The encyclopedia · Advertising & PR · Marketing decision · 2024
Bee & Flower's 'fake bestie' comic called its customers manipulative — deleted in a day
Heritage shampoo brand Bee & Flower posted a comic on Xiaohongshu depicting 'fake besties' as seductive schemers. Its female customer base was furious.
Bee & Flower (蜂花)
What happened
On November 6, 2024, Bee & Flower — a heritage Chinese shampoo brand that had surged in popularity as a 'national goods' favourite — posted a seven-panel comic on its official Xiaohongshu account titled 'Seeing Clearly What True and Fake Besties Are.' The comic depicted two girls in mutual suspicion, using labels like 'green tea' (a slang term for a manipulative woman) and describing one character as 'striking seductive poses' around her friend's boyfriend.
The backlash was immediate. Bee & Flower's core customers are women who had embraced the brand precisely because it stood against the glossy, image-obsessed beauty industry. The comic's caricature of female friendship as rivalry and scheming struck readers as a betrayal — a women's brand profiting from demeaning women.
On November 7, the comic hit Weibo's hot search. Bee & Flower deleted the post and issued a formal apology acknowledging 'inappropriate content' and 'serious loopholes in content review.' The comic's production team also spoke out, claiming the intent was to 'resonate with audiences.' Comment sections filled with 'never buying again' — the apology was dismissed as blaming 'operational lapses' rather than acknowledging the worldview the comic promoted.
Why it happened
- The audience was the target: Bee & Flower's revival was built on women championing a heritage brand — the comic demeaned the very people who had rescued it.
- The 'green tea' trope is misogynistic shorthand: presenting manipulative female friendship as entertainment is content that brands targeting women should avoid on sight.
- The apology blamed process, not values: 'content review loopholes' implies the problem was that nobody checked, not that the team found the content acceptable.
- This followed a pattern: Chinese heritage brands boosted by 'national goods' sentiment discover the same audience can withdraw support overnight.
The lesson
A brand revived by women's goodwill cannot repay that goodwill by mocking women's friendships. The apology blamed the checklist, not the worldview.
Sources
- 搜狐 — 'Top 10 brand PR disasters of 2024: 花洛莉亚, 蜂花, and more', 2024
- 新浪新闻 / 红星新闻 — 'Bee & Flower "true and fake bestie" comic ad controversy; comic team: already taken down, original intent was resonance', 2024-11
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