The encyclopedia · Marketing & Brand · Marketing decision · 2024
Miniso called Chiikawa characters 'morons' in its promo — and paid for it in trust
Miniso's Douyin promo called Chiikawa's character 'mentally disabled crybaby mouse' and 'blue underwear cat.' Fans were outraged. The brand apologized.
Miniso · 2024-04-03
What happened
On April 3, 2024, Miniso's official Douyin account posted a promotional video for its collaboration with Chiikawa, a beloved Japanese IP with a passionate fanbase in China. The video used derogatory nicknames for the three main characters: 'mentally disabled crybaby mouse' for Gee, 'blue underwear cat' for Hachiware, and 'crazy screaming rabbit' for Usagi. The language was at odds with Chiikawa's warm, gentle brand identity.
The backlash was immediate. Fans flooded social media accusing Miniso of disrespecting the IP and its fan community. The incident was especially damaging because the collaboration had been a massive commercial success — the Shanghai pop-up store alone did 2.68 million yuan in its first 10 hours and 8 million yuan across three days.
Miniso issued an apology the same evening, promised to discipline those responsible, and removed the offending content. The damage was done: the brand had signaled that it saw the IP as a vehicle for sales rather than a cultural property with an invested community.
Why it happened
- A promotional team that does not understand the IP's fan culture treated beloved characters as jokes, destroying the emotional connection that makes collaborations work
- Miniso's decentralized marketing engine allowed content to go live without sufficient review by someone who understood the IP
- The brand treated the collaboration as a sales transaction rather than a cultural partnership, and fans noticed immediately
The lesson
IP collaboration marketing must respect the IP's fan culture. A promo team that treats an adored character as a joke tells fans the brand sees them as a transaction, not a community.
Sources
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