The Double Eleven "Public Opinion War" Behind the Yang Li Incident at JD.com

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No one expected that the first public relations battle of Double Eleven would be fought against JD.com. The core issue was not the low price or the anchor, but the more acute and sensitive "gender issue", which fermented a strange public opinion curve.

On October 14, JD.com released a promotional poster related to Yang Li on its official Weibo account. On the same day, Yang Li appeared at JD.com's 11.11 press conference and posted a promotional Weibo.

This move quickly fermented on social media such as Hupu, and triggered a backlash from a large number of male consumers. The official microblogs of JD.com and Yang Li were flooded with negative comments, and many consumers chose to return their annual cards and uninstall the app to express their dissatisfaction. There were even voices calling on users to redeem JD Finance's wealth management products in protest.

In response to this, JD.com responded quickly, issuing clarification information and an apology announcement, stating that "we have no future cooperation plans with the relevant actors" and tried to calm the anger of male users and restore the brand's positive image by increasing Double Eleven subsidies.

However, a large number of rumors spread further, bringing more intense public opinion collisions. Various false information such as "More than 90% of JD.com's employees are women", "JD.com's financial platform is facing a run and huge withdrawals cannot be redeemed on the same day", and "JD.com joined an international organization and was funded" emerged one after another.

From the selection strategy of artists to the sharp gender confrontation and the questioning of the platform's position wrapped in rumors, the direction of the topic is becoming increasingly unpredictable in the fragmented Internet public opinion field. But there is no doubt that at this critical juncture of Double Eleven, the ever-changing events are not only due to JD.com's decision-making mistakes, but also the ever-intensifying information cocoon, the increasingly divided emotional confrontation and the public opinion attack war that deserves deep thought.

01 “The decision was biased, but the original intention was definitely not to provoke confrontation between men and women”

It needs to be made clear that cooperation with artists is a routine action of e-commerce platforms before the Double Eleven promotion. As JD.com later clarified on Weibo, this cooperation with Yang Li is not an endorsement, but a platform-style brand marketing.

In recent years, JD.com has maintained regular cooperation with talk shows and comedy artists. In addition to Yang Li, JD.com also invited Zhao Xiaohui, Zhang Cailing, He Guangzhi, Liu Yang and many other talk show actors to the 11.11 event.

"Both iQiyi and Tencent's talk shows have entered the most popular finals. For e-commerce platforms, inviting hot topic artists to use their popularity and influence to attract user attention is a common marketing method. It is not the first time that major platforms have cooperated with talk show artists. These factors may have caused JD.com to make certain errors and misjudgments." Amy, a public relations industry practitioner, told Doujiao.

However, it has to be admitted that from the perspective of marketing security, the cooperation with Yang Li was an internal decision-making deviation of JD.com that cannot be ignored.

Undoubtedly, Yang Li, who boldly speaks out on gender issues, has huge controversial traffic, but for JD.com, which has a large number of male consumers, she is a high-risk partner and is likely to trigger a huge backlash of public opinion.

On the other hand, Yang Li has previously triggered boycotts when she worked with brands with a large number of male users. Intel, Great Wall Motors, Shede Wines and other brands have all faced large-scale user doubts.

As a leading Internet platform serving users of all ages and genders, JD.com's choice to cooperate with controversial figures at critical junctures is a typical example of its lack of understanding of public opinions and emotions, and its misjudgment of the public opinion field.

"In fact, there were some disputes during the internal discussion, but no one expected this development. The original intention was definitely not to provoke confrontation between men and women," a relevant insider revealed to JD.com. Obviously, although relevant predictions were made, the development of the situation has now clearly exceeded JD.com's control.

"The wrong decision has created a hole in the entire JD Group. The complex multi-department coordination and decision-making process within the large platform is not clear to ordinary people, but it is likely to be used by outsiders with ulterior motives as a starting point to exaggerate facts and guide public opinion." Amy told Doujiao.

This was quickly reflected in the spreading of rumors and uncontrollable situations.

The spearhead was first directed at JD Finance. Some netizens took screenshots claiming that there had been failures in withdrawing funds. As public opinion fermented, many netizens worried about whether JD Finance was experiencing a run. However, the coded objects and the number of redemptions were actually misidentified. The screenshots that triggered the huge redemption problem had no direct connection with JD Finance.

Weibo administrators quickly dealt with the rumor spreading incident and announced that 50 users who posted false information and inflammatory remarks would be punished, with temporary or even permanent bans. Apparently, a large number of users followed suit and posted false information about JD Finance, trying to further escalate the situation.

