:: Mark Haas (pictured below), former MS&L Global CEO, was recently named President of Edelman China. He’ll be reporting to Edelman Asia Pacific Regional President AlanVandermolen, and his current firm MH Group Communications has also been acquired by Edelman. Follow Mark on Twitter at @MarkHass. For more details about his new role role, link here. // AjS
[full disclosure: I'm employed by Edelman Digital, Asia Pacific]
:: together with PublicAffairsAsia, my colleagues at Edelman China published a short white paper today titled The Dragon & The Mouse. The paper takes a look at how social media is impacting public affairs in China, and even includes some insights from yours truly (bottom of page 7).
To check out the press release and more details, link here. To download the white paper as a PDF, link here. To read the paper, see below. Let me know what you think in the comments section below. /// AjS
:: as I think most of you know, I’m a strategist at Edelman Digital Asia Pacific. As such, I just wanted to share some news.
Together with our partner Brandtology, we launched the Asia-Pacific Digital Brand Index (DBI), a regional study of online conversations about big tech brands covering 10 markets (Japan, Korea, Mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, India, and Australia). The study captures and distills 800,000 mentions of 233 major technology and telco brands on over 4,000 sites.
For more details and market-by-market data / fact sheet downloads, link here. [Google was #1 and Dell was #10, link here to found out the rest of the top 10.]
The study’s analysis and insights are quite telling.
One of the key take-aways for me (something John Kerr, Edelman Digital Asia Pacific head discusses more here) is that while having a consistently aligned social media strategy across Asia markets on a macro objectives level is crucial, tactic execution needs to be locally contextualized to ensure success. The nuts and bolts of brand engagement simply won’t work uniformly across such diverse social media environments.
The study also puts forth an interesting series of indices that help local and regional marketers find measurement benchmarks around important areas like Internet word of mouth conversation volume, engagement (or mentions per unique voice), channel volume / breadth, etc. All very much worth checking out.
To learn more, feel free to get in touch: adam.schokora@edelman.com
Also, see below for a video of John Kerr giving a quick overview of the study. To better understand the study’s methodology, link here. // AjS
[Full disclosure: Edelman and Edelman Digital represent technology brands around the world, many of which are included in the Edelman Digital Brand Index.]
:: “men,” as in 门 (the Chinese word for “gate”), is an important element of modern Web culture in China. Chinese netizens and even the local media at-large are fond of tacking “gate” (门) onto scandals and memes, perhaps even more than the Western press. Chinese netizens are even quicker on the draw; online conversation about scandals is often a forest of “gates,” many of which have similar or even identical names. This week’s Friday 5 takes a look at recent examples from five of the most common categories of “gates” on the Chinese Internet: food quality, donations, cars, espionage, and of course, the centerpiece of all durable Internet buzz, sex!
food: radiation-gate ::
Food safety has been a serious issue for Chinese netizens this year following the melamine milk scandal of 2008. A number of brands have been embroiled in their own additive scandals (a previous Friday 5 addressed Mengniu and Wang Lao Ji); in July, two instant noodle makers, Master Kong and UniPresident, found themselves in a scandal over labeling and irradiation. The allegations, published by a prominent business newspaper, accused the two companies of distributing instant noodle packages without clearly labeling that they had been irradiated. Both companies denied the charges and insisted that their products were completely safe. Dubbed “radiation-gate” (辐射门) by netizens and media, the scandal was related more to the deception than the radiation itself (although a small but significant portion of the online conversation was devoted to radiation fears). The initial response of both brands was mealy-mouthed: UniPresident claimed it did not use radiation but “could not rule out” use by its suppliers; Master Kong pled ignorance, saying it didn’t know it had to note that its suppliers used radiation. A rather snarky news report made the rounds of video sites and caught the attention of online gamers and other netaholics who survive off of instant noodles at Web cafe’s, etc. (”Woe to my instant noodle life!” reads one comment on the video.) Other netizens piled on with other quality complaints. Ultimately both brands said that they would improve their package labeling. Although the news caused considerable stir immediately after it was reported, Chinese Internet users quickly tired of the affair and it is no longer brought up in discussions of the brand and instant noodles in general. As with many of the minor “-gates” that crop up in online conversation, “radiation-gate” does not exclusively refer to the instant noodles affair: it’s also been used by Chinese netizens to describe mobile phone radiation scares and the effect of high-voltage power pylons on residential neighborhoods.
