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Article｜Tencent News·Prism Li Xiaobai Article｜Tencent News·Prism Li Xiaobai Douyin celebrity “Big LOGO Eats Down Beijing” is a blogger who explores restaurants and broadcasts. Now he has more than 27 million fans, which can be described as the top stream of the platform. Last year, his video content was mainly about visiting cheap restaurants such as barbecues, snacks, and hot pots, and the traffic was tepid. Soon after, he discovered that “showing off wealth” was the best traffic catcher. Beginning in June last year, “Big LOGO” released a “300 yuan a tael of steak” eating and broadcasting experience, and the number of single likes jumped to 420,000 times. Since then, he began to concentrate on making high-end catering and hotel shop exploration videos, which quickly became popular. One month later, the number of fans of “Big LOGO” had grown to 2 million; by October, the number of fans had exceeded 10 million. “Big LOGO” has been unacceptable since then. A video of “Living in a presidential suite costs 75,000 yuan a night” was released in early April this year, which triggered a backlash from public opinion. On April 14, Xinhua News Agency and People’s Daily used “Big LOGO” as an example to criticize the “show off wealth” style on the platform. “75,000 yuan in a hotel for one night, 1.99 million yuan for confinement, 10,000 yuan for haircuts… Some creators “step aside” in pursuit of traffic and social responsibility.” At present, “Big LOGO” has been suspected of violating regulations. Dozens of videos have been deleted. 
“Big LOGO” and other “show off wealth” bloggers’ mistakes mainly lie in using luxury life as a selling point, improper display, and their values violate public order and good customs. But its experience of high-consumer goods is at least still in the real category.
More dangerous is the “show off wealth” that exists on Douyin, Kuaishou, and Xiaohongshu under the banner of “showing up” a better life. Many authors’ personalities and identities are difficult to distinguish between true and false, and even hide more covert marketing and even fraudulent purposes.
At the same time, according to the author’s analysis, in recent years, “show off wealth” has formed a complete industrial chain from production to output. Whether it is out of vanity on the surface, or more commercial delivery, company marketing, or even malicious fraud, there is a large amount of demand for “show off wealth”. If you want to create a high-end personality for yourself on the Internet, it is very convenient and cheap to obtain materials for “show off your wealth”.
Ferraris in China are not enough for Xiaohongshu to mention
“Rolls-Royce Cullinan, my dad gave it to me when he changed the car. I can only sit in the back row as an underage.”
“Hitti Bentley Continental GT cherry blossom fan, from the first car Z4 in college, to the later Porsche 911, to Lamborghini URUS, Ferrari 488, I can also be regarded as an old car owner.”
Reading the notes of luxury cars in Xiaohongshu is like a journey to explore the wonders-most of the owners of luxury cars are young women in their 20s. Their lives seem to be bordered by luxury cars, luxury houses, luxury goods, and top hotels. Surrounded.
But on the back of the pink bubble, the luxury cars displayed on major content platforms have far exceeded the actual domestic possession.
Searching for the “McLaren GT” priced at more than 2 million yuan on Xiaohongshu, you can find more than 500 notes, including the records of “Xiti” McLaren. However, according to official sales data, only 18 McLaren GTs were sold in China from January to February 2021.
Similarly, searching for “Ferrari” will display more than 40,000 notes; refining the entry to “Ferrari Car” will also find more than 600 notes. However, Ferrari’s financial report disclosed that in the first three quarters of 2020, only 181 Ferraris were sold in the Chinese mainland, Taiwan and Hong Kong markets.
Comparing these numbers with the descriptions of bloggers, there is undoubtedly a mismatch. Although there are a lot of women whose wealth and life are obtained through real struggle or superior family status, there are still a large number of sources of wealth, dream declarations, and entrepreneurial experiences recorded by bloggers that obviously cannot withstand scrutiny.
