. In subsequent events, it invited Zhang Hanyu, who once played a drug enforcement police officer, to endorse the brand in an attempt to restore the brand's credibility. The brand was described as having a "strong desire to survive." This also shows that netizens have a bottom line and the Internet has memory. Inadvertently using artists with bad records will only bring about an unnecessary public relations crisis.

In January 2018, PG One, who became famous for "The Rap of China", was criticized by Purple Light Pavilion for his lyrics that disrespected women and contained pornographic information. As a result, PG One’s songs were removed from all online channels, his activities were cancelled, and he disappeared from the entertainment industry for a while.

In May 2018, PG One took advantage of his birthday to post on Weibo to announce his comeback. Four hours later, PG One’s comeback Weibo post with 800,000 retweets was deleted and his Weibo account was cleared. So far, PG One has not had any public performances in China, but he has held concerts abroad and also runs his own fashion brand.

In February 2019, Zhai Tianlin's question "What is CNKI" during a live broadcast pushed him into an irretrievable situation. His image as a top student collapsed, and the controversy over his thesis plagiarism and fraud lasted for more than ten days.

Since then, Zhai Tianlin has not had any new dramas or programs, and the ones that have already been filmed cannot be put online and have become a backlog of dramas - there is a drama starring Wu Xiubo and Zhai Tianlin, "The Unknown Detective", which has not been broadcast so far. Although there are still fans who say they are waiting for him to come back, Zhai Tianlin has basically shown no signs of returning to the screen and only occasionally appears on the stage.

Another film that was even worse than "The Unknown Detective" was "The Legend of Ba Qing", in which the leading actor had to encounter accidents one after another and had to be "re-shot" in the end.

In March 2018, Gao Yunxiang, the male lead of "Legend of Ba Qing", was arrested in Australia on suspicion of "sexual assault", and the market value of the producer Tangde Film and Television evaporated by 5 billion yuan; in October 2018, Fan Bingbing, the female lead of "Legend of Ba Qing", was fined 884 million yuan for "tax evasion", causing the TV series to be suspended again.

A year later, Tangde Film and Television announced that it had negotiated with Tmall Technology and promised to change the shots of the original main actors of "The Legend of Ba Qing" to shots of actors confirmed by Tmall Technology before the end of 2019, at a cost of no less than 60 million yuan.

In summary, if artists could restore their image and return to the entertainment industry by apologizing and repenting in the past, then in recent years, the performing arts careers of artists have become very fragile, and the impact of negative public events has been "fatal."

As early as September 29, 2014, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television officially issued a notice to "ban artists with bad records". TV dramas, movies, TV programs, online dramas, micro-films, etc. produced by "artists with bad records" were required to suspend broadcasting. Among them, "drug abuse" and "prostitution" were explicitly named. Although moral issues such as cheating were not mentioned, they have become one of the "bad deeds" that everyone tacitly accepts.

At present, mainstream public opinion is becoming increasingly strict in its evaluation of celebrity artists. It is a foregone conclusion that tainted artists who violate the above-mentioned clauses will be banned. Even if it is a personal moral issue such as "cheating", being hidden is the norm, and it will be even more difficult to appear on camera again.

The traffic of celebrities is a double-edged sword. When it is surrounded by negative news, the brands associated with it will definitely suffer greatly and bear the associated risks. For brands and variety show producers, the risk of selecting artists is getting higher and higher, and it even has a flavor of "venture capital."

Especially in recent years, there have been more and more unexpected incidents related to celebrity image: a group with a good image like TFBoys also "crashed" because Wang Yuan smoked in public; a cooperative and dedicated person like Xiao Zhan has not been able to escape from the "227 incident" instigated by his fans, and his endorsement brand Olay was also boycotted by netizens through "collective invoices".

Today’s brands have also learned to be smart. They no longer react too late and “swallow the bitter pill in silence”. Instead, they adopt various agreements and contracts to prevent problems beforehand and reduce the secondary damage to the brand caused by negative public opinions about artists. Many brands now clearly state in their contracts when working with artists that if the artist causes a major public opinion crisis or negative events due to personal behavior or speech during the cooperation period, the brand can ask the star to compensate for the corresponding losses. In case of violation, the brand can also issue a notice to terminate the endorsement with immediate effect.

Although in most cases, the compensation for breach of contract is nothing compared to the actual losses caused to the brand by the negative incident, it can at least form a constraint and protect the rights and interests of the brand.

In "Produce 101" in 2018, Luo Zhixiang once said: "The entertainment industry is a very cruel world. It is helpless for artists to have no stage, and it is sad for artists not to know how to step down!" Now, it is his turn to step down from the stage, out of the spotlight, and face the doubts.

Brands and partners off the stage must also speed up their response to the risks brought by the negative reputation of artists, carefully protect their own interests, and stop losses in time when problems arise.

How should the trembling brands respond this time?

Author: Xiaoxi

Source: The Rule of Hot Selling