Yu Qiuyu’s “donation-gate” ::
Yu Qiuyu (余秋雨), a drama professor turned popular essayist turned TV commentator, has long been dogged by controversies ranging from accusations of being a henchman of the notorious Gang of Four to having accepted a luxurious villa from the Shenzhen government in exchange for favorable reviews. The source of Yu’s latest controversy, known as “donation gate,” was his old foe Xiao Xialin (肖夏林), whom he once brought to court for defamation. On May 14, 2008, shortly after the Sichuan earthquake, Yu announced that he would donate RMB 200,000 to build an elementary school in the quake-stricken Dujiangyan. In a blog post published on May 5 of this year, Xiao Xialin suggested that Yu had not spent a cent of his own money. He demanded that Yu provide proof he had really donated. A blog post Yu made in the wake of the earthquake in which he issued a “tearful plea” to the Chinese people had been mocked by a wide swath of Internet users, and his silence on the donation issue revived his “tearful professor” title and prompted more mockery from netizens, including this article sarcastically proposing that the Chinese government should help Yu to forge a donation receipt. Some public figures, such as Yi Zhongtian (易中天), also urged Yu to show evidence. The belated response came in June 22, when Yu denied the charges following a newspaper report that quoted a local government official from Dujiangyan confirming that Yu did donate RMB 200,000. According to the government official, because the construction standard has been upgraded after the earthquake, RMB 200,000 was no longer enough to build a school, so it was spent to buy books for three school libraries to be named after him. This was not enough for some netizens, who were put off by the thought that Yu had made the donation under public pressure or out of self-promotion. “Whether the donation is real or not, I think that the actions of Yu and his cronies are more disgusting than misappropriating RMB 200,000,” read one comment.
car scandals
In the beginning of September, a driver in Shanghai named Zhang was stopped by a pedestrian who complained that his stomach was killing him and who asked for a ride to the hospital because he couldn’t wait for a taxi. Zhang refused his passenger’s offer of payment, but when he reached the hospital, the passenger grabbed his keys, and the car was surrounded by seven or eight uniformed individuals. Zhang was charged with illegally operating a taxi. In many Chinese cities, unlicensed taxis are frequently targeted by law-enforcement campaigns and their drivers are subject to fines, license suspensions, or even more serious punishment, but this kind of fishing expedition, preying on the good intentions of ordinary citizens, raised the hackles of many netizens who already had a fairly poor opinion of local law enforcement. The situation first came to public attention when Han Han (韩寒), a bestselling author and race car driver who keeps a phenomenally popular blog, posted two letters under the heading “This is certainly just a rumor” on September 11. From Han, who has been named an online public opinion leader by a number of media outlets, the story received immense exposure, and the mainstream press tracked down and verified the story. “Fishing-gate” spawned op-ed columns on entrapment, the rule of law, and the limits of administrative authority, and these in turn generated even more netizen debate (”Where is my Party, my great Communist Party? We miss you so!”) and parody. Han prefaced his repost of the rumors with the following comment: “I’m republishing two posts that have not been verified. It’s highly likely that they’re just rumor-mongering by reactionary elements bent on ruining the National Day atmosphere. I’ve selected them so that the relevant departments can proceed with arrests.” This is a reference to the arrests of previous online rumor-mongers, including one of the netizens involved in a previous car-related “gate”: the “Hu Bin stand-in-gate” (胡斌替身门 or “surro-gate”, as one translator put it). That scandal captured netizen imaginations over the summer and demonstrated the limits of the power of crowd-sourcing to determine the truth from questionable photographs. Hu Bin, who struck and killed a pedestrian, turned up in court looking very different from photos taken at the scene. Rumors sprung up online that he had hired someone to take his place in prison. The “human flesh search engine” tracked down a likely stand-in. Someone masquerading as that individual denied the rumors, but it took the mainstream media to clear up the situation and determine that Hu Bin had actually appeared in court.
