BMW skids into ice cream melee at Shanghai auto show

Chinese internet users berated German automaker BMW on Thursday, accusing it of discrimination at the Shanghai auto show amid claims workers at its Mini booth favoured foreign over domestic visitors during an ice cream giveaway promotion.

Mini apologised for the incident in question, saying in a statement on its official Weibo account that it was caused by poor internal management and that it would improve training.

The topic “BMW Mini” became the second most-searched topic on China’s Weibo social media platform, with over 93 million views with users reposting pictures and videos, along with negative comments, of an incident that local media said took place on Wednesday.

The controversy comes as BMW and fellow German automakers participate in the Shanghai auto show in full force as they fight to stay on top of consumer trends in a country where domestic rivals have been aggressively taking market share.

One video showed two Chinese workers telling some local visitors to the Mini stand that the free ice cream had run out, only to offer a tub moments later to a Western attendee.

“This has taken away my good feelings towards BMW,” said one Weibo commentator.

A person familiar with the matter said the booth had finished giving out 300 servings of ice cream meant for visitors when the incident occurred and the foreigner in the video was a BMW employee.

The workers were temporary workers hired locally for the show, not BMW staff, the person said, declining to be identified due to the sensitivity of the matter.

In presentations earlier this week BMW’s Chief Executive Oliver Zipse talked up the importance of the Chinese market to the automaker, saying many of its cars’ features were inspired by China and how the country was ahead of the global curve in auto trends.

Chinese consumers have in recent years more closely monitored the behaviour of big brands, becoming increasingly critical of foreign companies or local businesses over perceived slights or for not respecting China’s territorial claims.

Such criticism has at times snowballed into consumer boycotts. In 2019, Dolce & Gabbana saw China sales slow after it faced a backlash for an advertising campaign that was decried as racist by celebrities and on social media. The Italian luxury brand asked for forgiveness and said there was a “cultural misunderstanding”.

生词记录

skid 打滑

melee 混乱，混乱的人群

berate 严责，训斥

discriminate 歧视

booth 小房间

favour 优惠，偏袒，特别照顾

giveaway 赠品

sb/sth in question 讨论中的···；正被谈论的···

repost 转发

controversy 争议

rival 竞争对手

aggressively 好斗地，富于攻击地，挑衅地；进取地，有侵略性地

stand 货摊，售货亭

tub 一桶，小杯

attendee 出席者，参加者

serving 供一人食用的一份；一客；目前任职的，现役的

sensitivity 敏感，谨慎对待

talk sth up 热烈地谈论，宣扬

curve 曲线，弧线，转弯

monitor 监视，检查，跟踪调查

perceive 感知，察觉，意识到；认为，看待，视为

slight 少量的；轻视，冷落，怠慢

territorial 领土的，领地的，土地的

snowball 不断扩大，滚雪球般迅速增大

boycott 抵制

backlash 强烈抵制，集体反对

decry 公开谴责，强烈批评

racist 种族主义的，种族主义者