Activism and Awareness

Chevrolet: A Beijing Revolution

(For those of you who aren’t up to speed on your ad slogans, Chevy’s official campaign is “An American Revolution.” Guess it’s kind of lame to explain the allusions of your blog post title, but “Drove My Chevy to the levy and painted it with angry slogans” was already taken. Thanks, Imagethief.)

This news is a little bit overdue, but I was so absorbed in the toy recalls that I neglected to notice another consumer complaints story…

Chevy consumers in Beijing are taking their complaints to the street. Literally.

According to Josh’s blog at the China Expat:

If you have been in the city over the last six weeks you may have noticed lines of black and white SUVs lining the roads near the Silk Market, Ya-Show, and Worker’s Stadium Road North. Painted on them are slogans in Chinese advocating the rights of consumers and complaining about car manufacturer Chevrolet.

After investing tens of thousands of RMB for the SUVs, an amount one protester described as “my blood, sweat, and money,” the buyers were informed that they could not get license plates. In effect this meant that driving them carried the risk of police confiscation.

Apparently, it is the responsibility of the local dealership to provide the plates, but the company never followed through. The angry protesters, sans license plates, launched an online protest, posting their grievances on Sohu.com, China’s popular Web 2.0 community. Their comments were removed after a Sohu spokesperson deemed the content not “appropriate” for the Web site.

Left with no other options, the car owners turned their vehicles into billboards, painting angry messages on the sides and leaving newspaper articles about the conflict in the windows.

Josh at China Expat analyzes the protest:

It is difficult to know if this is an isolated incident or part of a broader trend of Chinese willing to push back at perceived injustices. While the fight is unusually public, it is directed at two privately owned businesses, one of which is American. Perhaps that is the reason why the protests have been allowed to continue for so long in such clear sight. There have been no accusations hurled at any government agencies, and only one Chinese merchant of dubious reputation is affected. Yet, as evidenced by the removal of the Sohu posting, it is clear that someone with power, possibly Chevrolet, possibly someone else, wants the dispute to go away. And yet the SUVs remain on the streets, going on nearly two months.

For now it will have to remain a mystery. Is this a solitary act of protest, or an indication of more assertive Chinese consumers?

Imagethief also lends his insight:

Without knowing the details of the purchase or the credentials of the dealership and the details of the dealership’s relationship with GM, it’s hard to know why this situation developed. GM itself may be completely blameless. But lack of blame isn’t always a good reason for not doing anything. It’s the famous Chevy and GM names that will stick in Chinese consumers’ heads in this case, and therefore it is their reputations that are at risk, especially if the case gives rise to another bout of mainstream press coverage for any reason. Just because it hasn’t gone ballistic yet doesn’t mean it might not do so in future. Whenever foreign companies are involved, there is a risk of attention surging. (And trust me, “foreign brand” will trump “local dealership” in the public consciousness almost every time.)

There is more to damage control than killing unfavorable online articles. If this is a real situation, as it appears to be, and not a competitive stunt, then Chevy China’s management should be looking for a way to be publicly seen helping these motorists to resolve their problem. This is especially true if it can be done without assuming too much legal risk or expense. They should also be trying to figure out what went wrong with the dealer, and communicate how it’s being addressed. It might just be one crummy dealership, but it’s their car brand at stake in a market that is ever more sensitive to slights of Chinese consumers by foreign brands.

[tags]Beijing, China, Chevrolet, protest, consumer complaints[/tags]

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