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Author｜Editor of Magnesium Economics Team｜Liu Peng

Jiang Xiaobai, who had disappeared for a long time, has recently become the center of public opinion again.

At the "Hi Eat Festival" of Oriental Selection, anchor Tian Quan, when promoting a certain liquor brand, said that Jiang Xiaobai is not liquor, and therefore the word "liquor" cannot be printed on the packaging. He also specifically pointed out that Jiang Xiaobai does not have a "little gold label" and is not a liquor fermented with pure grains in the solid state.

Jiang Xiaobai couldn't tolerate Tian Quan's statement that "Jiang Xiaobai is not liquor".

On the afternoon of August 9, Jiang Xiaobai’s official WeChat public account issued a statement saying that some of Tianquan’s remarks seriously deviated from the facts and caused great damage to the company’s brand image and market reputation. Jiang Xiaobai has filed a complaint with the relevant competent authorities and demanded that Dongfang Zhenxuan make a public apology for the incident and eliminate the impact.

Dongfang Zhenxuan and Tianquan admitted their mistakes very quickly. That evening, Tianquan posted an apology letter using his personal Weibo account "Dongfang Tianquan is a second-hand English teacher" with only more than 300 followers. Later, Dongfang Zhenxuan also forwarded Tianquan's apology letter on Weibo.

However, Tianquan and Dongfang Zhenxuan's attitude of admitting their mistakes was considered insincere. Jiang Xiaobai soon issued a second statement, continuing to express strong dissatisfaction and stating that it would not accept informal and insincere apologies.

What is surprising is that not only did Jiang Xiaobai not receive the apology it wanted, but it was also cyber-bullied by netizens who were suspected to be fans of Oriental Selection.

In this incident, Jiang Xiaobai seemed to be "caught in the crossfire", but from a certain perspective, it may also be related to a fatal mistake it once made.

The one who was wrong was Dongfang Selection, but it was Jiang Xiaobai who was cyberbullied

Oriental Selection has more than 29 million fans and has a huge influence. The Oriental Selection anchor Tian Quan who triggered this incident is the number one anchor of Oriental Selection's "Almost Wine". He is labeled as "loves drinking and knows the most about wine". He also has a certificate of "Chinese Liquor Level 3 Taster", and is known as a professional wine anchor.

But in the eyes of people in the wine industry, this professional wine anchor exudes "unprofessionalism" everywhere.

For example, Tianquan said that there is no word "baijiu" on the packaging of Jiang Xiaobai because it is not allowed. But in fact, on the bottle of Jiang Xiaobai, there is not only the "baijiu" logo, but also the "GB/T26761 (superior)" national standard for Xiaoqu solid-state liquor.

Tianquan also confused the concepts of "flavored liquor" and "flavored liquor". He called "liquor blended with edible alcohol" "flavored liquor", but in fact this kind of liquor should be called "flavored liquor".

In addition, Tianquan's statement about the "small gold label of pure grain solid fermentation liquor" is also misleading. Ouyang Qianli, a big V in the liquor industry, said that the small gold label was issued by the Liquor Professional Committee of the China Food Industry Association. Some liquor companies use it, while some do not. The wine with the small gold label on the packaging must be grain wine, and the wine without the small gold label may not be grain wine. For example, Moutai got the small gold label, but it was not used on the packaging.

In fact, the right and wrong of this incident is clear at a glance. However, after Dongfang Zhenxuan and Tianquan apologized, apart from some people in the liquor circle who supported Jiang Xiaobai, judging from the public opinion on social platforms, Jiang Xiaobai, as the "victim", did not receive widespread sympathy, but was instead cyberbullied by netizens who were suspected to be fans of Dongfang Zhenxuan.

According to Nanduwan Finance, a person related to Jiang Xiaobai said: "We are very tired now. We were attacked by (Eastern Selection) fans last night (August 9). It can be said that this is the first time I have experienced cyberbullying."

