Opinion：Florasis Incident

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As a leading Chinese cosmetics brand florasis, a series of fiascoes occurred in September last year, which not only plunged the company into an unprecedented public relations crisis, but also exposed the loopholes in the domestic cosmetics industry in terms of brand building and consumer communication. As an opinion piece, the author believes that Chinese cosmetic brands must pay great attention to product control and quality in order to achieve better and more stable development.

As the world’s second largest consumer market, China’s cosmetics industry is one of the fastest growing. Among them, basic cosmetics have the largest market share and are growing at the fastest rate. However, the industry’s reliance on e-commerce channels such as alibaba and the rising douyin has also made it vulnerable to public opinion and influencers.

On September 10th,2023, Florasis was pushed into the spotlight by Douyin’s top makeup influencer, Li Jiaqi. This was a social event. Li Jiaqi was live streaming on Douyin to recommend a Florasis eyebrow pencil when a comment was made in the live stream that ‘Florasis eyebrow pencils are getting more expensive.” At the time,it was priced at 79 CNY, equivalent to about $10.8. Li Jiaqi immediately said,”Why is it expensive? It’s hard for domestic products,” and then reminded consumers to look for the reason within themselves,”Has your salary increased in recent years? Have you been working seriously?” This comment sparked serious dissatisfaction among consumers, and the “Li Jiaqi and Florasis ” tags quickly rose to the top of China’s Weibo trending topics. Many netizens joked that Li Jiaqi had become a celebrity and had forgotten his initial goal as a makeup influencer. It is worth noting that Li Jiaqi initially gained fame by using a live streaming strategy and method of “helping my internet family find the cheapest makeup products from popular brands.”

photo：TaoBao

The most notable aspect of this controversy is the price of Florasis’ eyebrow pencil. The price of the eyebrow pencil in Li Jiaqi’s live stream was 79.9 CNY, with two replacement cartridges included. The price of the eyebrow pencil on the official flagship store on Taobao was 89 CNY, with one replacement cartridge included, and the net content of each pencil was 0.08 grams. After converting, the price per gram of the product’s net content is approximately 556 CNY. Some netizens even made a comparison of the price of each brand’s eyebrow pencil per gram, joking about Florasis price, as its per-gram price is indeed comparable to that of internationally renowned brands. There have also been Wwibo reports, where such situations have occurred in various categories of cosmetics and skincare products. An industry insider said that affordable cosmetics products are both easy to attract customers and profitable, and a major source of profit is controlling the net content.

As of September 12,2023, Li Jiaqi’s fan base has fallen to 29.365 million, with more than 1.07 million fans leaving his Weibo account in just one day. As of September 19,2023, Li Jiaqi’s Weibo fan base is 28.96 million, which is 147.5 million fewer than the 304.35 million before the incident. In response to this, on September 11,2023, Li Jiaqi apologized to his audience during a live stream. He said that he had responded to a girl’s comment about a product in the live stream room, and what he said was very inappropriate, which had disappointed everyone. He said that he had no right to comment on any netizen at will. Then, in response to this sudden brand crisis, on September 19,2023, the official Weibo account of Florasis released a statement, saying,”We sincerely apologize to everyone for the attention we have received nationwide over the past week. We are terrified and at a loss, and our brand has not spoken out until now. During this period, we have been constantly absorbing your criticism, opinions, and suggestions. We apologize for taking up too many public resources. We are grateful for your guidance, and we have fully recorded your opinions. Our team is reviewing, correcting, and improving them one by one, adhering to our original intention to bring you better products and provide better services.”

Photo：Baidu

photo：WeiＢo

The “Florasis Incident” sounded an alarm for us. In this public relations crisis triggered by a host’s remarks, Florasis not only found itself in an unprecedented public relations crisis, but also exposed the shortcomings of Chinese makeup brands in brand building, consumer communication, etc. Some consumers began to question the pricing strategy and brand value of Chinese makeup brands, considering them “expensive but not worth it,” and even equating “Chinese makeup products” with “low-end.” The formation of this stereotype undoubtedly constitutes a huge obstacle to China’s makeup brands’ upscale transformation. For the Florasis incident, I believe it is both a challenge and an opportunity. It reminds us that makeup brands must continuously strengthen product power and brand value construction to enhance consumer awareness and trust. At the same time, we should also learn to seize opportunities in crises, by actively responding to public relations crises, enhancing communication and interaction with consumers, etc., to rebuild brand image and consumer relationships.

In summary, the “Florasis Incident” tells us a lesson: only by constantly innovating, constantly improving product quality and brand value, can we stand firm in the fierce market competition. If Chinese beauty brands to win the hearts of consumers, they must maintain their traditional cultural essence while actively integrating modern aesthetics and consumption trends to create beauty products that are more in line with consumer needs and expectations.

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