JD.com chickens out to masculinist "boy"cotts

They are so average yet so confident.

JD.com, the world's second-largest online store and China's largest retailer, canceled its partnership with female comedian Yang Li just four days after announcing her as a brand ambassador, chickening out to hopping mad male netizens offended by her stand-up comedy four years ago.

Yang Li first shot into the spotlight in August 2020 with a scathing punchline on a talk show: "Men are not only wonderful but also incredibly mysterious. You can never quite figure out what's going on in their little heads. Like, how is it that someone so average can be so confident?" The "average yet confident" jab spread like wildfire on Chinese social media, struck a chord with countless women, and quickly entered the slang vocabulary.

But of course, fragile male egos couldn't handle the burn. They lashed out at Yang's comment and Yang personally with typical outrage, accusing her of "insulting men" or stirring gender antagonism, meaning that her joke had lured girls into hating men. Some even anonymously reported her to the state cultural publication regulator, accusing her of "sexual discrimination"—against men.

So, on Monday, October 14, when JD.com announced on Weibo—China's equivalent of X—that JD Pharmacy would be partnering with Yang Li as a brand ambassador, the male ego warriors wasted no time reigniting their outrage. Rallying under the banner of "men's power," they kicked off a boycott campaign. They called for mass cancellations of memberships, bombarded customer service with complaints, and urged their brothers to pull their money from JD's financial platform. Rumors quickly spread that JD's financial services were facing a run on funds due to the controversy, which JD.com denied.

This horde of indignant men said their actions were driven by their feelings of disrespect and a deep sense of betrayal, as men constitute about 58% of JD's customer base, according to data from QuestMobile, China's leading big data analytics firm.

In response to this turnout, on Friday, October 18, JD.com removed the brand ambassador posts and issued a carefully phrased apology, stating that "the participation of a certain stand-up comedian" had "attracted public attention." The company also vowed there will be no further plans to collaborate with this "certain stand-up comedian," citing the "discomfort" the partnership had caused its customers.

This was not the first time that this "She-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named-in-JD-Announcement" found herself at the center of male attention—ironically, an ideal scenario for women from the perspective of some men. In March 2021, Intel launched a campaign featuring Yang Li, where she quipped, "Intel's standards are higher than mine when it comes to choosing a partner." The ad sparked a heated online debate and outrage from male netizens, who called for a boycott of Intel products, citing her previous remarks, now compounded by this new offense of insulting men. Under pressure, Intel ultimately pulled the campaign.

Other partnerships followed from 2021 to 2022, including collaborations with Mercedes-Benz, all of which elicited similar rancor and calls for boycotts from the online mob.

I don't think Yang Li's comments ever crossed into the realms of feminism or women's rights, but they certainly struck a nerve with many Chinese men who feel disadvantaged by women's status in contemporary society and disfranchised as women enter the workforce and even take on leadership roles. They are what I would call masculinists or anti-feminists.

Some of the Weibo comments from the controversy starkly revealed the bruised egos at play: "JD is infested with feminist parasites," "These feminists have caused JD's downfall," and "This should teach other companies never to hire women."

Feminism has become a tainted term in certain corners of the Chinese internet, especially in spaces dominated by "masculinists." These groups resort to name-calling feminists, awakened women, or even women who are complaining of unfair treatment, with derogatory labels such as "feminist boxers" (女拳). It is a homophone for "feminism" in Chinese, but carries a mocking tone, implying stupidity and irresponsibility. Another popular insult is "little fairies" (小仙女), which masculinists use derisively to mock women for their self-assertiveness and sense of entitlement.

As one Weibo comment read, "Some fairies even think men have poor spending power? Have they ever thought about who gives them their spending power?"

You know, in the end, I can't help wondering how Yang Li herself would make a comedy bit out of this whole JD.com fiasco. For what it's worth, here is my take:

JD.com canceled a partnership with me after a bunch of fragile male netizens protested over my old punchline (wink). JD, of course, rushed to apologize, because if there's one thing these great men can't handle, it's a woman with a microphone.