Even though the facts are clear and both Oriental Selection and Tianquan have apologized, there are still many netizens who are suspected to be fans of Oriental Selection who went to the comment section of Jiang Xiaobai's official Douyin account "Jiang Xiaobai Official Flagship Store" and made comments such as "Tianquan is right, Oriental Selection is right", "I support Oriental Selection this time", "I'm angry because you said it right", and "Jiang Xiaobai tastes bad".

Judging from these comments, many of them support Tianquan and Dongfangzhenxuan, and some even say that Jiang Xiaobai is riding on the popularity of Dongfangzhenxuan. Jiang Xiaobai, who is clearly in the right, seems to be the one who did something wrong.

The author sorted out the public opinions about this matter on platforms such as Weibo, Douyin, and WeChat, and found that except for some wine influencers and self-media, most netizens did not choose to stand on Jiang Xiaobai's side.

In this incident, why did Jiang Xiaobai, who did nothing wrong, become the target of online violence? In addition to the traffic bullying of "fan circle culture", are there other reasons?

Jiang Xiaobai was "caught in the crossfire", was it really just a sudden misfortune?

The dispute between Jiang Xiaobai and Dongfang Zhenxuan also indirectly reflects the embarrassing situation of Jiang Xiaobai's poor reputation.

There are many flavors in the liquor industry, and it is difficult to satisfy everyone. For each flavor, some people will find it unpalatable. However, such a high level of "unpalatable" is relatively rare in the liquor industry, and Jiang Xiaobai is actually well aware of this.

Since its establishment in 2012, Jiang Xiaobai has always been known as the "Internet celebrity liquor". There is a lot of negative news about Jiang Xiaobai on the Internet. Voices such as "Jiang Xiaobai is hard to drink", "easy to get drunk", and "no value for money" have never disappeared. It has even been ridiculed as "even dogs won't drink it."

In this incident, why did Tianquan, the live broadcaster of Oriental Selection, mistakenly claim that "Jiang Xiaobai is not white wine" without verification? Perhaps it has something to do with the inherent impression that its taste has been criticized in recent years and that consumers have had a poor experience.

In the past, Jiang Xiaobai didn’t seem to pay much attention to negative information on the Internet, and even used it for marketing and self-deprecation. For example, it printed comments from netizens that Jiang Xiaobai was unpalatable on the bottle. On the day of Jiang Xiaobai’s tenth anniversary, it also posted 100 statements on Weibo, responding to the outside world’s doubts and complaints about Jiang Xiaobai in a self-deprecating way. One of them was: “Some netizens said that dogs don’t drink Jiang Xiaobai. We agree that dogs really can’t drink alcohol.”

Jiang Xiaobai first became popular with its sentimental copywriting that captured people's hearts. At that time, the saying "young people don't drink liquor" was prevalent, but Jiang Xiaobai hit the pain points of young people through sentimental copywriting and attracted countless young people who were willing to pay for the sentimentality.

After that, Jiang Xiaobai spent a lot of money on advertising, and placed its products in TV dramas and variety shows. The huge exposure made its sales soar. Public data shows that in the second year of its establishment, Jiang Xiaobai achieved a revenue of 50 million yuan. From 2017 to 2019, its annual revenue exceeded 1 billion yuan, 2 billion yuan, and 3 billion yuan respectively. In the small-bottle liquor market, its market share once exceeded 20%.

But this cannot change the impression of "hard to drink" in the minds of consumers. Jiang Xiaobai is a typical Sichuan style Xiaoqu light fragrance type, which has a very narrow audience. Most of the liquors on the market are fermented with Daqu, and most consumers are basically accustomed to the taste of Daqu, so they think Jiang Xiaobai is not tasty, or even difficult to drink.

While Jiang Xiaobai has rapidly expanded its popularity through marketing, the taste of its products remains niche. As Jiang Xiaobai's popularity continues to rise, this contradiction has become increasingly intensified.

