On May 6, in a recent episode of iQiyi's self-produced comedy variety show "Tonight with Friends," talk show actor Zhou Qimo created a joke based on the serious crash of F1 driver Romain Grosjean in Bahrain in 2020. He also inserted an advertisement for the show's exclusive title sponsor "Anmuxi Whole Blueberry Yogurt" into the joke, which caused widespread controversy.
In the show, Zhou Qimo said that technology is now very advanced, and drivers’ racing suits can be fireproof for a short time. “There was a race in F1 in 2020. A driver’s car hit the guardrail next to it, and the entire car turned into a big fireball. The driver stayed inside for a full 28 seconds. "
He used "the mobile phone dripped from the cracks of his fingers" as a joke: "For 28 seconds, I thought what he did in there was to call home... I won't say it, but my mobile phone dripped from the cracks of my fingernails."
At the end of the joke, he used this accident to draw out the exclusive sponsor of the show "Anmuxi": "I just thought about it after hanging up the phone, and suddenly thought of something, and then took out a bottle of Anmuxi whole blueberry yogurt from under the seat."
Public information shows that on the first lap of the F1 Bahrain Grand Prix on November 29, 2020, Haas team driver Romain Grosjean’s car collided and hit the metal guardrail. The car was directly broken into two pieces after the impact. The fuel tank ruptured and caused a violent explosion. The cockpit was completely surrounded by raging fire. After being trapped in the sea of fire for 28 seconds, Grosjean finally broke away from his seat belt and crawled out to escape. He only suffered minor burns on his hands and ankles, which were not life-threatening. This accident also became a landmark incident in the history of F1 that verified the safety system of racing cars.
This joke caused widespread complaints from netizens as soon as it was aired. Some netizens said: "An Muxi gave up her face in order to advertise. She made a phone call to drink yogurt during the 28-second fire, and used other people's safety incidents as her own advertisements. There is no lower limit."
There are also netizens Said: "Anmuxi uses human life jokes to advertise for itself."
Regarding this situation, Yili's official customer service said: "We will give you more feedback." Yili officials have not responded so far.
It is reported that An Muxi is the exclusive title sponsor of "Tonight's Friends Show". Yili's 2025 annual report shows that the liquid milk business, including Anmuxi, Jindian, etc., achieved revenue of 70.422 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 6.11%. In terms of salary, Pan Gang, chairman and president of Yili Group, received a salary of 19.6586 million yuan.