Lingerie Store Use Male Models To Live Stream Sales Of Products
Recent pictures of male models modeling lingerie may seem hilarious, but it's the new order of things in China, and the retailers seem to have adopted it.
“This is not an attempt at sarcasm. Everyone is being very serious about complying with the rules,” a retailer told CNN.
The Chinese government implemented a censor on female streaming on the internet that prevents revealing images of women, and most businesses have had to close down because they couldn't survive. The few left are attempting survival while still trying to comply with new government rules.
China is no stranger to live streaming sales of products as it contributes 10 percent of the country's revenue, and many types of businesses have adopted this means, the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 made it even more effective, and most businesses had to join in. Statista says that the live streaming industry in China is estimated to be worth about $700 billion in 2023, and a report by The Academy of China Council for the Promotion of International Trade that lives streaming platforms had over 460 million users as of June 2022.
Now that there is a ban on female streamers, a lot of videos and pictures of male models wearing bras, corsets, and nightgowns have surfaced online and caused a lot of controversies in other parts of the world. CNN reported a live stream broadcast on Alibaba showing a male model in black lingerie standing next to a mannequin wearing similar outfits.
This is not the first ban imposed by the Chinese government as it also banned "effeminate men" from TV broadcasts and ruled that broadcasters must promote " revolutionary culture" and increase efforts to moral rules and government laws over businesses and society.
While viewers seem to share biased thoughts on the new industry trend, business owners seem unbothered about it and consider it a means of gender inclusion in the business. A business owner, Mr. Xu, told Jiupai news that the new method is a means to adopt and remain in business since the government ban on female models, he expressed his surprise at the controversies that trailed the use of male models, stating that women take up male-dominated industries too.
"Many directors of these live streams are women, are they also stealing men’s jobs?”, he asked.
A netizen, however, argued Mr. Xu's stance, stating that it's depriving women of their jobs.
“If it’s a female model, the live stream would be banned every other minute, it’s not like this hasn’t happened before, this is still depriving a group of women of their job opportunities,” they said.