In fact, Jiang Xiaobai's founder Tao Shiquan had noticed this problem a long time ago. At the Jiang Xiaobai's 10th anniversary summary meeting, Tao Shiquan admitted that Jiang Xiaobai's publicity on product quality trust was very bad, causing serious rumors and misunderstandings, which was a fatal mistake made by Jiang Xiaobai.

From this perspective, Jiang Xiaobai’s being caught in the crossfire this time was not entirely an unexpected disaster.

Jiang Xiaobai, who is undergoing transformation, can no longer tolerate it

In fact, Jiang Xiaobai, who is aware of the above problems, has also made a lot of efforts in products in recent years.

For example, the breeding and planting of raw materials, the development of the special sorghum for Jiang Xiaobai brewing - Jinpi Nuo No. 1, and the creation of Jiang Xiaobai Farm, a sorghum planting base; and the construction of brewing bases. In the thousand-year-old town of Baisha Town, Jiangjin District, Chongqing, Jiang Xiaobai Liquor Industry owns two sorghum wine brewing bases, Jiangji Winery and the time-honored "Luxi Winery", of which the investment in Jiangji Winery alone exceeds 2 billion.

Jiang Xiaobai also realized the problems with its products and began to polish its products carefully. Its representative product is the 100-yuan item "Golden Cover" Jiang Xiaobai launched in 2021.

According to media reports, Jiang Xiaobai also invited 50 wine tasters and professionals to conduct a blind test. The evaluation results showed that among the mainstream liquors in the same price range, Jingai ranked first in taste.

However, the Golden Cap, which has been well received by wine tasters, is not enough to win over consumers. Golden Cap has been on the market for three years, and its monthly sales are not very good, whether in Tmall or JD's Jiang Xiaobai flagship store.

It can be seen that Jiang Xiaobai is struggling to transform from traffic-driven to brand-driven. Since 2020, Jiang Xiaobai has kept silent about its performance. The "2020 Young People's Alcohol Consumption Insight Report" shows that in just one year, Jiang Xiaobai's market share has fallen from 20% at its peak to 0.5%. What is certain is that its peak period is still in 2019.

According to Red Star News, Jiang Xiaobai had revealed some sales data to it last year. The sales of the "Meijian" brand in 2022 was 1 billion yuan, but the sales of other products were not disclosed.

However, Meijian has also begun to decline. During the "618" and "Double 11" periods from 2020 to 2022, Meijian repeatedly won the first place in Tmall fruit wine. In the "618" of 2023, Meijian has fallen out of the top three of major fruit wine lists.

The remarks made by Tian Quan, the anchor of Oriental Selection, are equivalent to denying Jiang Xiaobai's efforts to improve product quality and once again awakening the negative impression of Jiang Xiaobai in consumers' minds.

According to Jiang Xiaobai, the comments made by Tian Quan, the anchor of Oriental Selection, touched its bottom line. "Quality issues are our bottom line, and we can no longer remain silent." Jiang Xiaobai mentioned in his first statement.

This incident also shows that Jiang Xiaobai has become more sensitive to remarks that may affect consumers' perceptions.

This may be related to the current environment of the liquor industry. The "2024 China Liquor Market Mid-term Research Report" released by the China Alcoholic Drinks Association shows that 80% of the liquor companies surveyed said that the market has cooled down. The sales volume of the liquor distribution companies surveyed in the first half of the year decreased by 37.5%, the sales revenue decreased by 52.1%, and the average customer price decreased by 68.8%.

Some industry insiders said that in such a market environment, wine companies are particularly sensitive to any remarks that may affect consumer perception and brand image.

For Jiang Xiaobai, at a time when "fan culture" is prevalent, it is indeed easy to suffer various attacks if it offends large platforms and big anchors with huge numbers of fans, but if it does not fight back, it may bring greater hidden dangers to the development of the company.