The encyclopedia · Advertising & PR · Marketing decision · 2021
Mercedes put the comedian who joked about 'confident men' in a C-Class ad — men boycotted
Mercedes cast Yang Li, who joked men are 'so ordinary yet so confident,' in a C-Class promo. Male buyers boycotted; Mercedes deleted the video overnight.
Mercedes-Benz
What happened
On October 14, 2021, Mercedes-Benz's official Weibo account partnered with VOGUE to share an 18-second promotional video for its new long-wheelbase C-Class. The ad featured comedian Yang Li in a formal suit walking a red carpet and being escorted into a Mercedes vehicle. There was no dialogue — just Yang Li, the car, and the VOGUE collaboration card.
Yang Li is known for a single stand-up bit: 'How can men be so ordinary, yet so confident?' — a line that made her a symbol of China's gender discourse wars. Her appearance in a Mercedes ad triggered an immediate boycott from male consumers who argued the brand was insulting its core demographic. Comments included 'Mercedes is optimistic about women's purchasing power — let's see how that works' and declarations of switching to BMW or Audi.
By the evening of October 14, Mercedes had changed the post's visibility to 'followers only' and turned on comment moderation. By October 18, the video was completely deleted from the official account. Mercedes issued no formal statement. The silence was the response — the brand removed the ad and pretended it had not happened. Intel had faced a similar backlash with Yang Li seven months earlier; the pattern was already established.
Why it happened
- The comedian's brand was the trigger: Yang Li's 'ordinary but confident' joke had already made her radioactive to male consumers — casting her in a car ad imported a gender war the brand did not need.
- Silence was not neutral: deleting the video without a statement told both sides the brand had no conviction — the ad was not worth defending and the backlash was not worth addressing.
- The pattern was already known: Intel faced the same backlash with Yang Li in March 2021 — seven months later, Mercedes made the identical mistake, suggesting no one checked the precedent.
- The core demographic was the protesting demographic: luxury car buyers in China skew male — the ad alienated the audience that signs the cheques.
The lesson
A comedian whose brand is a gender joke is not a neutral spokesperson. If the audience that buys your product is the audience the joke targets, the casting is the controversy.
Sources
- 搜狐汽车 — 'Mercedes VOGUE Yang Li promo video backlash', 2021-10
- 36氪 — 'Luxury brands traffic anxiety: Mercedes Yang Li controversy', 2021-10
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