spygates ::
Espionage has considerable cachet online in China. Unverifiability of much of the information about spies has rumors flying fast and thick, and Chinese netizens attempt to ferret out the truth even as the mainstream media remains tight-lipped. In June, rumors snowballed that Fang Jing (方静), the host of prime-time CCTV programs such as Defense Watch who had lately been absent from the screen, was accused of being a spy for Taiwan, detained, and missing for three months. “Fang Jing Spy-Gate” (方静间谍门) led to a lot of speculation online about the situation, even after she denied the rumors. Later it was revealed that rival CCTV presenter and professor Ah Yi (阿忆), who could have been jealous of her, exposed her status as a “spy” for Taiwan in a cryptic blog post (since deleted; repost here). Fang Jing quickly returned to present another program for CCTV to put an end to the rumors altogether, although conversation about the incident continued: a blog post on Sina BBS dissects the heated discussion following Ah Yi’s rumormongering. In another recent spy-gate, Rio Tinto employees, including the Shanghai General Manager, were detained by the Chinese PSB in July on suspicion of stealing state secrets. Known as “Rio Tinto Gate” (力拓门) or “Rio Tinto Spy-gate” (力拓间谍门), the case came at a time of bad relations between the Australian government and China, and it sent a shock through the international iron ore industry. The murky situation was quickly elaborated upon, but the online response in China was widespread. Both the Fang Jing and Rio Tinto Spy-Gates were talked about in light of the then-popular espionage TV drama Hidden (潜伏), which involves a Communist spy in the KMT before the establishment of the People’s Republic of China. Variations of the spy cases have cropped up, after Rio Tinto’s “gate” turned into a “spy and espionage gate”: on the Netease Money BBS, for example, netizens talked about a senior member of Shougang (首都钢铁公司) being taken away for corruption. In the iron industry, it seems, espionage “gates” are closely tied to bribery “gates” at the moment.
sex-gates ::
Since the Edison Chen (陈冠希) “racy photo-gate” broke in 2008, leakages of private / bedroom photos and videos have turned up fairly regularly on the Chinese Internet. The ones that attract the most attention involve celebrities who inadvertently got their overexposed personal pictures leaked. Often these get compared to the Edison Chen scandal (as the topless paparazzi photos of Zhang Ziyi (子怡) – “beach gate” – was in January), but they tend to fade away much more quickly. Other popular sex scandals involve teens who intentionally post their own racy photos or videos to the Internet. In “breast rubbing gate”: In a video which has been circulating on the Internet since late June, a female student is lying on a desk in what looks like a classroom; around her are a number of male students fondling her breasts. Via “human flesh searching” tactics, Chinese netizens eventually discovered the real identity of the girl, a student at a vocational school in Cixi, Zhejiang Province. After the incident broke, the girl in the video posted to her QQ page (repost) that she was under immense pressure and felt suicidal. Netizens engaged in heated debate about the moral issues involved. This blog post argues that the moralists who criticize the girl have done more damage to her than her classmates. Netizens also discussed another issue highlighted by the incident, the imbalance gender ratio: as the only female in the class, the girl said she gave consent to the boys for the “solidarity of the whole class.” For these sex scandals, even though most websites swiftly delete the content whenever it pops up, a sufficiently determined and patient Internet user can eventually locate a reposted copy.
/// AjS
[Friday 5 is the product of my work for Edelman Digital (China). Link here for the full Friday 5 archive. If you'd like to be added to the bilingual (English & Chinese) Friday 5 email distribution list, please send me an email at: adam DOT schokora AT edelman DOT com.]
