In response to Tencent's lawsuit, Laoganma has responded, saying: "Tencent was deceived, and there has been no cooperation with Tencent at all." They also issued a related statement. Tencent sued Laoganma for unpaid advertising fees, while Laoganma strongly denied any commercial cooperation. Both sides are at odds, and the incident continues to heat up. What is the real story?

-01- Tencent Sues Laoganma

On June 30, 2020, the Nanshan District People's Court in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, issued a civil ruling agreeing to Tencent's request to freeze and seize property worth 16,240,600 yuan under Laoganma's name. The announcement sparked widespread discussion among netizens, with some joking, "Even Tencent got scammed?"

Subsequently, Tencent responded that the matter originated from Laoganma placing tens of millions of yuan in advertising with Tencent but ignoring the contract and defaulting on payment for a long time. Tencent repeatedly urged payment but received nothing, and was forced to file a lawsuit to apply for freezing the amount owed by Laoganma.

Tencent also stated that in March of last year, Tencent and Laoganma signed a "Joint Market Promotion Cooperation Agreement," in which Tencent would allocate resources to promote Laoganma's chili oil sauce series.

It is understood that the "cooperation" between Laoganma and Tencent was in the game QQ Speed. In April 2019, QQ Speed announced a partnership with the national chili sauce brand Laoganma, which would serve as the latest annual industry partner for the QQ Speed mobile game S-League. This "cooperation" was also Laoganma's first cross-industry partnership with esports.

Image source: Internet

Currently, some images of the cooperation can be found online, with Tencent QQ Speed launching cars, pets, clothes, etc., for the national chili sauce brand Laoganma. All this seems to indicate that the cooperation did exist.

-02- Police Investigation Reveals Behind-the-Scenes Reversal

However, with the police's in-depth investigation, the incident took a major turn.

Today, the Guiyang police issued a notice stating: "Recently, our bureau received a report from Guiyang Nanming Laoganma Flavor Food Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as 'Laoganma Company') that criminals impersonated the company to sign a cooperation agreement with Shenzhen Tencent Computer System Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as 'Tencent Company'), leading to Tencent's lawsuit." (The full text of the notice is shown in the image below)

Image source: Toutiao News

According to preliminary findings by the Shuanglong Branch of the Guiyang Public Security Bureau, three suspects forged Laoganma's company seal, impersonated the company's marketing department manager, and signed a cooperation agreement with Tencent. Their purpose was even more surprising: they wanted to obtain online game gift codes that Tencent provided as part of the promotional activities, and then resell them illegally for profit. Currently, the three have been criminally detained by the police on suspicion of committing crimes.

In this incident, besides the two parties involved, the media and industry insiders have been paying close attention and expressing various opinions. However, many people did not believe that Laoganma owed money.

-03- Legendary Laoganma

Laoganma herself and her legendary life are widely known in the industry. After her husband passed away from illness, she took on the burden of her family for her two young children. After years of hard work, she built the national chili sauce brand Laoganma, which has even been exported overseas and gained fame.

No financing, no debt, no IPO has always been Laoganma's label. And not advertising, focusing on product strength has also been well-known in the industry.

Previously, Tao Huabi said in an interview with the media: "I don't owe the government a cent, I don't owe employees a cent, and if I owe even a cent, I can't sleep. I also don't owe or owe each other with agents and suppliers. I use my quality to guarantee my market."

Laoganma's confidence in her products is such that she even printed her own portrait on the packaging. If anyone has a problem with the chili sauce, they can see the photo and find me. This fully demonstrates Laoganma's commitment to product quality.

At this point, the incident has finally come to an end. Tencent was indeed deceived, and Laoganma has been cleared of the false accusation of owing advertising fees. It is also true that they stick to their principles and do not advertise. The three suspects who ignored the law for personal gain have been criminally detained. Within two days, the hot topic took a dramatic turn. I wonder if netizens were shocked by the reversal? Let's wait for the further trial results.

This article is compiled by New Distribution, with images from the Internet.

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