Hallyu Ban in China Causes Song Joong Ki’s High Profile Vivo Ad Campaign to Switch to Eddie Peng

Watching this happen feels like an adult on the sidelines gaping at the pettiest slap fight between two man-children. The Chinese authority “ban” on Hallyu entertainment is apparently still in full swing, and reportedly went into effect September 1, 2016 and the trickle down is only now hitting the airwaves. At least K-actor Song Joong Ki‘s hit Hallyu drama Descendants of the Sun was early in the year so he could enjoy his skyrocketed popularity for eight months because now it’s bye bye for Chinese consumers to see his face plastered everywhere in China.

Song Joong Ki was signed on as the high profile face of China’s Vivo cell phones and his deal was reportedly worth a lot and for multi-year. It’s only been a few months since his ad campaign was launched but this week Vivo quietly introduced new spokesman TW-actor Eddie Peng and all traces of Song Joong Ki is now relegated to the past. The company is reportedly furious they were forced to change from Song Joong Ki to Eddie and swallow the endorsement loss but when Big Brother government is the one being unreasonable then there’s no choice but to play ball. Sigh.


Comments

Hallyu Ban in China Causes Song Joong Ki’s High Profile Vivo Ad Campaign to Switch to Eddie Peng — 33 Comments

  1. Doesn’t bother me. It is a Chinese company after all, so having a Chinese actor on the commercial doesn’t phase me. Song Joon Ki is laughing all the way to the bank, so no loss to any party except for the Company that paid Song Joon Ki. But it must not be too big of lost to be able to pay Eddie Peng to be the next face of the brand.

    • You are wrong about the money paid. The reason why so many Chinese companies like Korean stars to be their spokesman is that Korean stars are MUCH CHEAPER than Chinese stars. It’s also the same reason why so many dramas, shows, movies, CFs have Korean stars.
      So that company needs to pay much more money to Eddie Peng than Song Joon Ki.

      • Uh, Jkfan fan didn’t say anything about how much it would be to pay for k-star vs c-star. She just said that no party lost out except for vivo, but it can’t be that bad, since they somehow could still afford Eddie Peng right after having to pay Song Joon Ki.

  2. So can people in China still watch kdramas online then? LOL. I’m just confused on how the ban works. A lot of people are still avidly watching kdramas and k variety shows. And how does Victoria and Lay fit into all of this? They’re Chinese but they’re considered “Kpop idols”.

    What’s Jessica gonna do now? She was relying on China.. Same with T-ara..

  3. I don’t get this China’s ban on K-stars? Just a few days ago, there was Yoon Eun Hye endorsing for China’s comestic brand. The ban not applicable on her?

    • Perhaps banning SJK has more impact due to DOFTS great success ! Even as a fan of YEH i can say that SJK is THE hit guy nowadays. It’s kind of a warning from chinese government. If we can ban him , we can ban the others too.

  4. what is the reason behind the banning? yeah YEH also a new face for China’s cosmetic brand and doing well there..hope there’s nothing wrong happened to her

  5. LOL…the biggest losers are those unfortunate Chinese businessmen that already signed endorsement with SJK. They already paid or still have to pay huge contract fees to SJK and his agency. His agency, Blossom Ent, said that there wasn’t huge impact on SJK’s done endorsement deals when the Chinese authority got on their whim. The deal was done and it’s like C companies’ huge CF investment is gone under the water. LOL…It’s kinda stupid.

  6. Correct me if I’m wrong, but from what I gather it’s not a complete ban, more like just some certain “unclear” restrictions. The Chinese government does not admit to banning Hallyu, saying that it’s up to the individual organizations and companies. They did make it very clear that they opposed THAAD though.

  7. Haha wow on the ban, reminds me of SARFT? I guess they should remove SARFT that way more Chinese dramas and movies are available for viewers so they can be more popular like how kdrama are available for viewers globally. But not a bad choice on Eddie peng, always great to see more of him haha ;p
    Plus how’re they going to grab more viewers of they keep limiting themselves?

  8. The Hallyu embargo in China comes out of China trying to “persuade” South Korea to not install a missile defense system. While it may seem juvenile, this embargo could potentially have a significant impact on South Korea. China is South Korea’s largest trade partner by far. (According to the OEC, South Korea exports $142 billion usd per year. Comparatively, the second largest trade partner is the US at $70 billion usd.) Also, let’s not forget, Hallyu is a serious commodity for South Korea. For their last tour, Big Bang’s concert ticket sales surpassed Beyonce and Taylor Swift’s combined. Thus,theoretically, a hallyu embargo could be highly effective for China. Especially, when you consider the current political and economic climates in South Korea.

  9. No loss on SJK’s part for now but sure affecting not only SJK but most Hallyu stars, at least in the new future judging that they profited a lot from China’s huge market. Hallyu wave is a big thing in Asia and basically the one putting Korea on the map but the rest of Asian countries are small markets compared to China. With many hit dramas coming out this year, the stars that came out of these popular dramas could have benefited a lot with CF and other endorsement deals in China should there’s no ban imposed on them due to THAAD.

  10. this ban is so odd. from the sound of it, it applies to some but not others?

    I’ve been waiting for Lee Jong Suk and Zheng Shuang’s drama for a while and I’m getting a bit impatient.

  11. I think the real reason is less about the THAAD missile system but more about China’s unhappiness over the popularity of K pop culture to the detriment of local C entertainment. If it was really about THAAD, economic sanctions would have been more effective and more deadly a blow to Korea’s economy. But the problem is that local Chinese TV/movie is really sub-standard, a large part of the reason being the draconian rules and restrictions posed by Chinese censorship. So many subjects and themes are off limit in China, driving the local audience to K-drama in droves.

  12. Low blow, man. Ugh, the way China tries to manipulate its citizens by hijacking even their rights to free entertainment.

    Gah, I seriously hope this backfires on them so they realize how resorting to such petty schemes to influence politics is pathetic.

  13. It is so uneven though. Isn’t Rain filming with Victoria right now in China? I’ve heard that many Chinese actors are actually happy about this for I guess obvious reasons. More work for them. I don’t see this dying down anytime in the near future.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.