“Last year my husband gave a birthday gift, Rolls-Royce Phantom Convertible, the color is pearl white, the starry sky top convertible. Mercedes-Benz G63 is my husband’s car, I do not recommend girls to drive, it is really very noisy. Porsche 911, my daily transportation A car. After having a baby, a small car like the 911 can be said to be completely idle. It is still the most practical car like an SUV, so this year I chose one of the two SUVs of Land Rover and Bentley as a baby car.”
A blogger in Xiaohongshu who claimed to be living in New York recounted this in her 2018 notes. In the photo, she is leaning against a Rolls-Royce in the car shop, with a red flower ribbon marking the “carriage lifting ceremony” tied to the car. In another picture, she was wearing a huge diamond ring that was commented by netizens as “I have never seen such a big rock candy” with her fingers resting on the steering wheel of a Rolls Royce.
The blogger has more than 70,000 fans. The average number of likes in his notes ranges from 100 to hundreds. Among them, Xiti Rolls-Royce’s notes have received nearly 10,000 likes and thousands of comments.
However, apart from this luxury car record, she did not show any photos of herself sitting in the “Phantom” in her notes for the next three years. In addition to the keychains of Rolls-Royce, the unpacking photos of a variety of Hermès bags and Patek Philippe women’s watches that are difficult to determine the authenticity are some effective advertisements for unknown beauty brands.
The person in charge of an MCN agency told the author that this kind of notes should be a typical false “show off wealth.” “This kind of show off wealth is relatively hidden, mainly for the purpose of obtaining traffic and fans, creating a celebrity personality, and obtaining higher advertising commissions.”
For the purposes of curiosity, admiration, and appreciation, “show off wealth” itself can become a source of traffic. Searching for “Hermes” on Xiaohongshu, the top ranking is dozens of different colors and even limited edition bags displayed by a blogger in his living room and stairs. The number of likes for this note reached 16,000.
However, most bloggers often choose to remain vague about their “road to success” for various purposes. For example, the aforementioned New York “show off wealth” blogger, in his notes from Rolls Royce, some netizens commented: “Dear, can you share your life experience?” She replied: “Marry a good husband or work hard Become a strong woman.”
Searching for “20-year-old financial freedom” on Xiaohongshu will find more than 20,000 notes. The following expressions of the process of wealth creation abound: “At the age of 17, I dropped out of school and did not have a high degree of education. I met and fell in love with my husband at the age of 17. The reason why I have been doing business at home since I was young is that I have a high degree of business acumen and started to do online shop , Has created a miracle of its own. Currently owns 7 houses, a villa, a shop, three cars, a president, a Rolls-Royce Gust, and a Porsche.”
A Taiwanese writer once summarized the female role model in Xiaohongshu as: “At the age of 20 to 24, I strive to earn my first million in my life, buy a house and drive a luxury car. At the age of 25, I reach the pinnacle of my life and achieve financial freedom. At the age of 28, he suddenly became enlightened and achieved the task of “finally live what I like”. In this way, you can become a life mentor at the age of 30 and give ten pieces of advice to confused 20-year-olds.”
Behind the screen of “WeChat Business Xiti Body”
In fact, the above-mentioned false “show off wealth” bloggers who obtain traffic in exchange for advertisements can only be regarded as primary players in this industry chain. On all major platforms, there are still quite a few authors who “show off their wealth” for the purpose of commercial packaging and doing micro-businesses to attract popularity.
A salesperson of a well-known German car brand revealed to the author that in its 4S stores, we often encounter situations in which wechat businesses come to pick up the car, take the whole group of people to take pictures, and then forward them to the public platform. “Four or five a month is not uncommon.”
On Xiaohongshu, the author found that a blogger had the following records in the last three years:
“Struggling for 8 years, I bought the first McLaren in my life”;
“To share with you my daily scooter-Bentley Continental changed to cherry blossom powder after color change”;
“The first private yacht in my life, Queen XX. My wish is to dock the boat in a small bay, breathing the scent of the sea and the jungle, lying lazily and counting the stars. A friend said that I was a waste and suggested that I rent it. For yachts, most of the owners in the yacht club buy the boats for company entertainment. But I think if the boats are rented, there will be less atmosphere, and they will not be able to reach my distant place.”
