Chinanews client, Beijing, January 21 (Yuan Xiuyue) Recently, a certain actress’ surrogacy and abandonment incident has caused heated discussions on the Internet. Not only has many brands announced the termination of the contract, but also the periodicals of the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television also published an article saying that “not for inferior deeds Show your face".
Can film and television crews or brands only admit that they are unlucky when they encounter a star scandal?
What else can they do?
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Does the artist lose money?
In recent years, every time a contemporary star has an image crisis, the brand will immediately clear the relationship, first issue a statement to terminate the contract, and then remove the TV commercials and offline billboards to eliminate the impact as much as possible.
However, if the spokesperson spends real money, how should it be counted?
Xu Xiaodan, an entertainment law lawyer at Beijing Tianchi Juntai Law Firm, told a reporter from Chinanews.com that, generally speaking, when signing endorsement promotion contracts with celebrities, experienced merchants will make clear and detailed comments on the artist’s "artistic virtue". Agreed.
For example, artists are prohibited from taking drugs, prostitution, and making politically sensitive speeches, destroying other people's families, drunk driving, fighting and other illegal, criminal or unethical behaviors. Otherwise, they will exercise the corresponding right to terminate the contract in accordance with the terms of the contract and require them to bear the responsibility for breach of contract or compensation.
In this type of contract, the more well-known the brand, the more value the artist’s "artistic morality" will be, and the higher the liquidated damages for the artist who violated the relevant clauses in the contract.
Attorney Xu believes that the ultimate goal of the business is to urge the artists to comply with laws and regulations, not to violate public order and good customs, and to avoid adverse effects on the cooperative brands.
However, even if the contract is perfect and the liquidated damages are high, for some high-end luxury brands, it is not enough to make up for their commercial losses.
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Celebrities’ image crises occur frequently and may even go to court
Three minutes on stage, ten years off stage.
Advertisers ask celebrities to endorse, not just to make a few good-looking commercials, but also to take a fancy to the added value of the celebrity's image to achieve the role of brand promotion.
However, practice in recent years has shown that celebrity endorsements are also fraught with crises and may even go to court if they are not careful.
In 2015, because of the personal scandal of Huang Haibo, Shanghai Antarctic Company was sued by a clothing factory in Taizhou.
It turned out that the garment factory signed a contract with the Shanghai Antarctic Company, and the Antarctic Company authorized the factory to use the Antarctic trademark when producing thermal pants.
Then, Huang Haibo, the spokesperson for the Antarctic brand, produced negative news.
The garment factory believed that these negative reports caused the factory's products to be unsalable, and sued Antarctica for compensation.
In the end, the Huangpu District Court of Shanghai made a first-instance judgment, and Antarctica should pay 24,000 yuan in economic compensation.
The court pointed out that Antarctica is obliged to ensure that the brand spokesperson has a positive and positive influence on the brand. Therefore, although the garment factory’s claim is not supported, it is based on the principle of good faith and fairness to judge that Antarctica grants the garment factory a certain amount of economic make up.
In 2014, Ke Zhendong was arrested for drug involvement.
His agent, Chai Zhiping, once revealed that Ke Zhendong returned hundreds of millions of dollars in advertising endorsements, movie appointments and event remuneration.
In 2018, actor Gao Yunxiang fell into a "sexual assault" scandal, which caused Tang De Film and Television's share price to plummet.
After that, Tang De Film and Television sued Gao Yunxiang and his brokerage company to the court, demanding the termination of the actor employment contract signed by both parties, and claimed more than 60 million yuan.
Compared with brand endorsements, the impact of actor scandals on film and television works is more difficult to eliminate, and it is not as simple as withdrawing advertisements.
After Ke Zhendong was involved in drugs, his starring "Monster Catch" was forced to change roles, and the investor reinvested 70 million yuan to make up the auction, with an investment of nearly 350 million yuan before and after.
"Win the World" starring Gao Yunxiang also had to replace the lead actor and remake it, costing more than 60 million yuan.
Tang De Film and Television Sued Gao Yunxiang to Court
"The Rise of the Great Qin Empire" also played a part in a remake due to the actor scandal.
Xing Jiadong finished filming the one-man show under the green screen, and then synthesized it by computer. It took a total of 14 months, which is longer than the time to shoot the entire film.
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After Zhai Tianlin fell into an academic fraud, his role in "Old Chinese Medicine" was deleted.
Due to the scandal of the change of freshmen in the past, Tong Zhuo's role in "The Great Pediatrician" was changed to another actor by AI technology.
"The Great Pediatrician" stills
Industry self-discipline and risk mechanism
In 2017, the "Law of the People's Republic of China on the Promotion of the Film Industry" put morality and art in the law for the first time, requiring employees to abide by laws and regulations, respect social ethics, abide by professional ethics, strengthen self-discipline, and establish a good social image.
In November 2020, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television issued the "Notice on Strengthening the Management of Online Show Lives and E-commerce Live Broadcasts", which also mentioned that effective measures must be taken not to provide illegal and unethical artists with public appearances and voice opportunities.
Some time ago, the China Television Artists Association established a professional ethics committee for the television industry.
An important task of the committee is to establish a sound joint review and punishment mechanism and jointly develop disciplinary measures for unethical behaviors.
In addition, a list of illegal and unethical personnel in the industry will be established and dynamically updated, and an exit mechanism will be explored.
In order to avoid and reduce the impact of celebrity scandals, in addition to legal and regulatory restrictions, it also requires industry self-discipline and the establishment of a practical risk mechanism.
As far as the brand is concerned, the spokesperson can terminate the contract, and the endorsement fee can be claimed, but the impact on the corporate image is irreversible.
Therefore, when brands are interested in the flow and influence of celebrities, they must be more cautious. They should clearly realize that the scandal may cause the same or even more serious negative impact.
For the film and television industry, this impact seems more difficult to avoid.
Some people in the industry have previously suggested that the industry association should establish an effective mechanism to conduct effective communication and restraint within the industry before filming begins, and to supervise the early-stage insurance mechanism and actor compensation mechanism of the crew.
It is also suggested that we can learn from overseas "finish film guarantee mechanism" to guarantee that the production of a movie or TV series can be completed in accordance with the predetermined time limit and budget of the script.
With the advancement of China's film and television industrialization, many people in the industry have called for the gradual implementation of this system in China to promote the film and television industry into a virtuous circle.
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