JD.com says sorry to customers after Singles’ Day campaign with comedian sparks backlash

The adverse reaction to stand-up comedian Yang Li shows that JD.com underestimated how she is constantly targeted by male internet users

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Chinese female stand-up comedian Yang Li’s Single’s Day collaboration with JD.com triggered an online backlash. Photo: Handout

Published: 7:34pm, 18 Oct 2024Updated: 10:36pm, 18 Oct 2024

The Singles’ Day campaign of e-commerce giant JD.com started off on the wrong foot this week, as a number of users threatened to abandon the platform owing to its collaboration with controversial female stand-up comedian Yang Li.

Yang, known for her biting jokes about men, on Monday appeared in a JD.com live-streaming session that sparked a four-day backlash from some of the platform’s users, which prompted the Beijing-based online retailer to issue an apology on Friday.

A Weibo user, with the pseudonym Zhichilaotou, said he had cancelled his JD.com account and persuaded his friends to do the same on principle. In another Weibo post, a user with the handle Yiranhu wanted to know if JD.com was “ready to give up the male market by getting a feminist”.

According to JD.com’s statement posted on the Chinese microblogging site, the company assured customers that it does not have any follow-up projects with Yang. It pledged to raise the amount of vouchers and discounts during its campaign to “reward customers for their care and support”.

Chinese female stand-up comedian Yang Li has been constantly targeted by male internet users since she rose to fame in 2020. Photo: Weibo

JD.com also deleted a Monday post on Weibo that invited users to join the live-streaming session hosted by Yang on that day. She was tasked to promote healthcare products for the platform.

Similar promotional posts on Weibo that featured five other Chinese stand-up comedians, responsible for other categories on the platform, remained on Weibo as of Friday.