Beyond a waste of milk scandal that hit variety show Youth With You Season 3 was involved in, for which video platform iQIYI and the sponsor dairy brand apologized, the fermenting incident also exposed the nasty side of idol-building industry with public calls for immediate and thorough rectification of problems including massive fan funding, click fraud and “money talks” logic.
IQIYI and Zhenguoli, a sub-brand of China’s dairy giant Mengniu, apologized on late Thursday and Friday morning, respectively, for negative social influence they caused, a few days after production of the remaining final episode was suspended. After they apologized on Sina Weibo, related hashtags soon rocketed to top of Weibo’s most searched phrase list.
In the show, fans are encouraged to scan voting QR codes inside caps of the Mengniu product to vote for their favorite trainees in the compete-to-become-idol show. A viral video showing people taking the caps and dumping the milk into sewers sparked wide criticism late April.
But the curtain did not fall as the public started to urge a thorough reflection and rectification of the industry, as ill fans-targeting marketing is only one of many problems to be tackled.
The milk dumping scandal directly exposed negative results the fans-targeting marketing method — over-consumption and waste. Changing the milk package will not help as other products could be wasted if the sponsor changes.
Mengniu should do more than apology, as the waste of milk had happened in season 2 of the show last year. It did not attract that much attention before the promulgation of the anti-food waste law, a Weibo user commented under the apology post.
As long as the final competition is based mostly on online votes, over-consumption will not change. Both the video platform and the sponsor had intentionally ignored what their selling tactics could result in when they are targeting young people because the profits were huge, a fans group operator surnamed Jiang, told the Global Times.
The waste of real products was a thin disguise fans-funding. As asking money from fans is prohibited, platforms and sponsors collaborated in the sales of certain products. In the show it’s the overpriced bottled milk, but it can also be electronic magazines, e-albums and other objects, Jiang said.
Jiang also revealed the existence of a dark chain of idol-building that involves click and vote fraud. Fans groups and trainees’ agencies, which fundraise by selling trainee souvenirs, “buy votes” from platforms or “clear votes” of other contestants. Such tricks were seen in South Korean program Produce 101, the prototype of the Chinese show, which ended up with lawsuits.
Such nasty sides have bad influence on premature young people whose value system are in formation and can easily be misled or yielded to pressure within fans groups, Shi Wenxue, a Beijing-based cultural critic, told the Global Times.
Media have reported that high school students stole parents’ money or starved to save breakfast money to support their favorite contestants.
Promotion material of Youth with You 3 Photo: Sina Weibo
