It’s really a tough job for automakers doing marketing and sales in China, where competition is acute and customers have little loyalty. They have tried a range of tricks in recent years.
But there should be a moral bottom line. Unfortunately, a Buick dealership used the tragedy of a two-month-old infant to advertise its cars last week on Weibo – Micro blog. And Hyundai Motor followed suit.
On March 4, an SUV was stolen with the infant left inside alone in the northeastern city of Changchun. The news spread widely on Weibo after the baby’s father called the local police and radio station for help. The next day it was revealed that the infant was choked to death and buried in snow by the thief. The online community expressed its deeply felt sympathy and condolences.
The Buick dealership posted a photo of the baby and two of its cars on its official Weibo account to advertise its GPS system that can locate the stolen car. “A few thoughts on the Changchun stolen car and baby incident: when buying a car it’s entirely OK to choose a brand with advanced technology,” said the post. Though the post was made before tragic fate of the infant was known, the action generated a storm of outrage on Weibo. Some online commentators said it is “marketing at the cost of lives” and “extremely despicable.”
Worse was the post on Hyundai’s official Weibo account that advertised the anti – theft system on its new SUV Santa Fe, an entry made after the child was known to have died. The action also enraged micro bloggers.
Both posts were soon deleted. The Buick dealership made an apology on Weibo to the family of the victim and the public. But screenshots saved by users continued to be posted and the negative impact on both brands persists.
The two brands probably didn’t expect such a firestorm of fury from the Internet community, but they really made a big mistake sinking below the moral bottom line. They certainly ruined their own brand images.
The Chinese have the same proverb as the English language – a little leak will sink a great ship. It takes decades to build the great ship of a respectable brand but it can take just a moment of negligence to make it fail completely.
For those in corporate marketing, two lessons should be learned: first, be careful in the era of social media when one wrong can be easily magnified and have disastrous impacts in just a few clicks.
Second and more importantly, think with your brain and heart. Never break the moral bonds of respect for human life and sympathy for our fellow man.
小题1:Who is to blame for the tragedy of Changchun infant according to the passage?
A．The baby’s father
B．Buick and Hyundai dealership
C．Weibo
D．Not clear小题2:Which of the following statements is correct?
A．The missing infant was found alive in the stolen car.
B．Micro blog marketing of tragic infant death fuels firestorm of criticism.
C．People can’t see the two posts any more because they were deleted.
D．The two car brands mentioned in the passage spoiled their own reputation by selling the stolen car.小题3:What does the underlined word – “despicable” in paragraph 4 mean?
A．Immoral
B．Important
C．Distinguished
D．Considerable小题4:The reason why Hyundai’s post was worse than Buick’s is that _________.
A．Hyundai dealership didn’t make an apology on Weibo
B．Buick dealership expressed its deeply sympathy and condolences
C．Hyundai’s post was made after people knew the infant had died
D．Buick’s car was more advanced on its GPS system小题5:In the last paragraph, the author encourages people _____________.
A．not to sink below the moral bottom line
B．not to sympathize our fellow man
C．to think twice before making decision
D．to magnify the mistakes people make