However, before the rumor was dispelled, even more outrageous conspiracy theories were spread. "JD.com is being parasitized by the Global Compact ESG," "Three factions in JD.com's senior management are fighting for power, and there is even Jewish power," "JD.com's senior management has been infiltrated and is maliciously driving away male consumers"...

Riding on the "traffic code" of the confrontation between men and women, numerous exaggerated rumors occupied the public opinion field, and the focus of the situation was repeatedly blurred, becoming a sharp arrow aimed at JD.com and continuously fired in the public relations war.

02 Gender antagonism dominates public opinion, behind which is the Double Eleven "PR War"

JD.com was naturally aware of the problem. Judging from the brand’s response speed, after the decision-making error occurred, the platform’s measures were quite quick and its attitude was very positive.

After the public opinion broke out, JD.com deleted the relevant cooperation Weibo, and Yang Li also removed the Double Eleven cooperation promotion content on social platforms. On October 18, JD.com’s largest account @JD.com issued a statement and responded, stating that there would be no future cooperation plans with the relevant actors.

In response to the rumors, JD Finance’s official account posted a blog saying that it was “purely false” and a JD spokesperson also posted a blog to clarify that the funds on the JD Finance platform are managed by licensed financial institutions and are subject to legal supervision and protection, emphasizing “financial security”.

Behind this series of actions, it is obvious that JD.com has realized the seriousness of the problem and has tried to control the situation through sincere statements, clarify misunderstandings, reduce damage to the brand's reputation, and prevent the situation and public opinion from further escalating.

However, in the current complex public opinion ecology, with the spread of extreme emotions and the provocation and rise of gender issues, the trend of public opinion has long been beyond the control of the platform. With the participation of multiple forces, it ultimately leads to irreversible results.

In essence, although the incident was caused by the invitation of Yang Li, the information cocoon created by the fragmented Internet and the male-female confrontation driven by some "opinion leaders" have driven the conflict to continue to intensify. Of course, extreme voices often represent a minority of people, but because of their high volume and sensitivity, and because they have grasped a set of traffic acquisition methodologies that amplify events, escalate contradictions, intensify conflicts, and provoke confrontation, they can often attract public attention in a short period of time.

At the same time, the spread of rumors and extreme emotions is difficult to truly clarify. When oppositional emotions and gender conflicts become a tool for gaining traffic, the fate of a large number of marketing accounts and extreme influencers also makes the incident no longer "just a matter of fact", but a battle to defend dignity that must be won. Under the guidance of not seeking right or wrong, but only winning or losing, a large number of reverse-dressing accounts posted false oppositional content, further expanding the incident to attract attention and accelerate "group resonance."

It is worth further thinking that in addition to extreme emotions, this public opinion may also involve more complex public relations wars and subtle interest games.

There is no doubt that Double Eleven has become the most important annual sales node for e-commerce platforms. Over the years, the public opinion war and public relations defense during this period have been very fierce. Behaviors such as shouting from a distance and fighting in the ring have occurred one after another, and scenes of gaining favorability and bargaining in the public opinion field are common.

Especially this year's Double Eleven, as a window to show recovery and growth, although many platforms have cooperated and made mutually beneficial decisions, and adopted a more open attitude. However, Doujiao also learned that the high-level preparations at the public relations level have not stopped, but have "moved underwater" in a softer but deadly way. "There are more practices such as fan circle operations and reporting attacks that take advantage of public emotions. The public relations war in the past two years is becoming more and more complicated." Amy introduced.

JD.com, which has adopted a high-profile and aggressive marketing and communication strategy to seize the market, has obviously become a high-profile target. Moreover, the decision-making error did occur internally - JD.com's own misjudgment of public opinion tore open the gap, and the public relations attack caused by this is obviously not impossible.

However, the side effect of fragmentation is immediacy. Although the public opinion field is arguing fiercely, soon, with the emergence of new events and hot spots, the public interest will quickly shift. "In the final analysis, users are still concerned about their own interests, such as consumer rights, discount strength and other practical issues. Under the heavy smokescreen, only a few people react excessively under the drive of emotions and become tools of public opinion warfare. The silent majority of users actually don't care and are difficult to be provoked." Amy said.

Obviously, JD.com is also aware of this. "We will further increase JD.com's 11.11 subsidies to give back to consumers for their concern and support for JD.com." Judging from the statement released, the platform has chosen to overcome this crisis with more practical measures.

Author: Frank
This article is written by the author [剁椒TMT] of Operation Party, WeChat public account: [剁椒Spicy], original/authorized to be published on Operation Party, and any reproduction without permission is prohibited.

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