---
title: "Behind the Advertising Blunder: Family Governance Concerns at Toly Bread"
description: "Consumers buying a five-nut mooncake now have to endure paternalistic preaching? Recently, Toly Bread's mooncake advertisement copy spread widely on social media and ignited a firestorm of criticism, prompting the company to quickly remove the product. However, this move did not quell the controversy. Why did Toly Bread resort to such paternalistic preaching and even a 'beating' metaphor? Has its marketing gone too far? The backdrop of this public opinion crisis is complex, with declining performance, lagging product innovation, and intensifying channel changes all demanding breakthroughs."
author: "陈晓京"
publisher: "New Distribution"
email: "zhaobo258@gmail.com"
telephone: "+8615854817671"
published: "2025-09-20"
categories: "Brand Marketing"
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citation: "陈晓京. “Behind the Advertising Blunder: Family Governance Concerns at Toly Bread.” New Distribution, 2025-09-20. https://xinjignxiao.com/en/articles/behind-the-advertising-blunder-family-governance-concerns-at-toly-bread-20f9b803/"
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# Behind the Advertising Blunder: Family Governance Concerns at Toly Bread

> Consumers buying a five-nut mooncake now have to endure paternalistic preaching? Recently, Toly Bread's mooncake advertisement copy spread widely on social media and ignited a firestorm of criticism, prompting the company to quickly remove the product. However, this move did not quell the controversy. Why did Toly Bread resort to such paternalistic preaching and even a 'beating' metaphor? Has its marketing gone too far? The backdrop of this public opinion crisis is complex, with declining performance, lagging product innovation, and intensifying channel changes all demanding breakthroughs.

