It’s really a tough job for automakers doing marketing and sales in China, where

It’s really a tough job for automakers doing marketingand sales in China, where competition is acute and customers have littleloyalty. They have tried a range of tricks in recent years.

But there should be a moral bottom line.Unfortunately, a Buick dealership used the tragedy of a two-month-old infant toadvertise its cars last week on Weibo – Micro blog. And Hyundai Motor followedsuit.

On March 4, an SUV was stolen with the infant leftinside alone in the northeastern city of Changchun. The news spread widely onWeibo after the baby’s father called the local police and radio station forhelp. The next day it was revealed that the infant was choked to death andburied in snow by the thief. The online community expressed its deeply feltsympathy and condolences.

The Buick dealership posted a photo of the baby andtwo of its cars on its official Weibo account to advertise its GPS system thatcan locate the stolen car. “A few thoughts on the Changchun stolen car and babyincident: when buying a car it’s entirely OK to choose a brand with advancedtechnology,” said the post. Though the post was made before tragic fate of theinfant was known, the action generated a storm of outrage on Weibo. Some onlinecommentators said it is “marketing at the cost of lives” and “extremely despicable.”

Worse was the post on Hyundai’s official Weibo accountthat advertised the anti – theft system on its new SUV Santa Fe, an entry madeafter the child was known to have died. The action also enraged micro bloggers.

Both posts were soon deleted. The Buick dealershipmade an apology on Weibo to the family of the victim and the public. Butscreenshots saved by users continued to be posted and the negative impact onboth brands persists.

The two brands probably didn’t expect such a firestormof fury from the Internet community, but they really made a big mistake sinkingbelow the moral bottom line. They certainly ruined their own brand images.

The Chinese have the same proverb as the Englishlanguage – a little leak will sink a great ship. It takes decades to build thegreat ship of a respectable brand but it can take just a moment of negligenceto make it fail completely.

For those in corporate marketing, two lessons shouldbe learned: first, be careful in the era of social media when one wrong can beeasily magnified and have disastrous impacts in just a few clicks.

Second and more importantly, think with your brain andheart. Never break the moral bonds of respect for human life and sympathy forour fellow man.

1.Who is to blame for the tragedy of Changchun infantaccording to the passage?

A．The baby’s father                      B．Buick andHyundai dealership

C．Weibo                                D．Not clear

2.Which of the following statements is correct?

A．The missinginfant was found alive in the stolen car.

B．Micro blogmarketing of tragic infant death fuels firestorm of criticism.

C．People can’t see the two posts any more because they weredeleted.

D．The two carbrands mentioned in the passage spoiled their own reputation by selling thestolen car.

3.What does the underlined word – “despicable” inparagraph 4 mean?

A．Immoral          B．Important         C．Distinguished       D．Considerable

4.The reason why Hyundai’s post was worse than Buick’sis that _________.

A．Hyundaidealership didn’t make an apology on Weibo

B．Buickdealership expressed its deeply sympathy and condolences

C．Hyundai’s post was made after people knew the infant had died

D．Buick’s car was more advanced on its GPS system

5.In the last paragraph, the author encourages people_____________.

A．not to sinkbelow the moral bottom line

B．not tosympathize our fellow man

C．to thinktwice before making decision

D．to magnifythe mistakes people make

试题答案

【答案】

1.D

2.B

3.A

4.C

5.A

【解析】

试题