:: 相比较于西方的同行，中国媒体对为各种丑闻贴上“门”
食品安全：辐射门 ::
在2008年的三聚氰胺毒奶粉事件之后，食品安全成为人们关注的焦点。众多品牌也遭受到添加剂事件的困扰（此前报道的蒙牛和王老吉）；在六月，一家经济报纸刊登文章，指出两家方便面企业，康师傅和统一，没有在其包装上明确标注其使用了放射性物质进行杀菌灭活。两家企业否认了这一指责。此事件被称为辐射门，相比与放射性物质所带来的恐慌相比，舆论更多的是对企业说谎的谴责声，只有小部分议论是关于放射性物质杀菌所可能带来的危害。两家企业的最初反应含糊其辞。统一声称自己并未使用辐射消毒，但不排除自己的供货商使用这种消毒方法；康师傅则声称自己并不知道使用了经过辐射的原材料必须要标识。一个对此事件的电视报道在各个视频网站被转载并在大量消费泡面的网民中间引起反响（一位网友评论到：哎，我的泡面生涯！）其他网友则纷纷反映其它质量问题。最终，两家企业表示将会改进自己的标识方法。尽管事件被曝光的最初获得大量的关注，但网民的注意力很快转移，此类话题在互联网上也很少再被提起。对于网上层出不穷的各种影响有限的门事件一样，辐射门也不仅仅局限于方便面食品，它还被用来指称手机和高压变电器电磁波辐射所带来的恐慌。
捐款门 ::
从一名戏剧教授成功转型成为散文家的余秋雨，近年又成为一名活跃于电视荧屏的评论家。成名以来，关于他的争议一直不绝于耳，其中包括他曾经是臭名昭著的四人帮的帮凶，以及他以赞美文章从深圳政府处换取豪华别墅。余最新的一次争议同样来源自所谓的“咬余专业户”肖夏林。在2008年五月十四日汶川地震后不久，余宣布自己将为灾区捐赠二十万元，用于建造一座希望小学。肖在近年五月五日的一篇博客中余极有可能没有掏一分钱。夏还进一步要求余出示证据以表明捐款确有其事。此前，余秋雨的一篇《含泪劝告请愿灾民》已经招致网民的一片嘲笑，而他此次对于捐款问题的沉默再次引发众人对这位“含泪教授”的讥讽，其中包括这篇网民戏称要求政府为余秋雨伪造一份捐款收据。包括易中天在内的一些社会名人也纷纷向余秋雨开炮，敦促其公示证据。余对指责的否认直到六月二十二日才姗姗来迟。而此前的一篇新闻报道已经引述了都江堰的一位政府官员确认了余秋雨的捐款。该官员同时声称由于震后对新建建筑的抗震要求提高，建设一座小学的所需花费超出二十万元，因此余的捐款被用于为三座图书馆购置书籍。这仍然不能满足一部分网民，因为对他们而言，余的捐款究竟是出于自我宣传或者是舆论压力依然不得而知（不管真捐假捐，我都觉得余及其同伙此举比贪污挪用了20万救灾款还恶心）。
钓鱼门和替身门 ::
在九月初，上海一名张姓司机搭载了一名声称剧烈腹痛的行人前往医院。张拒绝了此人的支付车费的请求，但是当车辆驶入医院的时候，乘客夺取钥匙，同时，一群身着制服的人包围了车辆。张被控非法营运。在很多中国城市，未经注册的出租车是执法机构的打击对象，一旦被发现，往往被课以高额罚款，暂扣驾照，以及其它严厉惩罚。这种“诱使犯罪”，并往往殃及出于公德心的驾驶员的执法手法受到本来就对当地执法评价很低的网民的大加鞭笞。此事件最早被畅销作家兼赛车手韩寒在的曝光而引发公众关注。九月十一日，关于此事的两封信被韩冠以“这一定是造谣”的标题发表在博客上。韩的舆论领袖的身份使事件获得极高曝光度，而大量主流媒体随后跟进并确认信中反映属实。关于“钓鱼门”的大量专栏见诸报端，讨论了事件所涉及的诱捕，法制，以及政府权限等诸多问题，这些文章又进一步依法网上的讨论（“我的党在哪里，伟大共产党呀，我们想念你” ；惊爆上海好心车主被“钓鱼”后与执法大队的对话）。韩寒为此文作序，称“转两个帖子，未经核实，极其有可能是反动份子破坏国庆气氛的造谣之作，我特别选出，以便相关部门进行追捕”暗指此前数名网民因制作和散布谣言而被捕，其中包括另一与汽车有关的“胡斌替身门”。此事件充分调动了网民的想象力，并暴露了众多网民在鉴定嫌疑照片时的不足。驾驶汽车撞击过路行人致死的胡斌在法庭照片与以往的形象迥异，引发他雇佣替身为其坐牢的猜测。网民甚至通过人肉搜索，爆出一个与照片中人物相貌相似的所谓“替身”。此后有人以该“替身”身份发帖否认“自己”替胡斌入狱，主流媒体最终证明胡斌确实已经接受审判，厘清关于此事的传言。
