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标题：China: Multinationals Hear It Online
来源: 美国商业周刊 www.businessweek.com
原文链接:http://www.businessweek.com/glob ... 20080530_213248.htm
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China May 30, 2008, 6:59AM EST text size: TT
China: Multinationals Hear It Online
From Tibet to Olympic torch protests to Sichuan earthquake relief, the Chinese blogosphere is giving companies an angry earful
Was the Sichuan earthquake, which has killed tens of thousands of Chinese, some sort of retribution for the Beijing government's repression of Buddhists in Tibet? Actress Sharon Stone on May 24 suggested that it was. Ever since, angry Chinese have taken to the Internet to denounce the star of Basic Instinct and spokesperson for Dior (which belongs to LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton) on blogs and online forums. "These kind of remarks deeply hurt Chinese people's feeling and are totally unacceptable," wrote a netizen calling herself Mariah on May 26 on a popular online site. Mariah added she plans to "boycott Dior's product from now on." To contain the damage, Dior China issued an apology and said it would "immediately" cut Stone from all China advertising. "We absolutely disagree with and feel regret for this comment," the company said in a statement.
LVMH (LVMH.PA) is just the latest multinational struggling to calm angry Chinese consumers using the Internet and text messaging to broadcast their grievances. McDonald's (MCD), KFC (YUM) and Motorola (MOT) have been among the companies pilloried via mobile-phone text messages and in the Chinese blogosphere for allegedly donating too little money toward earthquake relief, even though the companies have publicly announced hefty contributions. McDonald's, which even saw protesters briefly mill outside restaurants in Jiangsu and in Sichuan, announced it was upping its contribution to a total of $1.7 million. Nokia (NOK) issued four separate press releases detailing its total contribution of $7.6 million, plus a donation of 5,000 mobile phones.
The Net's Challenge Equals Its Opportunity
Earthquake relief is not the only hot-button issue. Since the outbreak of anti-Beijing demonstrations in Tibet in March, the Chinese blogosphere has been singling out multinationals investing in China for real or perceived slights, even though many companies have adopted nationalist-themed ad campaigns to capitalize on Olympic fever (BusinessWeek.com, 5/28/08).
After rumors that executives of retailer Carrefour (CARR.PA) supported Tibetan independence spread on the Net in April, protesters gathered outside stores in Beijing, Kunming, Wuhan, and Dalian. LVMH was targeted online with calls for a boycott of the French luxury brand following the disruption of the Olympic torch relay in Paris. Even Coca-Cola (KO), a sponsor of the relay and the Beijing Games, got ripped into by bloggers in April after a Chinese student in Germany saw an old print ad by the soft-drink giant showing Tibetan monks, which some Chinese netizens figured indicated support for Tibetan independence.
China's Internet, now the world's largest with more than 210 million users, is proving as much a challenge as an opportunity as brands more and more get battered online. The 49 million Chinese bloggers and 75 million regular BBS, or online bulletin board, users put up an average of 10 million new posts a day. And online forums on industries and brands ranging from cosmetics, mobile phones, software, laptops, and autos are proliferating. So-called Internet influencers—those bloggers or BBS posters who have developed a loyal following—reign supreme, sometimes able to derail a new product launch with a single posting. "Since Internet content posted by users can't be controlled, most companies are afraid of the Net," says Song Zheng, executive chief editor of Tianya.cn, the Chinese online forum in which Google (GOOG) is an investor, in an e-mail response to BusinessWeek.
National Pride Is SurgingThe phenomenon isn't new. Toyota Motor (TM) was rapped back in 2003 for an ad showing Chinese lions bowing to and saluting its Prado SUV, while Nike (NKE) got in trouble for a 2004 television ad that showed NBA star LeBron James beating up Chinese dragons. Not all of the complaints are about politics. In 2006, computer buyers angry at Dell (DELL) for allegedly poor service found like-minded Chinese in online chat rooms (BusinessWeek.com, 8/3/06).
But with Internet users growing at more than 50% a year—and tensions in China running high because of Tibet, the Olympics, and now the earthquake—the scale of the bashing this year is unprecedented. French automaker PSA Peugeot-Citroën (PEUP.PA) apologized in January for what was meant to be a humorous Citroën advertisement featuring a photo of a scowling Mao Zedong. German sportswear maker adidas (ADSG.DE) was similarly contrite after a Chinese blogger discovered its new handbag featured a design combining the Chinese flag with the company logo. "The product was pulled from the marketplace," says Erica Kerner, director of the Beijing 2008 Olympics Program for adidas. "There was no intent to do anything that was in any way disrespectful. It was meant to be a celebration of the Games and of the Chinese spirit."
What's driving all the anti-foreign company venom? Surging nationalism is a key element. And proud Chinese youth emboldened by the upcoming Beijing Olympics are ultra-sensitive to any hint that companies aren't showing proper respect for China and the Chinese people. "Everyone should remember these are immoral companies," said the most widely distributed text message accusing foreign companies of not supporting the Sichuan earthquake relief. "Love China! Support Chinese products! China will be stronger!"
There is no evidence yet to suggest that all the negative buzz is affecting sales. But with so many companies counting on the growing Chinese market to power their profits now and in the years ahead, it's not surprising that nobody is ready to take a chance.
