Crisis on Social Media in China for a Top Brand
Mistake that cost a lot for the german car manufacturer Audi and its agency M&C Saatchi.
The story
Audi, a German luxury car manufacturer, was recently criticized on Chinese social media because of its latest advertisement featuring Andy Lau, a veteran Hong Kong actor. The ad appears to be a rip-off of a video made by Beida Mange, a Chinese vlogger.
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Audi, Lau and M&C Saatchi, a UK Top advertising agency, withdrew their advertisement May 22.
“We sincerely regret for troubling Andy Lau and Beida Mange and any other parties owing to a lack supervision and a lax review,” posted Audi to Weibo.
The scandal remains a hot topic, with a related hashtag getting more than 520,000,000 views. Many Chinese netizens adn KOL still debate who should be held accountable for the scandal.
Lau is seen riding an Audi on a countryside cruise in this plagiarized commercial. The actor, who is known for being one of China’s Kings of Cantopop’, explains the meaning of Xiaoman which is the eighth solar term on the Chinese calendar (May 21st this year).
Although Lau’s speech was beautiful, it had been essentially stolen from a Beida Manga video from 2021.
Bad buzz for Audi in China
The influencer uploaded a seven-minute video about Douyin on May 21. This alerted his 3,000,000 followers that he had been plagiarized
The majority of criticisms are directed at Audi and not Lau, but the actor has not been spared.
One fan rose up to defend Lau’s position by , asking “Why should an actor assume responsibility for the script?”
“Andy Lau received a payment to film the Audi ad and has fulfilled the corresponding obligation,” stated that a Weibo user identified themselves as a lawyer.
A third comment “China is a country that is governed by law; everyone should respective share legal responsibility.”
The vlogger has not yet taken any legal action explained this lawyer in China.
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