间谍门 ::
形形色色的间谍事件常在。由于主流媒体往往三缄其口，使得众多传言一时漫天飞舞，令人真假莫辩。六月有关于中央电视台国防观察节目主持人方静被传为台湾间谍，已经离职并接受调查。尽管方出面否认此传闻，种种猜测依然不止。央视前主持人兼北大教授阿忆是此次事件的始作俑者。阿忆或许出于嫉妒， 在博客上发表了一篇含糊其词的文章，指称方静为台湾间谍（原文已被删除，但转帖仍然能够被读到）方静很快重返央视，主持另一档节目，结束了种种传言。但网上对此的讨论依然不止：发表在新浪bbs上的一篇文章分析此事件的前因后果。另外一件间谍门则涉及澳大利亚铁矿巨头力拓。由于事发正值中澳关系紧张时期，国际铁矿石业也受此影响。尽管真相逐渐露出水面，但该事件在网上影响广泛。关于两起间谍门的讨论往往与热播谍战电视剧《潜伏》相提并论。此间谍门的后果不断延续，在网易论坛上，网民们谈论到首都钢铁公司一名高管被警方带走接受调查。在钢铁行业，“间谍门”似乎被称作为受贿门更确切些。
色情门 ::
自从2008年陈冠希艳照门曝光之后，不时有个人私密照片或视频泄露到互联网上。最引人注意的多是那些不慎流出的娱乐界明星超尺度的私房照。这些照片经常被拿来和陈冠希艳照门做对比（例如一月份章子怡几近赤裸的“沙滩门”事件），但是这些事件大都很快从公众视线中淡去。此外，色情门还涉及还涉及一些未成年人在网上发布的自己的性爱照片或录像。一个名为“摸奶门”的视频自六月底以来在网上大量传播。视频中的女主角躺在貌似一间教室的课桌上，身边围绕着一群男学生，轮流抚摸女生的胸部。网民还确定了该女生的真实身份：浙江慈溪某职业学校的一名女生。事后，该女生在自己的QQ页面上声称自己面临很大的压力，甚至有自杀的念头。网上对该事件的讨论大多涉及的道德伦理方面。一篇博客文章认为道德的卫道士给该女生造成的伤害远大于视频中的男同学。对于此事件中折射出来的另一个问题：男女人口比例的失调，网民们也有讨论：作为班里的唯一女性，该女生声称她之所以同意男生的请求是出于班级的团结。这些尽管多数网站迅速删除了所有这些色情门有关的内容，对于有毅力兼耐心的网民，找到被大量转载的内容并非难事。
/// AjS
[Friday 5是我服务的爱德曼数码(中国)的一项产品。这里是全部Friday 5 的存档。 有意通过电子邮件订阅双语Friday 5者可通过以下地址向我发送邮件索取：adam 点 schokora 在 edelman 点 com。]
:: viral ad / marketing fatigue shows up in a number of videos on this week’s list. It’s worth noting that viral ads are still well-received when they’re well-crafted and original, but Chinese netizens are liable to turn on brands they feel are attempting to manipulate them with obvious advertising. Overly obvious branding and messaging doesn’t work. Entertaining, compelling, and unique content does.
For more of the latest hot videos, check out the Youku Buzz blog, which posts recent hits along with snarky commentary from Kaiser Kuo, one of the site’s authors / contributors (check out his dismissal of Zeng’s talents), or the just-launched Eyes On Me feature of the In2Marcom blog, a monthly roundup of popular viral videos.
