#OPPO's copywriting offends mother no wonder it overturns# "My mother has two 'husbands', one is my dad, and the other one I see twice a year. When I go on a date with my dad, I hardly dress up, but when I meet the other one, she wants to wear a wedding dress." As soon as OPPO's Mother's Day campaign copy appeared, it attracted overwhelming public criticism.
On May 11, OPPO issued another apology statement, admitting that the marketing content was offensive, the response was perfunctory afterwards, and the company had a serious lack of values and awe. It has imposed severe penalties on Duan Yaohui, senior vice president in charge of the Chinese market business, and marketing-related managers.
Because of a promotional copy, a manager was severely punished. Is it unjust or not?
Managers are responsible for content review and have an important responsibility for the appropriateness of promotional copy. Mother's Day copywriting for the public should go through multiple rounds of reviews and checks at all levels, from creative conception, copywriting polishing to final release. If the review process is in vain, it is a typical dereliction of duty; if the review fails to detect offensive statements in the copy, it shows that the manager lacks the ability to make value judgments. No matter what the situation is, the relevant managers cannot absolve themselves of the blame and will not be unjust if they are severely punished.
The key reason why a copywriting for a Mother's Day event caused huge controversy is that it crossed the boundaries of family ethics and touched the public's emotional bottom line. The designer of the copy must love his own mother, and he definitely does not intend to disrespect other mothers. His original intention may be to innovate the Mother's Day copy with expression habits that are close to the young group. But innovation is not bottomless nonsense, and down-to-earthness is not vulgar and offensive.
In the hearts of Chinese people, mother is the core carrier of family affection, a sacred and indestructible existence, and cannot tolerate any slighting or ridicule. The copywriting grafts words with clear ethical implications onto the mother. Perhaps some young people who are familiar with the Internet meme culture can barely understand it, but for most of the public, they will only feel that the image of the mother is seriously offended.
There is nothing wrong with the pursuit of innovation in advertising, especially as young creators continue to join in. Using younger language to attract audiences and create differentiated marketing is an inevitable trend for brands to gain a foothold in the market. But innovation does not mean there are no limits, and it must not offend public sentiment.
In recent years, similar marketing “rollover” incidents have become common. Some brands may have insufficient review capabilities, resulting in ambiguous and uncomfortable promotional copy; there are also many brands, driven by traffic thinking, in pursuit of popularity and exposure, deliberately making fun and vulgar comments in their copy design. The act of crossing the line seems to gain short-term attention, but it will only arouse widespread public disgust and ultimately damage your own job.
As a communication carrier for public space, advertising is not only an important tool for brand promotion, but also bears the important responsibility of conveying correct values and leading good social trends. Its creation must not only strictly abide by relevant regulations, but must not cross the bottom line of social consensus. As the China Advertising Association said, advertising creativity should clarify the boundaries between innovation and bottomless hype, and abandon the "traffic-only theory." Creativity can be novel, but it must not go against mainstream cognition.
No matter what brand, only by integrating sincerity and responsibility into every marketing creation, not touching legal red lines, adhering to ethical bottom lines, and respecting public emotions can we create truly touching works.
Beijing Daily reporter Zhang Yue
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My mother has two "husbands"? Mother's Day event copy sparks controversy, OPPO apologizes
Duan Yongping talks about OPPO’s Mother’s Day copywriting: If it’s wrong, correct it, I believe they will reflect on it
OPPO issued an internal announcement: Duan Yaohui, head of business in China, was demoted by two levels and his salary increase was frozen for 36 months.