How can you become a star without money?

Chapter 126 Spokesperson

3.15 Gala.

Starting in 91, this year marks the 20th edition. With the ever-changing consumer environment in China, this program is of great interest to consumers nationwide and is also valued by all businesses.

This program could very well influence the rise and fall of an industry or brand.

This year, due to the rise of internet social networking driven by Weibo, the program team also registered an official account. In early February, they issued a "3.15 Solicitation Order" to solicit opinions and clues from various fields, which generated considerable buzz.

As a consumer, Wang Yao has a strong sense of protecting his own interests, which provided a lot of useful material for the program.

The most prominent issue concerns the irregularities within the sanitary napkin industry.

The program starts at 8 p.m., with the theme 'New Rules, New Momentum'.

The highlight of this episode was a targeted exposé of the electronics industry, especially Japanese electronics brands. It dealt a heavy blow to issues ranging from shortened shelf life to product design problems and exploitative practices such as overcharging customers for minor issues.

The topic trended on major portal websites, and netizens' discussions about home appliances reached a peak, with many complaining that foreign brands are now expensive, of poor quality, and have high repair costs.

It seems that overnight, the previous reputation of foreign products as 'high quality' has been slowly shattered.

However, the phenomenon of high prices and low performance of foreign products is not a recent occurrence. The fact that it has only been exposed now suggests that Wang Yao could only have added fuel to the fire of last year's rural appliance sales campaign.

After the main event, the side dishes began to be served one after another, covering various aspects such as service industry overcharging, financial fraud, brand customer service, and online consumption. Finally, the program addressed the issues in the sanitary napkin industry at the end.

Because no names were directly named, it sparked even more heated discussions among netizens.

Subsequently, on the Myspace platform, the verified account of Wang Hai's team, a well-known anti-counterfeiting activist, published a "red and black list," exposing which sanitary napkin products submitted for testing at the gala were compliant and which were non-compliant.

A well-known international brand topped the list for cutting corners, having a dirty and unsanitary production environment, and even recycling scrap materials, instantly igniting public outrage.

She has always used overwhelming advertising and marketing strategies to seize the market, so she has a huge reputation and the most consumers. In addition, her recent sponsorship of Hunan TV's new talent show "Big Beauty" and donation of sanitary napkins to the Women's Aid Association have made her a trending topic multiple times.

It originally had a good reputation among consumers, but unexpectedly, such a serious quality issue has occurred.

Male netizens who were initially ashamed of their periods suddenly realized the seriousness of the problem upon seeing this. No wonder they were so malicious; it turns out it was related to menstruation.

Under the umbrella of health and hygiene issues, a new topic has gradually emerged.

This immediately triggered another round of escalation in public opinion.

Meanwhile, Qu Shou's account, which hadn't been updated for over half a month, simultaneously published statements on various platforms regarding the safety of her sanitary napkins.
"Currently, we have temporarily suspended the distribution of products donated by the brand. We are also assisting the brand and other parties in submitting samples for testing to determine if the products truly have problems. As one of the brand's spokespersons, we reserve the right to pursue legal action against the brand for negligence, pending the results."

She also posted a copy of her endorsement agreement with the therapist.

Wang Yao has transformed the account "Qu Shou" beyond representing a "person"; it has long since become an internet symbol IP representing "honesty."

After all, for a spokesperson to not help the sponsor cover up or explain, but instead to objectively verify the facts and risk breach of contract to pursue the sponsor's interests, is 'foolish' no matter how you look at it.

Which brand would dare to hire you as a spokesperson after this?

But it is precisely this kind of foolishness—knowing it's impossible yet still doing it—that resonates most with the general public. At this moment, the account's IP attribute is elevated once again.

It has garnered countless supporters.

However, this move not only offended the brand, but also a large number of other spokespeople in the industry.

After all, there are more than 20 brands with problems on the blacklist of counterfeiters, some of which are endorsed by A-list celebrities. What are we supposed to do if you, Qu Shou, step in to help consumers protect their rights?
These kinds of things are usually resolved under the table, so why did these women just flip the table?

Are people who are barefoot not afraid of those wearing shoes?

"Mr. Wang, this is putting me in a very difficult position." Li Ying, the person in charge of the Hunan TV variety show "The Great Beauty," called me late at night.

"Director Li, what's the brand's reaction?" Wang Yao asked curiously.

"Naturally, they were furious, condemning us for lacking a cooperative spirit." Li Ying's voice sounded genuinely troubled. "Back then, you changed the penalty for breach of contract; were you secretly plotting to kill us?"

"Director Li, that's not right. Whether there's a problem with this product or not is not something an outsider like me can decide," Wang Yao said with a smile.

"Regardless of the circumstances, Qu Shou's statement has cornered the brand and put us in a very difficult position," Li Ying sighed.

Such a major negative news story about the program's sponsorship fees will definitely have an impact on the program. Now, people on the official Weibo account are starting to stir up trouble, threatening to boycott the program if no stance is taken.

Although the show is exclusively sponsored by her, there are still many product placement sponsors, all of whom have signed contracts with penalty clauses. If the show's ratings collapse, it will be disastrous.

"So, who's to blame?" Wang Yao asked, feigning hesitation.

