Democracy comes to China via a pop idol style show

Once again we see community power reflected via a commercial TV program

Chinese Pop Idol

Reported in the Guardian Mad about the girl: a pop idol for China

The article says

But it is not the social power of an unconventional tomboy, nor her challenge to China's gender orthodoxies, that have some in China in a frenzy. It is that she (the winner) was popularly elected in a process that attracted the masses and made them feel included. Viewers could vote up to 15 times by text message. Millions did, and in the show's final weeks, fans hit the streets to lobby for their favourite.

While the method was commercial, it was none the less mass selection, and it is difficult to avoid noticing that Li Yuchun is the most popularly elected person in modern China - more people having shown their individual support for her than for President Hu Jintao.

Once you have stormed the Bastille you don't give up your day job. Strangely these 'reality' shows have a deeper meaning behind them. That we are as a human race a 'we species by design' A phrase that Mark Earls has used on several occassions. And one that has particular resonancy for me and Tomi.

The program unsricpted, authentic by design, inviting the masses to vote and milliions did has had a seismic impact on Chinese popular culture.

If everyone begins to feel that they too can be on stage and show off whatever they like then this is a development in our culture from social bondage to democracy.

comments Dr Cai in the interview.

400 million people watched the show. A massive community of interest.

And in many ways Supergirl the Chinese version of Pop Idol is not disimilar to Jamies School Dinners , which engaged our nation in a debate about what we feed our school kids on. Commercial motivations or not, such programs demonstrate that when you create context and meaning for people they will engage, either as a voting public attracted to the flame of celebrity and participation or around a social theme that means something to us.

Jamies School Dinners delivered 230,000 signatures to Number 10 Downing Street and as a consequence, the Government is now acting upon what food is given to school children.

So as a business or a brand how are you going to engage or develop a community of interest?

Comments

[Rob Eberstein]

A couple of thoughts that hit me;

a) "It's not pre-packaged," said Prof Chen, pointing out that you can perfectly predict what will happen on 99% of China's tightly controlled television programmes. "Anything could happen and the unpredictability of the show attracted people - there are no controls, it wasn't scripted and the masses participated, so it couldn't be manipulated."

The Chinese appear to be liberated from the closely controlled tv programmes. Will this lead to the growth of these sorts of programmes - Celebrity / Love Island etc?

b) China - some fascinating facts in the article;
3,000 different stations beaming across China
361m households own at least 1 TV
400m tuned in to show

If these are not impressive / scary, then dont know what is. There's a huge opportunity in this market.

c) This will have a huge effect to the culture in China - how women are perceived, how they seek that 'freedom / identity'

Thanks for the article.