On the eve of the Spring Festival in the Year of the Horse, major shopping malls have put on festive costumes, creating a festive atmosphere full of Chinese New Year scenery, and the element of "horse" can be seen everywhere. Recently, some shopping malls have caused a heated discussion due to improper slogan placement, resulting in a "rollover". According to public reports, multiple shopping malls in various places have posted or placed slogans such as "I'm stepping on a horse" in elevators, floors, outdoor screens, and other locations. This slogan containing "homophonic puns" has sparked some consumer backlash. In response to this, staff members of the shopping mall involved stated in a media interview that the original intention of designing the slogan was to incorporate elements of the Year of the Horse, using the meaning of "stepping on a horse" to create a relaxed and festive festive atmosphere, thereby bringing consumers closer together, without considering possible ambiguity. At present, several shopping malls involved have removed promotional materials containing relevant slogans, and some malls have stated that they will strengthen the review of promotional content in the future. What issues should businesses pay attention to when designing or marketing their products? The reporter conducted an interview on the relevant issues. Joke crossing boundaries sparks controversy: 'Spending money as a' cow and horse '?'? It's simply outrageous. ”Recently, Ms. Xia from Taiyuan City, Shanxi Province reported to reporters that she saw a gold pendant that made her feel uncomfortable. The screenshot provided by Ms. Xia shows that a certain brand has launched a gold necklace with the words "cow and horse" printed on the pendant and "Jia" (implying "driving") printed on the back. The reporter found that this product has been on sale online since the end of last year and is still on sale. The term 'cow and horse' was originally a form of self deprecation among young people, but when businesses incorporate this element into product design as an external evaluation of consumers, it can create a sense of discomfort for the living environment. ”Ms. Xia said. This discomfort is not limited to Ms. Xia. The reporter saw from the chat record provided by her that the words of this necklace triggered a small-scale "roast" in the chat group where she was. A netizen in the group said that although some office workers jokingly call themselves "oxen and horses", it does not mean that businesses can use this as a joke and use it for product design. Merchants often use the tactic of "playing with memes" for promotion, but the opposite effect is often achieved. Journalists have found through reviewing public sources that almost every year, businesses stumble due to inappropriate "joke" marketing. Previously, an offline store of a certain catering brand printed the words "Surprise at the bottom of the bowl" on the edge of the bowl, and "You can eat like a pig" on the bottom of the bowl, which sparked controversy and criticism. Later, the brand leader publicly apologized, explaining that "it was a joke". In a recent trademark infringement dispute heard by the Guangzhou Intellectual Property Court, the defendant company, a certain company, sold car stickers with the words "SF Express Pregnancy" on its online store, and was sued for infringement by SF Express. In response, the defendant company argued that the word "quick pregnancy" is a humorous expression of internet slang, and consumers should not classify it as infringement because of aesthetic or fun purchases. After trial, the court found that the products of the defendant's company were highly similar to the core elements of the well-known trademark in question, which directly weakened the distinctiveness of the trademark in distinguishing the source of goods or services; On the other hand, using homophonic puns to graft "pregnancy" with logistics brands, ignoring women's reproductive experience, violates public order and good customs, and constitutes trademark infringement. Accordingly, the court ordered the defendant to compensate SF Express for economic losses and other expenses totaling 200000 yuan, and to publish a statement in the media to eliminate the adverse effects. The verdict has now come into effect. Marketing needs to be legal and reasonable. According to interviewed experts, the behavior of merchants playing with memes is usually related to the internal management of brand promotion and marketing. Wang Shaoxi, Executive Member of the Legal and Ethical Working Committee of the China Advertising Association and Associate Professor at the Law School of Tianjin University, stated that in general, copywriting design in marketing is usually done by the internal marketing department of the brand or by an external third party commissioned by it. For the marketing department or third party, the main purpose of the copywriting is to be novel and attract audience attention, and riding on hot topics is a common marketing method. Due to the increasing youthfulness of the target audience for current advertising, some marketing departments or external design teams of companies also hope to keep up with social development, resulting in the emergence of "meme driven" marketing copy. Zhang Dezhi, Deputy Secretary General of the China Advertising Association, told reporters that it is not uncommon for businesses to cause discomfort to some consumers in product design or marketing processes, due to differences in the cultural background, living conditions, sensitivity, and tolerance of the audience. Will this type of "meme" marketing behavior violate the legal bottom line? The interviewed experts stated that it needs to be determined based on specific circumstances. The premise of using memes in advertising marketing is to be legal and reasonable. ”Wang Shaoxi said that China's Advertising Law has established the basic principles of truthfulness and legality in advertising. Advertisements must not deceive or mislead consumers, and must not violate public order and good customs. Merchants should fully consider the potential consequences of marketing copy when designing it, including whether it may cause discomfort to certain audiences. Marketing behavior cannot be approached solely from the perspective of the operator's understanding. Zhang Dezhi believes that some humorous expressions may cause damage to the personal dignity and other rights of non-specific consumers, and may violate relevant provisions of the Civil Code, Consumer Rights Protection Law, and Advertising Law. He gave an example that previously, a barbecue brand merchant used holiday marketing to post promotional advertisements on its official account, associating women with the "ripeness" of meat skewers, objectifying and vulgarizing women's personalities, causing strong public backlash and criticism, and ultimately being fined 100000 yuan by the market supervision department in accordance with relevant regulations of the Advertising Law. Enterprises should implement their main responsibility. Journalists have noticed that in recent years, there have been cases where such product marketing has been accused of not respecting a certain type of consumer. Regarding this, the interviewed experts stated that in order to reduce the occurrence of such situations, companies should have compliance awareness. Wang Shaoxi suggested that enterprises should implement their main responsibilities. As operators, enterprises should always tighten the string of legality and compliance. As for the brand marketing department within the enterprise, it should have basic legal knowledge and compliance awareness, and actively give up marketing copy and methods that are non compliant or easily cause discomfort to the audience and social controversy. Advertising operators and publishers should also fulfill their advertising review responsibilities. If it involves advertising endorsements, the endorsers of relevant advertisements should also fulfill their responsibilities and not promote illegal or non compliant copy. Regulatory authorities can provide effective guidance to enterprises by regularly publishing typical cases or guidelines. Self regulatory departments in the advertising industry, such as the China Advertising Association, can speak out on relevant events to guide companies to comply with marketing regulations. In Wang Shaoxi's opinion, when designing or marketing products, enterprises should pay attention to avoiding the negative effects caused by the ambiguity of text and other elements. Among them, the legal department can play a review role. He further explained that the legal department can avoid getting involved only after the finalization and release of the copy by intervening in the copywriting design process in advance. Some marketing teams may not follow the company's internal approval process when conducting marketing, which can easily lead to non-compliance issues. In this regard, the legal department should shoulder its responsibilities, including strengthening marketing reviews, conducting legal education training within the company, and especially regularly conducting advertising and marketing compliance training for the marketing department. In addition, compliance assessment and tracking should also be conducted on the work results of external commissioned parties. Zhang Dezhi suggests that operators can adopt social surveys and other methods to gather public opinions and suggestions while keeping trade secrets, in order to avoid disputes and negative impacts during the marketing process. Enterprises need to truly stand from the perspective of consumers, observe and examine the content and methods of products, services, or marketing. (New Society)