中国：跨国公司在网上听其言
从西藏问题到奥运会火炬抗议到四川大地震救援,中国的新兴媒体群正在给各公司愤怒的抱怨.
已经造成成千上万人死亡的四川大地震,是由于北京政府镇压西藏的佛教徒而得到的某种报应吗?女演员莎朗斯通在5月24号是这么认为的。从那时到现在，愤怒的中国人纷纷参与到通过博客和网上论坛谴责这位因演本能而出名的名星和迪奥公司（属于法国酩悦.轩尼诗—路易.威登集团）的新闻发言人。一位自称为Mariah的女性网民5月26日在一个有名的在线网站上写到“这种评论深深地伤害了中国人民的感情，是完全不能接受的。”，她还加上了计划“从现在开始抵制迪奥的产品。”为了遏制这种破坏性的影响，迪奥中国公司发表声明道歉而且说会“立即”将斯通从所有中国的广告中去除。公司在一份声明中说：“我们完全不认可这种评论，对此深表歉意”。
酩悦.轩尼诗—路易.威登集团只是最近的一个通过互联网和文字信息去表达他们委屈的跨国公司之一。麦当劳，肯德基和摩托罗拉公司已经成为通过手机短消息嘲笑的公司之一，这些公司在中国人的新兴媒体群内被直接指出对地震救援捐献太少，尽管这些公司已经通过公开渠道声明他们已经捐献了很多。甚至在江苏和四川看到了抗议者在饭店外影响营业的麦当劳公司，宣布它已经捐赠了170万美元。诺基亚公司已经通过媒体发布了四期详单内容是已经捐赠了760万美元，外加5000部移动电话。
网络上挑战与机遇并存
地震救援并不是唯一热点话题。自从三月份在西藏爆发反北京的游行示威以来，中国的新兴媒体群从在中国投资的跨国公司中挑选出或多或少有怠慢意思的公司，即使有一些公司已经参与到了以民族主义主题的广告宣传奥林匹克活动中。
在4月份零售商家乐福的总经理支持藏独的传言在网上被广泛传播后，示威者在北京、昆明、武汉和大连的商场外聚集抗议。在巴黎发生的干扰奥运会火炬传递事件后，酩悦.轩尼诗—路易.威登集团成为被呼吁抵制的法国奢侈品的目标。甚至可口可乐公司，一个北京奥运会的赞助商，在四月份一个在德国的中国学生看到这个软饮巨头的一个老广告上展示有西藏和尚后被博友们抵制，一些中国的网民认为这是支持藏独的意思。
对受到越来越多来自打击制造商来说，中国的互联网，现在已经是拥有超过2.1亿网民的世界上最大的网络，是一个挑战与机遇并存的地方。4900万的中国博友，7500万的经常访问BBS和在线论坛的网民在一天要发表平均1000万条的帖子。而且广泛涉及到诸如化妆品、移动电话、软件、笔记本电脑和汽车等工业品和品牌的在线论坛数量在激增。因此这些所谓的受互联网影响的人—这些博友或BBS发贴人已经成为理性的跟随者—上帝，有时就会因为发布一个简单的贴子使一些新产品出格。“由于用户在互联网上的贴出来的内容不能控制，所以很多公司害怕网络。”有谷歌投资的中国的在线论坛天涯论坛的执行总编宋征（译音）在给商业周刊的电子邮件中如是说。
民族自豪感在迸发
这种现象并不新鲜。丰田汽车公司2003年因为发布了一个中国狮子向霸道SUV弯腰敬礼的广告而被狠批，同样，耐克公司在2004年因为在电视上播映NBA球星勒布朗.詹姆斯打击中国龙的广告而陷入麻烦。并不是所有的报怨都与政治有关系。在2006年，一些在在线聊天室内有同感的中国计算机用户对戴尔电脑的服务差进行指控。
随着互联网用户在以每年超过50%的速度增长，而且由于西藏问题，奥运问题以及现在地地震问题而在中国引起的紧张气氛在增长，今年的愤怒的尺度还不可预知。法国汽车制造商雪铁龙公司今年一月份就因为在一则广告中轻慢毛泽东主席而道歉。德国运动服装制造商阿迪达斯公司也在一个中国博友发现它们公司新的手袋上采用了将中国国旗与公司图标结合的图案同样后悔。2008年北京奥运会项目经理erica Kerner说“产品被从市场中扔出来，这没有任何其它的意思也没有不尊重的想法。这只是意味着将运动会与中国精神一同庆祝。”
是什么在驱使着恶毒地反对外国公司？民族主义的迸发是主要的因素。自豪的年轻一代的中国人由于即将到来的奥运会变得更大胆，对一些公司没有表示对中国和中国人民的合理的尊敬的一点风吹草动行为都极端敏感。“每个人都要记住这些不道德的公司”，在一篇广泛传播的指责外国公司没有支援四川救援行动文字信息中这样写到，“热爱中国！支持国货！中国将更强大！”
现在还没有明显的证据能够支持这些负面的声音已经在影响商品的销售情况。但是随着如此之多的公司指望成长中的中国市场在现在和将来的一段时间里来提高他们的利润的话，没有人准备好想找机会尝试一下就不足为奇了。
[ 本帖最后由 extremey 于 2008-6-2 17:04 编辑 ] |
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