These three notes all received 10,000 to tens of thousands of comments and likes, and the bloggers were praised by netizens as “a role model for positive energy.”
However, according to the company information disclosed by the author from several “Startup Startup” notes posted by the blogger, after checking on the company, she learned that the jewelry e-commerce company she advertised on the platform had been “deregistered” two years ago. Status, and left many pieces of information on business risks and equity disputes; the participating companies also have the risk of shareholder withdrawal.
Generally speaking, it is a common template for many micro-businesses to promote self-made, get rich quickly, and simple business model. And this model has a natural relationship with “show off wealth” itself.
On the Douyin platform, a blogger engaged in the social e-commerce of beauty and weight loss products referred to himself as: “Zhou Yu’s 57th generation grandson” in the biotechnology industry and was awarded the Forbes 2019″ 30 elites under the age of 30″.
In the short video, he took his wife to attend various luxury events; picked up the Cullinan luxury car in the Rolls-Royce store; “drinked 1,000 yuan of water from a 100,000 cup” in the car; stacked a pile from home Take out the genealogy in the 4 large LV boxes; take a helicopter to worship the Leshan Giant Buddha; donate 170,000 yuan in cash to Wuhan, count money at the bank, and display the donation voucher, etc.
Of course, the most fascinating video is that he promised his employees at the birthday party: the year-end bonus will be given to each person with a Mercedes-Benz G.
A person familiar with the operation of micro-business introduced to the author that many micro-business bosses targeting female consumer groups will create the same personality: hardworking, loving family, caring about charity, and the most important thing is getting rich quickly and knowing how to display wealth.
From this, the Internet has summed up a kind of “wechat body” that is common in Moments or short videos: the objects they like to mention can be luxury cars, luxury houses, or photos of celebrities. At present, on Douyin, Kuaishou, and Xiaohongshu, there are still expressions such as “Hey mention my third Rolls-Royce” and “Picture with Obama” issued by many micro-business people.
In the meantime, there are naturally a large number of irregular operations and even some suspected fraudulent gray areas. In past media reports and legal documents, there have been cases of legal and financial disputes arising from readers’ credulity in “show off their wealth” materials.
In 2017, a lovely girl born in 1998, Zhang Manru, posted a video on the Douyin platform: She was wearing an airtight doll bear suit and handing out flyers on the street in the hot summer weather. According to Zhang Manru’s statement, she was born in a poor family with five children and dropped out of school to work early in order to supplement the family. Netizens were moved by her perseverance, and Zhang Manru quickly became an internet celebrity with millions of fans.
A screenshot of the video posted by Zhang Manru, who handed out flyers in a doll bear costume
Soon after, Zhang Manru announced the establishment of “Shiruya Cosmetics Co., Ltd.”. In just 3 years, the video materials released by her team showed that Zhang Manru bought the third house at the age of 20, bought a Ferrari at the age of 21, and bought a Rolls-Royce Cousse at the age of 22. Special, and claimed to have a net worth of 7.8 billion.
Publicity materials of Zhang Manru’s team
However, in actual operations, Zhang Manru and his company have exposed a large number of violations. According to the Judgment Document Network, in 2020, five plaintiffs reported that Shiruya Company used the price of 3,000 yuan for “general agent”, 10,000 yuan for “partners”, and 52,000 yuan for “partners” to attract foreign investment to the plaintiff. After the promised payment, he will obtain the corresponding company’s selling skills, sales skills, and attracting customers, and will eventually build the plaintiff into an Internet celebrity like Zhang Manru.
In the end, the plaintiff failed to realize his rights after the payment, and took Zhang Manru to court. The court ruled that all the five plaintiffs won the case and demanded that Shiruya Company return more than 190,000 yuan in contract money.
