Recently, Chinese mobile giant OPPO released a Mother’s Day text that sparked a huge controversy, with netizens criticizing it as distorting family relationships and being vulgar. Following the backlash, OPPO issued an apology post, which was criticized as being insincere. On May 11, the company once again issued an apology statement and officially released an internal accountability notice.
On May 8, OPPO’s official Weibo account published a promotional text to commemorate Mother’s Day. The text read, “My mom has two ‘husbands’, one is my dad, and the other she sees twice a year. She barely dresses up for dates with my dad, but when meeting the other, she wishes she could wear a wedding dress.”
After the release of this text, public opinion was in an uproar.
On that day, OPPO issued an apology statement stating, “Our original intention with the creation was to break stereotypes and present a more diverse and dimensional image of contemporary mothers: mothers can love marathons, immerse themselves in creative writing, and also have their own idol-obsession hobbies.
“We have immediately taken down all related materials. We will seriously listen to all criticisms, thoroughly review our content review mechanism to ensure that such issues do not occur again.”
The apology statement was deemed perfunctory, with netizens criticizing OPPO for starting a selected comment section, which further angered the public.
On May 11, OPPO issued another apology statement saying, “Both the offense in the marketing content itself and the perfunctory response afterwards reveal a serious lack of values and reverence on our part.
“We mistakenly, in this warm Mother’s Day, forgot our original intentions due to chasing after traffic; we ignored the bottom line of mainstream social values because of flawed perceptions, thus failing to recognize the issue at various levels; especially when facing the initial kind reminders from everyone, we were numb, arrogant, lacking a true understanding of people’s feelings, and failing to sincerely open up the comment section to seriously listen to public opinions, showing a very insincere and closed attitude…”
Netizens commented, “The comment section is open now?” “Why aren’t they selecting comments?” “They are not selecting comments this time.”
“The OPPO Mother’s Day inappropriate text sparked criticisms across the internet, being classified as a major brand incident, with senior executives facing the harshest punishment in history. Marketing mishaps prove that respect and boundaries are the foundations of a brand. Using borderline texts to attract attention and hitting the emotional sore spots of the public, this marketing blunder is truly inevitable. Lack of creativity in marketing is not the problem, lack of boundaries is the brand’s greatest crisis.”
“Don’t joke about morals.” “Clearly, from top to bottom, they share the same values, leading to such serious consequences.” “With so many management levels, not one thinks this text is inappropriate? Going against mainstream thoughts and still approved? It shows internal issues within the company itself. If not rectified properly, it will only get worse.”
Some netizens expressed, “This apology statement is relatively formal.” “Had they shown this attitude from the first time, it wouldn’t have escalated to this extent. Hopefully, we won’t see marketing that stirs up gender conflicts in the future.” “This is a proper apology attitude, the company takes responsibility and so should the upper management, rather than blame it on a subordinate.”
According to Jiemian News, on May 11, OPPO officially issued an accountability notice internally, levelling punitive measures against responsible individuals. Among them, OPPO’s China Business Head, Duan Yaohui, bears the ultimate management responsibility, being demoted by two levels; other relevant management personnel also faced disciplinary decisions. Insider sources stated that this punishment is “a rarely seen severe penalty in OPPO’s history.”
OPPO is a smart terminal brand under Guangdong Oppo Mobile Communications Co., Ltd., which initially focused on MP3, MP4, and audiovisual devices, but now specializes in camera smartphones featuring image processing and fast charging technologies.