Jindi chocolate's 'bear got bigger' ad was called innuendo; it blamed the ad platform's AI

In January 2026, Jindi (金帝) ran a Xiaohongshu ad for its Golden Bear chocolate showing a bear growing larger, with the copy '小熊变大？是你能握住了！' ('Did the little bear get bigger? It's because you can hold it now!'). Online viewers read the line as sexual innuendo, and the ad was widely blasted as '擦边营销' (edge-playing marketing).

Jindi apologised, but the handling made it worse. The first apology blamed the ad platform's '自动优化功能' (automatic optimisation feature) for generating the provocative image, and the operations team told reporters the image was 'system-generated and automatically displayed'. The attempt to shift responsibility to an algorithm drew fresh criticism as scapegoating AI, and the brand was forced to issue a second, more direct apology and suspend the promotion.

News outlet 新闻晨报 covered the apology, and People's Daily ran a hot commentary, '人民热评：金帝巧克力，'巧'劲不该用在擦边营销上' ('Jindi Chocolate — wit should not be spent on edge-playing marketing'). The episode became a textbook case of a copy stumble compounded by a botched crisis response that blamed the tool instead of the choice.