[2] How far can a star, popularized by "milk dumping," go in their career?
Compiled from: Sina Finance, Red Star News
Case review
Recently, a video of dumping milk to vote for a celebrity went viral online. In the video, a group of people skillfully opened dairy products, kept the bottle caps, and poured the milk into a drain, with a half-person-high wall of dairy products behind them. Some netizens identified that the dumped product was Mengniu Zhenguoli beverage, used for voting in iQiyi's talent show.
It is reported that Mengniu Zhenguoli has been the sponsor of "Youth With You" for three consecutive years. After purchasing, viewers can vote for contestants on the talent show, but voting requires scanning a QR code, which is inside the bottle cap—only by opening the bottle can the code be scanned to vote. As a result, some fans jokingly refer to the "votes" as "milk votes."
On May 4, Xinhua News Agency published an article strongly criticizing the dumping of milk, sternly pointing out the negative effects of such behavior and questioning whether it might mislead young people while drawing attention. It also called for "not leading young people astray!" On May 5, China Central Television (CCTV) published an article criticizing the incident, stating that businesses and platforms are inexcusable in the "milk dumping" incident.
The competent authorities also intervened promptly. On the evening of May 4, the Beijing Municipal Radio and Television Bureau issued a statement on its WeChat public account, ordering iQiyi to suspend the recording of subsequent episodes of "Youth With You" Season 3 and requiring iQiyi to thoroughly investigate and rectify the existing issues.
In response to public criticism and intervention from regulatory authorities, the involved video platform iQiyi and the brand Mengniu issued apologies on May 6 and May 7, respectively.
It is noteworthy that during this "milk dumping" incident
The previous few days
The Anti-Food Waste Law officially came into effect on April 29. This makes practicing thrift and opposing waste no longer just an advocacy or call, but also a legal obligation.
The Anti-Food Waste Law
Article 3
The state practices thrift and opposes waste.
The state adheres to the principles of taking multiple measures, implementing precise policies, scientific management, and social co-governance, adopting technically feasible and economically reasonable measures to prevent and reduce food waste.
The state advocates civilized, healthy, resource-saving, and environmentally friendly consumption patterns, promoting simple, moderate, green, and low-carbon lifestyles.
Article 14
Individuals should adopt a civilized, healthy, rational, and green consumption mindset, ordering and taking food reasonably based on their health conditions, dietary habits, and dining needs when eating out.
Families and their members should cultivate scientific, healthy habits that make the best use of resources and prevent waste, purchasing, storing, and preparing food according to actual daily needs.
[1] The author's perspective
Thrift and cherishing food are traditional virtues of the Chinese nation. This time, with the enactment of the Anti-Food Waste Law, valuing food is no longer just a moral constraint but also a legal one. In this case, some fervent fans, in order to support their idol stars, did not hesitate to pour out cartons of milk. Little did they know that while the rich waste extravagantly, the poor suffer from hunger—such absurd behavior has already violated the law.
Although this behavior has breached the Anti-Food Waste Law, it is regrettable that the law does not specify how to penalize it, which diminishes its effectiveness in implementation. As a result, this incident has mainly led to apologies and rectifications from iQiyi and Mengniu, making it difficult to hold individual consumers accountable. Regardless, this distorted consumption mindset has crossed both moral and legal boundaries, showing a severe lack of social responsibility. Fans should pursue idols rationally, and idols should debut legally.
