On May 3, a Chinese netizen shared that in a store in Japan, Xiang Piao Piao Meco fruit tea featured cup sleeves with slogans satirizing Japan’s release of nuclear-contaminated wastewater in both Chinese and Japanese. The cup sleeves contained messages such as “Japanese politicians should drink the nuclear-contaminated water,” and “0.1 percent of the land pollutes 70 percent of the ocean.”
On May 4, Economic View initiated the Weibo topic #香飘飘日本超市讽核污水 (Xiang Piao Piao mocking Japan’s releasing nuclear-contaminated wastewater in a Japanese store), which quickly became a top trending topic.
Xiang Piao Piao responded on its official Weibo account on the same day, posting “我们的员工是好样的!” (Our staff is awesome!). The post acknowledged that the incident was a personal act taken by one of its employees and, at the same time, supported and praised her actions.
In the early morning of May 5, the chairman of Xiang Piao Piao was photographed at the airport holding a banner that read “欢迎香飘飘勇士归来!”(Welcome back, Xiang Piao Piao warrior!), greeting his employee returning from Japan. In the evening, the president of Xiang Piao Piao joined a livestream session to announce a reward of 100,000 yuan ($13,767) to the employee.
Nationalist and patriotic sentiments had been successfully stirred among the general public. On May 4 and 5, over 10 million netizens flocked to Xiang Piao Piao’s official flagship store livestream sessions on Douyin. To further promote a patriotic atmosphere, the background music from a popular anti-Japanese-war drama “亮剑” (Drawing Sword) was played during the livestream session, and hosts and customers addressed each other as “同志”(comrade).
The store’s daily sales skyrocketed 400 times from 2,500 yuan ($344) to 1 million yuan ($137,673).
On May 6, Xiang Piao Piao’s stock hit its upper limit at the opening, closing at 19.21 yuan ($2.64) per share. On May 7, the stock price surged by 9.9 percent during the day, reaching its highest level since July 2023.
However, the situation soon took a turn. As early as May 5, a Chinese netizen in Japan pointed out that the entire incident might be fake, as the supermarket denied selling Meco tea in the same cup sleeves. Based on comprehensive reports from multiple media outlets obtained through contacting the Japanese supermarket and Xiang Piao Piao, it was concluded that this series of attention-grabbing actions was a form of fake-fueled patriotic marketing.
From May 8, Xiao Piao Piao’s stock price started to drop significantly, reaching 11.17 yuan ($1.55) by July 24. Viewership at its livestream sessions also plummeted.
In the quest to “go viral” on social media, false stories are created deliberately with targeted content, narrative construction, and dramatization techniques. “Performative” fakes could be more convincing and compelling than reality, and even able to manipulate public perceptions and mobilize public actions.
In Xiang Piao Piao’s case, the performativity of faking was amplified through consumer nationalism and patriotic marketing.
Consumer Nationalism
Over the past few decades, there has been a notable shift in the nature of people’s political lives, which has increased the political influence of informal and semi-private engagements, such as those manifested through lifestyle choices and consumer behaviors. This shift led to the emergence and rise of political consumerism, now known as a form of political engagement expressed through consumer decisions and behaviors. In other words, people deliberately purchase or avoid products or services for political reasons.
Political consumerism mainly takes two forms: boycotts and “buycotts.” A boycott involves refusing to buy a particular brand or product to punish a company for unfavorable behavior. Conversely, a buycott entails purposefully selecting a brand or a product from a company that engages in ethically responsible or positive practices.
Consumer nationalism, as a subtype of political consumerism, could be a way to express one’s national identity by rejecting foreign brands or products while supporting domestic ones, where purchasing decisions are motivated by nationalist sentiments.
For “nationalist consumers” or “citizen-consumers,” the nationality of a brand or a product becomes the primary and defining characteristic of a commodity; other factors, such as quality and price, become less important. This “literal and figurative” consumption goes beyond the use of physical goods, which also encompasses the narratives and communication surrounding the brands and products.
Fake-Fueled Patriotic Marketing
Boycotting foreign goods also means buycotting domestic products, which is naturally linked to patriotism. With the hope of encouraging the rise of and support from “citizen-consumers,” it is common for domestic brands to incorporate patriotism into their advertisements.
However, in recent years, a new marketing strategy, under the guise of “patriotic marketing,” has emerged and gained popularity in China. With generating quick profits as the primary goal, this approach leverages fabricated dramatization tactics, relentlessly promoting xenophobic extremist narratives and manipulating public patriotic sentiments.
Beyond the Xiang Piao Piao case, another example involved a financial self-media influencer named Huang Sheng. Through poorly fabricated “patriotic” stories posted on his accounts on Weibo and WeChat, Huang attracted a large number of middle-aged and elderly followers and then started defrauding their money by operating a Ponzi Scheme in his P2P platform.
In January 2023, Huang was sentenced to three years in prison, with a five-year probation, and fined 200,000 yuan ($27,535) for the crime of illegally absorbing public deposits.
The Implications
It is undesirable to foster narrow-minded nationalism. Patriotism is not a business means to attract eyeballs, generate online traffic, and hence make profits, nor is it a tool to manipulate public emotions, intensify xenophobia, or even cause social unrest.
As noted by a commentary published in the People’s Daily addressing certain anti-Japanese war TV dramas with “incorrect” historical perspectives and absurd plot setups, commercial interests should not take precedence over upholding ethical principles and professional standards.
Another recent commentary in the People’s Daily regarding the knife attack on a Japanese school bus in Suzhou stated that it is intolerable and unacceptable for individuals to inflame xenophobic sentiments or post hateful comments.
Demonizing foreign products does not equate to patriotism. As local enterprises, foreign companies in China contribute to local employment and economic development. Blindly boycotting foreign goods would also impede the healthy development of Sino-foreign trade relations and the global market expansion for “Made in China” products.
As early as 2005, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed the hope that Japan would adopt a “correct” attitude toward historical issues while emphasizing that the Chinese government did not want to politicize economic and trade matters between the two countries.
Patriotic marketing is opportunistic, earning short-term quick profits through deceiving and morally kidnapping consumers, which violates the essence of business. More Chinese consumers have realized that blindly supporting domestic products does not equate to patriotism.
According to the 2023 McKinsey China Consumer Report, Chinese consumers opted for domestic brands primarily because of their superior quality and innovative features, rather than just affordable prices or patriotic sentiment. More Chinese consumers prioritize the price-to-performance ratio rather than the brand’s origin.
To become a truly competitive brand in the domestic and global markets, businesses should confront the challenges of foreign brands, and be more focused on improving product quality, customer service, and innovation.
In the end, fake-fueled patriotic marketing only turns a hero into zero.