---
title: "Just Won a Lawsuit, Then Got Reported: Is Luzhou Laojiao's Rights Protection Worth It?"
description: "Luzhou Laojiao's recent rights protection actions have sparked heated debate. After winning a lawsuit against a woman for a parody video, the company faced backlash and was later reported for allegedly misusing the Communist Youth League emblem in a promotional video, raising questions about brand communication in the internet age."
author: "陈思廷"
publisher: "New Distribution"
email: "zhaobo258@gmail.com"
telephone: "+8615854817671"
published: "2021-08-20"
language: "en"
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# Just Won a Lawsuit, Then Got Reported: Is Luzhou Laojiao's Rights Protection Worth It?

> Luzhou Laojiao's recent rights protection actions have sparked heated debate. After winning a lawsuit against a woman for a parody video, the company faced backlash and was later reported for allegedly misusing the Communist Youth League emblem in a promotional video, raising questions about brand communication in the internet age.

**Click to read the original article for details**
**Won the lawsuit but stirred up controversy,**
**Is Luzhou Laojiao's rights protection worth it?**
Recently, Luzhou Laojiao has been frequently pushed to the top of hot searches, sitting at the center of public opinion.
Let's start with the first phase of the story.
A woman surnamed Zhang from Hunan was sued by Luzhou Laojiao for a parody video about Guojiao 1573. The court ruled that Ms. Zhang must publicly apologize and compensate Luzhou Laojiao 70,000 RMB.
The video that was fined 70,000 RMB showed a cat repeatedly licking a person's toes, with the blogger adding Guojiao 1573's classic advertising music and text: "You can taste 436 years of history, Guojiao 1573."
On August 16, Ms. Zhang posted an apology statement to Luzhou Laojiao on Douyin. But at the same time, she also posted a crying video, claiming that Luzhou Laojiao did not contact her but directly sued her in court.
The news quickly exploded on the internet, and multiple related topics quickly rushed to the top of hot searches. **The topic #Woman Ordered to Pay 70,000 to Luzhou Laojiao for Video Music# had nearly 100 million reads, and #What Went Wrong with Luzhou Laojiao's Rights Protection# had over 30 million reads.**
Amid the public opinion, netizens were also choosing sides.
Supporters believe that Luzhou Laojiao was exercising legitimate rights protection, saying that "the woman's parody video metaphorically linked 'smelly feet' to the rich aroma of Guojiao 1573, which is very malicious." This metaphor was unacceptable to some Guojiao 1573 users.
Opponents believe that Luzhou Laojiao won the lawsuit but lost its magnanimity and the hearts of the people. In the internet environment, such parody videos are everywhere; they could have just asked for deletion and not made a fuss.
Some also think Luzhou Laojiao lost in public relations. Its promotional awareness is still stuck in the era of ten years ago, believing that brand communication is a serious brand indoctrination, not allowing jokes or teasing. The rigid and outdated PR methods made Luzhou Laojiao miss an opportunity for positive public relations.
Is that the end of it? No! On August 20, one wave after another.
**Guojiao 1573 Reported for Using the Communist Youth League Emblem in Video**
On August 20, a topic #Guojiao 1573 Reported for Using the Communist Youth League Emblem in Promotion# quickly rushed to the top of Weibo hot searches. As of 14:00 that day, the topic had over 70 million reads.
The cause was that during this year's May Fourth Youth Day, Guojiao 1573 released a video in which the Communist Youth League emblem was designed on the liquor bottle. On August 18, it was reported by netizens; on August 20, a relevant person in charge of the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League stated that the behavior was in violation of regulations and an investigation was underway.
The topic quickly fermented and rushed to the top of hot searches. According to relevant regulations, the league flag and emblem must not be used or indirectly used in commercial advertisements and commercial activities. **From this regulation, Guojiao 1573 is indeed suspected of improperly using the league emblem.**
Some netizens were overjoyed, saying that Guojiao 1573 being reported was "karma," and they wanted to see "how much the court would fine Luzhou Laojiao."
Some rational netizens said that whether Guojiao 1573's use of the league emblem was wrong and whether Ms. Zhang was wrong are two completely isolated events, unrelated to each other, and should not be conflated.
But after the topic rushed to the top of hot searches, many netizens quickly posted in support of Guojiao 1573, praising Luzhou Laojiao for its contributions to the local city economy and donating 30 million RMB for the Henan disaster relief.
Both sides were wrestling on Weibo, and as of the time of writing, the topic was still fermenting.
