I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream. It’s a cute saying, but it’s ringing a little too true for MINI.
At the Shanghai Auto Show, the brand held an ice cream giveaway and their supply for the public was quickly exhausted. While this isn’t surprising, video of a ‘foreigner’ getting ice cream after Chinese citizens were turned away has sparked outrage.
That’s putting it lightly as Reuters noted “’BMW MINI’ became the second most-searched topic on China’s Weibo” with more than 93 million views. Many users posted comments attacking the brand and one person said, “In the spirit of hospitality … ice cream is rationally given to the guests first.” Another claimed BMW stood for “ice cream, free delivery, foreigner.”
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While that’s just a glimpse into the outrage, a source told Reuters the company planned to give out 300 servings of ice cream to visitors. Some servings were apparently held back for employees and the ‘foreigner’ in the video reportedly worked for BMW. The situation is far from shocking, but the optics were bad and the company had no idea they were about to enrage millions of people.
Following the outrage, MINI took to Weibo and posted a message saying the ice cream giveaway was “intended to give sweetness to friends big and small who visit the show.” They went on to say their internal management wasn’t careful enough and “staff dereliction of duty caused everyone’s unhappiness.” The company went on to apologize for the incident and promise to improve their management as well as training.
Despite the apology, many commenters weren’t happy and one asked “If I can speak English, can I have some ice cream?” Another said, “I don’t believe the staff didn’t receive instructions to do this.” Others could apparently see the incident was being blown out of proportion with one stating, “What a fuss, don’t be photographed next time.”