### **Source** | Zebra Consumption **ID** | banmaxiaofei Author | Chen Xiaojing
Consumers buying a five-nut mooncake now have to endure paternalistic preaching?
Recently, Toly Bread's mooncake advertisement copy spread widely on social media and ignited a firestorm of criticism, prompting the company to quickly remove the product.
However, this move did not quell the controversy. Why did Toly Bread resort to such paternalistic preaching and even a 'beating' metaphor? Has its marketing gone too far?
The backdrop of this public opinion crisis is complex, with declining performance, lagging product innovation, and intensifying channel changes all demanding breakthroughs.
**Advertising Blunder**
Toly Bread (603866.SH) never expected that a mooncake advertisement copy would thrust the company back into the spotlight of public opinion.
The mooncake ad was initially released on elevator media, then spread widely on social platforms, and as public opinion fermented, it ignited the entire internet.
To promote its mooncake products, the company specially crafted the slogan: "Some say five-nut mooncakes are not tasty; we believe: that's because you're still young and haven't yet tasted life's beatings. Toly Dan Yue Shao, waiting for a person with a story to order!"
Paternalistic preaching is prone to provoke反感, and combined with the current workplace situation, it immediately drew backlash from many consumers, triggering a public opinion crisis.
Last week, a company spokesperson came forward to explain that the copy was created internally, with the intention of establishing an emotional connection with consumers through diverse expressions.
On September 5 at noon, the company's official Weibo account formally apologized to the public: "We accept all criticism, and reflection is underway. We maintain a correct attitude and accept the beating." It also claimed that the copy was finalized by leadership.
As of yesterday, on e-commerce platforms such as Tmall and JD.com, the above-mentioned five-nut filling Dan Yue Shao products were hard to find in the company's official flagship stores, with only mooncakes with fillings like hawthorn and red dates available, in specifications of 8 bags x 80 grams, priced around 30 yuan after coupons. Among them, the company's Tmall flagship store had sales of 2000+.
Toly Bread's main business is bread. It first launched a mooncake product line in 2020, introducing tíjiāng mooncakes. This year, before the Mid-Autumn Festival, the company combined cake-making techniques to launch the innovative "Dan Yue Shao" mooncake product, with a refreshing and non-greasy taste as its main selling point.
**Performance Challenges**
This is not the first time Toly Bread has made it to the hot search. Compared to the past, this time it attracted attention due to advertising copy, which carries a certain complexity.
Declining performance, the short-shelf-life bread track, and severe channel challenges have long caused anxiety for the "Northeast Bread King."
In the first half of 2025, the company achieved operating revenue of 2.611 billion yuan and net profit attributable to the parent of 204 million yuan, down 13.55% and 29.70% year-on-year, respectively. During the same period, revenue from its bread and pastry business was 2.585 billion yuan, down 13.40% year-on-year; other business revenue was 26.2166 million yuan, down 26.64% year-on-year.
Revenue across seven major regional markets, including North China and Northeast China, all declined, with double-digit decreases. Among them, the Northeast market, which contributes the most revenue to the company, saw revenue of 1.044 billion yuan, down 10.25% year-on-year.
A review reveals that since 2019, Toly Bread's operating conditions have weakened year by year. From 2020 to 2023, revenue growth fell from 5.66% to 1.08%. In 2024, revenue experienced its first negative growth since listing, at -9.93%; in 2020, the company's net profit attributable to the parent grew by 29.19%, but then recorded negative growth for four consecutive years.
Toly Bread's main revenue source is its bread and pastry business. Since 2020, revenue from this core business has grown year by year, reaching 6.532 billion yuan in 2023, the highest since listing. But last year, it took a sharp turn, with revenue of 5.906 billion yuan, down 9.58% year-on-year.
The gross margin of the above business fell from 29.88% in 2020 to 23.29% in 2024, and further to 22.89% in the first half of this year.
When the sustained growth trend is completely broken, the company becomes increasingly strained in the bread market. Its slow response to market demands such as high-fiber and low-sugar products, and insufficient R&D, may be one of the important factors.
In 2024, the company's R&D expenses were 22.9684 million yuan, down 31.84% year-on-year. In the first half of this year, R&D expenses fell another 30.81%.
Now, the company is facing breakthroughs in multiple dimensions, including product innovation and channel changes. The advantages of traditional supermarket channels it relied on in the past are being weakened by other channels, and it needs to further embrace emerging channels such as instant retail.
**Family Governance Concerns**
In 1995, retired teacher Wu Zhigang opened a small bread workshop in Dandong, Liaoning, named "Toly," which was the predecessor of Toly Bread.
At that time, bread was not a mainstream breakfast item, and market bread products were mainly long-shelf-life products, with freshly made and baked products being rare. Wu Zhigang focused on market pain points, emphasizing freshness and fresh preparation, gradually winning market favor.
After all, Dandong is a small border city in the northeast. To achieve greater development in the bread business, it was necessary to go to big cities. In 1997, he and his second son, Wu Xuequn, went to Shenyang together and established Shenyang Toly Bread, starting corporate operations.
The company focused on short-shelf-life bread products with a 3-7 day shelf life, gradually expanding from Shenyang to surrounding provinces and cities. By 2005, it was already the largest bread manufacturer in the Northeast.
In 2006, Wu Zhigang led Toly Bread to march into the national market. To achieve efficient product supply, the company adopted a central factory + distribution model, successively establishing production bases in key cities such as Shanghai, Chengdu, Xi'an, Qingdao, and Shijiazhuang, covering most of the Chinese market.
By 2015, the company had nearly 100,000 sales terminals nationwide and went public.
Four years after listing, 84-year-old Wu Zhigang handed over the baton to the three brothers Wu Xuedong, Wu Xuequn, and Wu Xueliang. Wu Xuedong served as director, Wu Xueliang as chairman and executive general manager, and Wu Xuequn as director and general manager.
Before the company went public, Wu Zhigang and his wife Sheng Yali, Wu Xuedong, Wu Xuequn, and Wu Xueliang signed a concert party agreement, which was renewed twice in December 2018 and February 2022.
On March 15 this year, the above agreement expired, and the parties did not renew it. The eldest son, Wu Xuedong, chose to withdraw as he had no intention to continue participating in the company's daily operations. The controlling shareholder and actual controller changed to Wu Xueliang, Wu Xuequn, Wu Zhigang, and Sheng Yali, collectively holding 56.36% of the company's total shares.
At the end of May this year, Wu Zhigang transferred 10.3144 million shares (0.64% of the company's total shares) to Wu Xuequn and 21.6799 million shares (1.36% of the company's total shares) to Wu Xueliang, bringing their shareholdings to 24.99% and 15.17%, respectively.
The above two individuals respectively hold important responsibilities at the decision-making and execution levels. However, in a small matter, the subtle "relationship" between the brothers was brought to the table.
In late May this year, Toly Bread planned to apply for an additional 200 million yuan in comprehensive credit line from SPDB. Wu Xueliang voted against the proposal, stating that based on the company's current production capacity and financial planning, the pace of capacity investment is proceeding in an orderly manner, and the existing bank credit line can meet current and short-term funding needs. To ensure capital efficiency, he suggested postponing the additional credit line.
His concerns are not unfounded; the company's capacity utilization is far from saturated. As of June this year, a total of 24 production bases were in use nationwide, with total capacity of 225,900 tons and a capacity utilization rate of about 63.04%.
During the same period, the Shanghai Toly production, R&D, and operations headquarters integrated base project (30,000 tons) and the Foshan Toly annual output of 69,000 tons of finished bread and pastries South China Baking Center project were under construction.


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## Citation metadata

- Publisher: New Distribution
- Author: 陈晓京
- Published: 2025-09-20
- Canonical: https://xinjignxiao.com/en/articles/behind-the-advertising-blunder-family-governance-concerns-at-toly-bread-20f9b803/
- Original source: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/Ysuidn-gEcAbcWqrtUYHYQ

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