Most of you will have heard of the scandal about Farine bakeries in Shanghai over the past week, which is a textbook example of how Internet celebrity in China can all go horribly, horribly wrong.
All four outlets of the bakery chain — often referred to as "the best French bakery outside France" by gushing Internet fans — were shut down last week after a former employee blew the whistle on the use of expired flour.
Farine's huge success before the scandal came, in large part, from its status as an Internet food celebrity (wanghong shipin).
You may have heard of the term wanghong — Internet celebrity — but the term also extends to food and brands and boutique stores that were "discovered," or later became popular, through Internet stardom.
This celebrity status, as is the case with Farine's, is usually brought about through viral levels of online word-of-mouth and selfie sharing from customers who want to publicize their experiences on WeChat and Weibo.
Punters need to show their online social networks that they are part of something cool, whether they genuinely like the food or not.
But Internet celebrity is a double-edged sword, because the group of people who catapult a brand up to the celebrity stratosphere are the exact same people who will pull it down when the tide eventually turns. And it happens lightning fast.
That happened for Farine last week: When news of a possible food scandal broke, word spread through those online social networks at breakneck speed, reducing all four Farine bakeries to figurative piles of burning rubble.
Several managers were held for questioning, and the head of the company fled to France the day after things turned sour.
Of course, this kind of public Internet celebrity downfall isn't a new thing for China. In 2015, one of China's original Internet celebrities, Guo Meimei, was sentenced to five years in jail after her proclivity to share her life online led to her demise in perhaps the biggest scandal to envelop Internet celebrity in China.
Juicy details online
The serial sharer would often indulge fans with her stints gambling in Macau and Hong Kong, which eventually led to her being busted for running illegal gambling dens in Beijing.
Which brings us to another aspect of Internet celebrity in China that is perhaps bound to lead to problems for some wanghong in the future, and you can guarantee every juicy detail will be shared with us online.
One of the ways wanghong capitalize on their newfound fame is by endorsing and selling products through online stores.
One famous example is that of Zhang Dayi, a wanghong who is reported to have made 300 million yuan (US$43.48 million) in 2015 and can sell thousands of dresses in seconds to her millions of fans.
She does so by modelling clothing and fashion accessories online that are available for purchase on her online store.
But these endorsements can be the thing of nightmares if something goes awry, and although it hasn't happened yet, it could possibly spell the end of any wanghong involved.
In 2007, famous actress Deng Jie was linked with one of China's biggest food scandals after she endorsed a baby milk product that was found to contain melamine. "I trust Sanlu milk powder," she famously said in advertising for the product before tragedy struck.
In 2009, the China Advertising Association issued a notice informing the public that a famous comedian, Hou Yaohua, had endorsed nearly a dozen false products, which included health care items and medicines.
These cases, and others, led to the tightening of advertising laws in 2015 which specifically relate to celebrity endorsements — celebrities can be held criminally responsible for false or misleading claims in advertisements.
With the amount of Internet celebrities operating stores and endorsing products today, it is quite probable that sooner or later one will be caught in their own endorsement scandal.
And when scandal does hit — much like the case with Farine bakeries — you can bet that the very people propping up wanghong will play a lead role in the quick expiry of any bankability once held.
The world of the wanghong — whether that be flesh and blood Internet celebrities or so-called wanghong shipin — is a complicated space, one which is pushing forth into new territory and which demands a certain amount of respect and understanding.
Farine bakeries learned that the hard way.
Editor's note:
Andy Boreham comes from New Zealand's capital city, Wellington, and has lived in China, off and on, for the past four years. Now he is living in Shanghai earning a master's degree in Chinese culture and language at Fudan University. He welcomes your feedback on all of the issues he covers — you can reach him at andy.boreham@shanghaidaily.com.