High-end human design materials worth more than ten yuan
Whether it is for multiple purposes such as vanity, traffic, commercial marketing, or even gray, the phenomenon and demand for “show off wealth” have existed for a long time. At the same time, the industry chain that provides bloggers with cheap “show off their wealth” materials is also growing secretly. On the e-commerce platform, there are a large number of material providers who create wealthy personal settings, IP, or write high-end copywriting for Moments of Friends and short video accounts.
Recently, the author spent more than ten yuan on Taobao to purchase materials for manufacturing high-end circle of friends with a capacity of several gigabytes. The categories are very complete, including tourism and leisure, nightlife, luxury cars, luxury goods, luxury residences, Rich options such as balance bills, helicopters, etc.
Only in the balance bill item, there are tens of millions of yuan in asset statistics and income trends made into a video for the use of the WeChat business team; there are stock charts and asset balance sheets taken against the background of nightclub lights and feasting; some are made into running slips The sales record sheet; and screenshots of bank transfers detailed to tens of millions, millions, and tens of thousands.
The store owner also included a Douyin operation and editing tutorial with the order, instructing the author on how to mix the original video with his own voice, or use tools to replace the original video’s sound, remove image watermarks and other practical methods. If the buyer does not edit, he can still pay another 10 yuan operation fee, and the store will do it for him.
In addition to the above virtual goods, the purchase and lease of physical “show off wealth” products are also very convenient. You can easily spend tens of yuan on the e-commerce platform to buy car keys for various luxury cars. You can rent famous bags of various brands for tens of yuan a day. For hundreds to thousands of yuan, you can rent a famous car to take pictures. It can be said that the entire “show off wealth” industrial chain is already very complete.
So, when “showing off the wealth” has grown into a complete system and mature industry, what attitude does the platform hold towards the content of “showing off the wealth”?
A business school professor who has more contact with Xiaohongshu’s senior executives said to the author that if the content of “show off wealth” is in the early stage, it can bring gimmicks, popularity and traffic to platforms such as Xiaohongshu, Douyin, and Kuaishou. , Has played an active role in community ecology. So now, with the enrichment of platform content and the upgrading of profit models, “show off wealth” content no longer constitutes the mainstream of the community, but the risks associated with it have risen sharply.
In 2018, Xiaohongshu partner Zeng Xiulian made it clear: “It is not our values to show off wealth.” Xiaohongshu’s internal staff also told the author: “The current platform hates’show off wealth’ and is resolutely cracking down on it.”
On February 26, Douyin announced the ban on 3,971 accounts suspected of deliberately showing off wealth; on March 1, Kuaishou stated that it had disposed of 1,010 accounts that promoted money worship. In early March, Douyin and Kuaishou issued announcements successively, stating that they would pass on the positive values of health.
At the end of March, Xiaohongshu also announced the results of the platform’s special governance campaign against showing off wealth. A total of 2,371 accounts suspected of showing off wealth were banned. On April 20, Xiaohongshu further launched the “Community Pact”, which clearly put forward the community values of “sincere sharing and friendly interaction”, requiring creators to abide by the declaration of interest, resist showing off their wealth, and oppose pseudoscience when sharing content. , Avoid over-modification and other sharing principles. Kappa, the head of the Xiaohongshu community operation, said: Show off content not only does not meet the needs of users for useful content, but also easily destroy the friendly and interactive community atmosphere, the community will resolutely crack down.
In the past two years, Xiaohongshu has focused on cleaning up and rectifying the phenomenon of false brushing, buying fans, and irregular marketing, but it has also encountered some bloggers reporting that they have been injured by mistake.
At present, the “show off wealth” that the platform focuses on cleaning up focuses on problems that are easier to find, such as obvious exaggeration of facts or false marketing, and the traditional vulgar “show off wealth” behavior of “showing large amounts of cash” and luxury goods.
Next, if the platform wants to package those under the display of life, it is actually using false “show off wealth” to play marketing “side ball” content from the massive information, especially the accurate identification of commercial malicious drainage and fraud. , You need stronger technical means.
Source: Prism
Original title: Seductive posts to show off wealth, dangerous industrial chain
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