Zeng Yike spoofs ::
Zeng Yike (曾轶可), who was introduced in a previous Friday 5, was eliminated from the Super Girl talent competition in August, yet she remains a popular subject for Internet videos. Her catchy tunes led Netease user Scapegoat (替罪羊) to collaborate with video engineer Flying Frog (飞飞蛙) on a video of Scapegoat singing Zeng’s “Leo” in the voice of 15 different famous Chinese singers, such as Andy Lau (刘德华), Cui Jian (崔健) and Fei Yu-Ching (费玉清). Another popular video was made by students attending a summer military training camp at Shanghai Jiaotong University. The boys sing “Leo” to girls who are lined up on the opposite side. Two other songs follow. Zeng recently became embroiled in “Copy-Gate” (抄袭门), a scandal in which she was accused of plagiarizing the melody of “Leo” from “Horizon,” a song from Taiwan. Although we’re still waiting for standout viral videos about the discovery (all that’s come up so far have been comparisons of the two songs), it’s been the subject of quite a few BBS posts and blog posts, particularly concerning her befuddling defense to the accusations: “Horizon” was written by “another self in this world.” Netizens have been having fun with Transformer mashups lately, and Zeng Yike was the focus of one of the most popular, Transformers 3: The War of the Earth (变形金刚3：地球之战). Zeng’s unique qualities help her save the world from alien invaders in a short film full of product placements and brand messages – most likely a parody of movie-making practices in both Hollywood and China these days, and something that shows up in a surprising number of the most recent virals (more on that video here).
Citroen “advertisements” ::
Continuing with the Transformers theme, Youku user C-Team Transformers (C派变形金刚), a Citroen fan, has posted two popular Transformer-themed mashup videos. The earlier (and more popular) of the two was posted in August under the title C-Team Rendezvous (C派集结登场), and takes the form of mash-up of previous authorized Transformer-themed Citroen commercials, including an ice-skating spot and a dancing robot spot, covered in a previous Friday 5 on video marketing. Then in early September, the same user released a Citroen-themed parody of Crazy Racer (疯狂的赛车) in which aspiring champions compete for second place because of Sébastien Loeb’s multi-year dominance of the World Rally Championships driving for Citroen. This video was far less successful: apart from a bemused response on some auto forums, the majority of netizens who viewed the clip felt it was a “third-rate ad” (二流广告) or asked how much Citroen had paid the netizen who posted it. Ensuing discussions devolved into denigrations of the brand, which may, in fact, have had nothing to do with the videos at all.
Product placement in Meteor Rain ::
Product placement backlash was even more visible in the response to a knockoff version of the Taiwan TV drama Meteor Garden. The original, adapted from Japanese manga Boys Over Flowers (Hana Yori Dango), was a runaway success among Asian TV audiences when it first hit screens in 2001. This year, mainland entertainment station Hunan TV produced a copycat version called Meteor Shower that began airing in early August. The stars of the original, known as F4 (for Flower Four, from the original manga), were replaced with four new teen idols known as “H4.” However, fans of the original didn’t see eye to eye with the media juggernaut, calling the new version a “shanzhai” Meteor Garden. A backlash against the remake took place in various forums, with blatant product placement being one of the major complaints. Netizens produced videos mocking the drama to an enthusiastic response. One popular video assembled a number of the most distasteful product placements, including a long, pointless introduction to a Nanjing-manufactured MG 3SW. For fans familiar with the earlier version, it seemed ridiculous that a scion of a wealthy family would dream about owning a car that cost less than 80,000 yuan. Netizens on Douban and other online forums found the parody hilarious. Ironically, some netizens complained that all of the product placement was offensive to a Chinese audience mired in economic doldrums. Another video posted on a gaming forum highlighted a silly, stilted discussion about the MMORPG ZT Online. It looks like such product placement is only going to get worse: SARFT has placed limits on television commercials and commanded that commercial breaks last no longer than 90 seconds. In response, Hunan TV said that it would incorporate even more product placement into its shows. This will likely lead brands / marketers in China to leverage online video even more.
Hyundai viral ads ::
Turning to viral video marketing that’s been more effective, Hyundai has put up a number of entertaining clips over the past month. In late August, a vignette between a clueless driver and a hapless police officer was passed around a number of major social networks and overseas Chinese websites. The clip makes use of stereotypes about woman drivers in a dialogue-free story that makes heavy use of physical comedy. In a second clip, a careless man gets himself into a lot of trouble trying to do too many things at once: drive, light his cigarette, and use his mobile phone. A third clip shows a drift racer squaring off against a parkour traceur. Auto forums enjoyed this one, and used it as the starting point for discussions of drifting, or whether a stock Hyundai could perform as shown. These videos aren’t exactly subtle: the Hyundai logo is shown in frequent close-up, and each clip closes with a credit screen mentioning Beijing Hyundai. But most netizens found them entertaining. Yet even here fatigue seems to have set in. The “woman driver” clip garnered a huge number of views overnight, and the amount of positive votes / comments on Youku far outweigh the negative ones. The “careless driver” clip has slightly more positive votes than negative, but the “parkour” clip has been voted down heavily, with some commenters even calling, “bury all crappy films!”