"I wouldn't dare blame her, I just hope the product really isn't the problem," Li Ying said. "If you followed my breach of contract template, you should have prayed for it to fail, right? You could have gotten three times the penalty fee alone," Wang Yao heard the smugness hidden in her helplessness.

"We're legitimately seeking sponsorships to produce our show, not making money from breach of contract penalties," Li Ying said seriously. "It's just a pity that this is a product category endorsement."

"You still need an endorser?" Wang Yao asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Other product categories rarely achieve such immediate results. When we had dinner with the brand the day before yesterday, they said that sales have increased by at least 10% since the endorsement began. For a daily consumer brand, that’s hundreds of millions of yuan in revenue a year. We had already agreed to raise the sponsorship fee next year, but now it seems that’s going to fall through,” Li Ying said with a smile.

"It would be really inappropriate for someone of this size to try to cheat and shirk responsibility. Let's wait for the results," Wang Yao said with a smile.

“If there’s nothing wrong with the product, the brand will definitely ask to replace Qu Shou. For the sake of our station’s reputation, it will be very difficult to cooperate with them again in the future,” Li Ying said, changing the subject.

“Of course, but let’s assume there’s a problem with the brand.” Wang Yao narrowed his eyes.

“Then we’ll probably have to put on a separate show for Qu Shou,” Li Ying joked.

After exchanging a few jokes, the two ended their probing attempts.

Li Ying was trying to find out if Wang Yao was behind it all.

Wang Yao was testing Hunan TV's stance, and at least for now, they seem to be wavering.

"Send the article to the international internet and see how netizens react," Wang Yao sent a message to Kevin Rudd.

I reckon her team will be working overtime tonight to discuss countermeasures.

The next morning, the medical team finally gave an official response. First, they denied that the "red and black list" of the fraudsters was inaccurate. Then, they condemned the spokesperson, Qu Shou, for stirring up trouble and said that as a public figure, he should not have rashly intervened and tried to label her.

The two sides started pulling at each other on the platform.

Just a few hours ago, he was adamant that the allegations were false, but now it's practically an admission that he's admitted it. He's still being stubborn, and he's also hired a large number of online trolls.

They tried to shift the blame for the substandard products onto the contract manufacturing process, downplaying the problem.

But on the third day, Qu posted a link that led to the Youku video platform, where 40 hours of videos were uploaded showing how all the products she had donated to treat patients were unpacked and tested by hired workers.

Although manual testing may not be accurate, this method of testing videos is indeed the most relatable to viewers, and the values ​​on the detector that sometimes exceed the standard and sometimes comply with it have also sparked a lot of discussion.

Subsequently, an authoritative report was released, showing that the company had spent hundreds of thousands of yuan to purchase samples and send them to multiple testing institutions. Although most of the products used in the treatment were within the acceptable limits, a small number were found to be excessive.

Moreover, many product styles suffer from cost-cutting measures in terms of size and quality.

Clearly, Qu Shou is determined to stand up to the brand, and netizens are naturally applauding his move.

But soon after, Qu Shou issued another statement, which was a denial of the rumors.

Regarding whether fluorescent agents cause cancer or affect fertility, there is currently no direct correlation. Fluorescent agents added to products are divided into migratable and non-migratable ones. The former is strictly prohibited from being added to daily necessities, while the latter can be added and will not remain in the body.

Currently, most of the fluorescent agents in her products are non-migratable and compliant, but some are indeed substandard, though not in violation of regulations according to the proportions.

However, the issue of size shortage is indeed a violation, and we will continue to update the test results from other institutions.

As a large international corporation, such a significant oversight in the details of quality treatment constitutes malicious deception of consumers. Qu Shou, as the spokesperson, has initiated legal action to protect her rights, and any subsequent compensation will be used for charitable purposes.

After the statement was released, it first clarified the rumors for all the manufacturers troubled by fluorescent agents from an objective standpoint, thus upholding the principle of righteousness. Then it pointed out the actual problems that needed to be addressed to protect their rights, thus upholding the principle of justice.

At least in the eyes of netizens, this is definitely a case of both literary and martial arts, a reasonable and well-founded defense of rights, making it hard not to support them.

Subsequently, the Hunan TV program "Big Beauty" which had remained silent and neutral spoke out, expressing their willingness to support Qu Shou's rights protection efforts and hoping that sponsors would take consumer rights seriously, and that they would only cooperate with brands that genuinely serve consumers.

As long as things are going well, and as long as someone takes the lead, others will follow. Subsequently, several major domestic medical dramas and their main endorsements and programs also joined in, putting on a grand show of "preferring to forgo endorsements rather than harm the audience."

Instead of failing on safety issues, they stumbled on size problems?

The treatment team also felt wronged. They originally thought that the anti-counterfeiting team was the real opponent. They were confident that there would be no problem with product safety. After all, multinational companies care about safety the most. So, they had been focusing their efforts on preparing to counter the safety issue for the past two days.

Unexpectedly, before they could even begin to exert their efforts, Qu Shou had already helped them refute the rumors and resolve the issue. Unfortunately, the other party was not an ally and instead dealt them a fatal blow on the seemingly minor issue of 'shortchanging'.

However, as more and more parties stepped in to forward Qu Shou's clarification, her last glimmer of hope was extinguished, and what followed was a long legal battle between the two parties.

Furthermore, sales in the Chinese market have been hampered, resulting in immeasurable losses.

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(End of this chapter)