When the Edison Chen sex photo scandal broke a while back, we quickly received calls from brands who used Edison or the other involved stars as spokespersons. Not surprisingly, they were worried about their reputation for being so explicitly associated with stars. Interestingly, in this issue of IWOM watch, we see that some netizens were more interested in the brands in the background of the photos than the people themselves. Is that a Gucci bag on the floor? Is that Cetaphil skin cream on the shelf?

Below are some sample screenshots of netizens spotting brands in photos. (Link to original post form the uber cool Shanghaining)

We also find that netizens work hard to decipher brand names and information about brands in the controversial movie “Lust, Caution.” This ‘product presence’ plays a more subtle, but perhaps more powerful, role in stimulating awareness and interest than the often times overt ‘product placement’ and underlies the fact that Chinese netizens are curious about and interested in brands.

Below is an excerpt from the March 15th IWOM watch report covering this topic:

Case 1

Product Placement vs. Product Presence: Netizens sensitive to brands associated with hot incidents

We reported that netizens showed their passion and sensitivity towards brands by spotting their favorite brands and products in the famous fashion icon Edison Chen’s scandal photos. The buzz is not just about these inappropriately behaved celebrities, but about all the brands and products they use as well.

Furthermore, we saw that the movie “Lust, Caution” not only provoked hot discussions among netizens about the film’s controversial plot, but also generated buzz about the high end brands/products featured in the film. (for example, see the following post about the bed products used in the movie)

CIC View

While this may or may not be intentional product placement, netizens clearly made a special effort to seek out the brands featured in the popular film and talked about it with fellow users. This is an example of how brands can have an active presence in online discussions around hot topics, such as films. Association with popular films or events, can not only create brand awareness but can also form a stronger association between the brand and spokesperson/celebrities.

Brands should leverage these types of opportunities to promote brand awareness (i.e. facilitating the spread of the existing buzz around brand information) when sponsoring hot incidents or when associated with incidents or popular events by chance.(Of course, the Edison Chen case is not the case that brands necessarily want to be attached to.)

Just in case you haven’t had enough, here is another screenshot of brands spotted in Edison Chen photos.

Screen shot of the index for the full IWOM watch report:

Other CIC IWOM Watch related posts that may be of interest:

-CIC Watch Half-Year Review released (download the full report)
-CIC watch: “You” – Time’s Person of the Year – also lives in China (download the full report)