National Day in China ::
National branding turns up in videos celebrating the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic. TV reports about the preparations for the military parade and showing the kinds of weapons and the types of troops that will be seen on October 1 are popular with online viewers. A report from Beijing TV uploaded three days ago has garnered 1,468,413 views and 2,482 comments. Netizens have incorporated tanks and airplanes into their comments; this meme shows up on other reports about the preparations, including this one from Dragon TV (东方卫视). One of the high points of the celebration is the film The Founding of A Republic (建国大业) which has many trailers on Youku, and one of them has been viewed 923,781 times and commented 455 times. The trailer is incredibly star-studded, leading netizens to comment on the plethora of famous acting talent on display: Zhang Ziyi (章子怡), Jet Li (李连杰), Zhang Guoli (张国立), to name just a few. Some netizens responded with comments saying how the government is great, while others complain about the money spent. A little older but still relevant is a Warcraft machinima created by patriotic gamers at the Qingdao Technological University. Vast arrays of troops line a simulacrum of Changan Avenue as tanks and other armored units parade past. Negative attitudes do show up in text-based forums, with a lot of complaints about the traffic controls that are imposed when students, soldiers, and artillery displays practice for the big day, or how much of a headache it is to be chosen to participate, but videos about the anniversary of the PRC brand are pretty much all positive and excited.
// AjS
[Friday 5 is the product of my work for Edelman Digital (China). Link here for the full Friday 5 archive. If you'd like to be added to the bilingual (English & Chinese) Friday 5 email distribution list, please send me an email at: adam DOT schokora AT edelman DOT com.]
:: 大众对于病毒式传播的视频广告逐渐产生审美疲劳。尽管制作精良，
您可以通过优酷Buzz博客来更多了解近期的热门视频。Kaiser Kuo在这个博客上发表他对这些视频的评论。文章多兼具诙谐幽默与讽刺调侃。在最近这篇关于歌手曾秩可的文章中，作者表达了自己对曾的音乐才能的不屑。In2Marcom博客新推出的Eyes On Me栏目则汇总了当月的各个热播视频。
曾秩可 ::