Looking at Luzhou Laojiao's market value, it has been falling sharply for four consecutive days recently. In more than two months, **Luzhou Laojiao's stock price has also fallen from the year's high of 282 yuan to 161 yuan, a drop of nearly 43%.**
**In the Internet Age, How Should Brands Speak?**
Some complain for Ms. Zhang, some feel wronged for Luzhou Laojiao.
To be honest, I don't quite believe that Luzhou Laojiao did not contact the blogger to negotiate a solution before suing.
For a corporate brand department, this is standard practice; it is rare to go directly to court unless very significant losses have been caused. But obviously, internet netizens often only see what they believe to be the facts.
From a legal perspective, Luzhou Laojiao did nothing wrong. **Unfortunately, the internet often only cares about emotions, not right or wrong.**
In other words, **this incident might not have been handled better by other major brand companies.** But this is the true face of the internet world, and it is also the challenge that corporate brand departments are facing in the internet age.
We can briefly sort out the characteristics of internet communication, so that at least when an event comes, we won't be at a loss.
**1) Internet communication is multi-directional interaction.**
The advertising era was one-way communication: I speak, you listen; the audience cannot object or express. Now it's the opposite: often users talk to users, and then it spreads through forwarding.
Therefore, brand communication on the internet often needs to focus more on communication rather than indoctrination. When communicating, it's better to express from the perspective of "people," seeking empathy, rather than official, condescending communication.
**2) What spreads on the internet is often emotion, not facts.**
In the era of self-media, bloggers and users are vivid individuals rather than organizations. Organizations are often rational, while individuals are emotional. Therefore, we see that any topic that can rush to the top of hot searches is one that can stimulate strong emotions in users, whether positive or negative.
**3) The fastest-spreading topics on the internet are often highly polarized rather than highly consistent.**
A topic, if it cannot generate opposing emotions among internet groups, often cannot spread quickly or continuously.
In this Luzhou Laojiao incident, the opposition lies in "whether Luzhou Laojiao should sue a blogger and claim compensation." On short video platforms, there is an environment of parody. A considerable number of users believe this is a form of "fun" and not malicious damage to the brand.
**4) The strong in the real world must learn to be the "weak" in the internet world.**
There is a phenomenon that the strong in reality, whether enterprises or celebrities, are placed under a magnifying glass in the internet world.
The hardest strong in the online world, unless truly impeccable, will definitely be hammered to the ground.
The strong in reality must learn to express from the perspective of the weak in the internet world. Sometimes, official cuteness, joking, or even self-deprecation not only does not harm the strong image but also gains more public favor.
A positive example: In the incident where Tencent was defrauded by a fake Laoganma but sued the real Laoganma, when netizens criticized, Tencent's PR dressed itself as a cute "silly" penguin image with self-deprecation, gaining netizens' sympathy.
There are too many negative examples. Recently, that celebrity who sent lawyer letters and sued at the slightest disagreement ended up in prison, didn't he?
**PS**: From September 23 to 25, 2021, the 2021 (4th) China FMCG Conference hosted by New Distribution will be held in Shanghai. **Focusing on industry trends + practical cases + growth connection as the core**, **3,000** FMCG practitioners will gather at the event.
10 themed forums covering **new retail O2O, community group buying, short video e-commerce, distributor transformation, rise of new consumer brands, new alcoholic beverage interpretation, distribution B2B supply chain, omni-channel marketing, B2B2C new technology applications**, etc., with operators from various segments bringing the latest case studies.
Some of the confirmed heavyweight guests so far include: **1. Tao Shiquan, founder of Jiangxiaobai; 2. Yao Xuhong, general manager of Meiyijia Holdings Co., Ltd.; 3. Lu Xiuqiong, global expert partner at Bain & Company and former vice president of marketing for Coca-Cola China; 4. Chen Xiaodong, senior vice president of Nestlé Greater China; 5. Zhang Fujun, president of Lee Kum Kee Sauce Group China; 6. Bi Chaojiao, general manager of China Resources Snow Breweries (China) Marketing Center; 7. Yang Hongbin, vice president of Junlebao Dairy Group; 8. Yang Shun, COO of Lipton Greater China; 9. Zhang Yipeng, general manager of Kuaishou E-commerce SKA Brand Operations Center; 10. Li De, e-commerce general manager of Gold Hong Ye Paper Group...**
**A grand event for FMCG people, you must be there!**
**Are you "watching" me?**


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