继曾秩可(曾在此前的Friday 5报道过)在八月份在超级女声选秀节目中遭淘汰之后，这位“人气超女”依然频繁出现在各种网络视频中。新浪用户“替罪羊”与视频制作者“飞飞蛙”合作完成了由“替罪羊”模仿包括刘德华，崔健，费玉清在内的15名歌星演唱曾的成名曲“狮子座”的视频。另一个关于曾秩可的视频是由参加军训的上海交大新生们制作的，在视频中，男生们向女生演唱“狮子座”以及另外两首歌。曾最近被卷入一场“抄袭门”，她的“狮子座”被指抄袭台湾歌曲“天际”。在我们期待一部关于曾“抄袭门”的出色视频出现的时候（目前只有一段对比两首歌曲的视频），这一事件也引发了在众多论坛和博客上的讨论，其中有文章援引曾为自己所做的辩护：“发现世上另一个自己”。曾秩可的形象还被搬上了网友炮制的《变形金刚3:地球之战》上。在这个植入了大量“广告”的短片中，曾从外星入侵者手中拯救了地球。影片中的广告，多半是一种对好莱坞和中国电影制作，以及大量病毒式传播视频中此类现象的戏仿(更多与此主题相关内容) 。
雪铁龙广告 ::
继雪铁龙发布一系列变形金刚主题的广告之后，名为“C派变形金刚”的优酷用户再次发布了两个变形金刚主题的拼接影片。八月份的一个名为“C派集结登场”的视频是此前雪铁龙的变形金刚广告的重新剪接，其中包括一个滑冰机器人和一个舞蹈机器人（曾在此前的Friday 5中被报道过）的片段。九月初由另一个用户上传的一段视频也是一个名为《疯狂的赛车》的视频。影片中，由于雪铁龙车队的赛巴斯迪安.勒布长期稳坐WRC拉力赛冠军宝座，以至于其它车手都把自己的最高目标定在第二名。这段视频不算成功：除了在几家汽车论坛受到些许认可之外，大量网友认为这只是一个二流广告并追问雪铁龙为这个广告花了多少钱。一些网友甚至在观看视频后对雪铁龙品牌嗤之以鼻，尽管并无证据标明雪铁龙与该视频有任何关联。
流星雨中的植入广告 ::
在八月份湖南卫视版本播出其改编的台湾电视剧“流星花园”之后出现一片对产品植入的反对呼声。台版的流星花园改编自日本漫画花より男子(Hana Yori Dango)，在2001年播出之后在亚洲电视观众中创出收视高潮。而大陆的湖南卫视也在此剧基础上推出自己的改编版本《一起去看流星雨》。原版剧中的四位被称为F4（漫画原作中Flower 4的缩写）的男主角被新版的H4所取代。但是“流星”粉丝们对这部新作并不买账，反称其为“山寨流星花园”。各大论坛中对该剧的批评比比皆是，其中观众有违不满的是大量直白露骨的广告植入。网友制作了一些视频来讽刺这一现象。其中一个热播的视频汇集了剧中数个最为恶俗的广告，包括一段对南京产的名爵3SW汽车冗长乏味的推介。而熟悉原版的观众来说，剧中出身显贵的富家公子居然会为一款售价仅10万左右的汽车而心动？豆瓣和其它网上论坛的用户都觉得这样的情节安排十分可笑。甚至有网友指出这些广告是对处于经济低迷时期的中国观众的不尊重。另外一个被传到游戏论坛的视频则选取了剧中一段关于网游《征途》的做作的对话。而此类植入广告似有愈演愈烈之势：广电总局最近出台一条规定：所有插播广告不得超过90秒，而湖南卫视对此的反映是它将会将更多的广告植入到节目当中。这极有可能导致网络视频在市场营销中扮演更大的角色。
现代汽车 ::
在将目光投向病毒式营销之后，现代汽车从上月起投放了数条网络视频。从八月底推出至今，一段发生在一个技术不甚高明的女司机和一个倒霉的交警之间的小插曲的视频被在大量国内社交网站以及国外中文网站上转载。视频利用了人们对于女性司机的固有认识，整个叙述过程中并未使用对话，而是大量运用肢体语言从而达到喜剧效果。在第二个视频中，一个粗心大意的司机试图一边驾驶，一边点烟，同时还要用手机打电话。第三段视频则是一个擅长漂移的车手和一位跑酷高手之间的角逐。这段视频在许多汽车论坛受到追捧，引发许多关于漂移，以及标配车能否有像视频中那样出色的表现。这些视频并不注重含蓄：现代的标志频繁在特写镜头中出现。尽管大多数网友觉得这些视频具有一定娱乐性，但对此类广告的疲劳也不可避免。关于女司机的那段视频在优酷网获得大量好评，而对粗心司机视频的好评数量稍稍多于恶评数量。而跑酷视频却得到大量的恶评，甚至有网友评论到：“什么垃圾片子，踩死”。
国庆 ::
中国的国家形象在庆祝中华人民共和国成立六十周年的视频得到了体现。对于阅兵的准备训练，武器装备，参阅部队的电视报道在网上很受欢迎。北京电视台的一段报道在上传三天后就获得1468413次播放和2482条评论。网友们喜欢在自己的评论中加入飞机坦克的图案；而这种现象在东方卫视的国庆阅兵报道中也可以看到。今年国庆的另一大亮点是献礼大片《建国大业》。这部电影的许多片花可以在优酷中看到，其中一个被包房923781次并受到455次评论。片中明星云集，包括章子怡，李连杰，张国立在内的影视大腕纷纷加盟。评论中即有对国家建设的盛赞，也有对盛典劳民伤财的担忧。而此前的由青岛理工大学一群魔兽爱好者创作的魔兽版国庆阅兵则在游戏场景中模拟了坦克和其它装甲车辆通过大量部队分列两侧的长安街的场景。负面评价多是围绕为国庆游行而进行的交通管制，以及被选中参加游行给自己带来的麻烦，但是绝大多数关于国庆的视频都是积极正面的。
// AjS
