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8 Lessons We Can Learn From the Shopee BLACKPINK Meet-and-Greet Fiasco

8 Lessons We Can Learn From the Shopee BLACKPINK Meet-and-Greet Fiasco

Jun 13, 2019   •   Reina Regina

The moment the story broke, it was like watching a train wreck.

Last week’s #ShopeeScam fiasco over the BLACKPINK meet-and-greet has spawned fascination reminiscent of the Fyre Festival scam in 2017 – you scour the news knowing the story gets worse and worse, but you just can’t look away.

While it’s diverting to lay blame on Shopee’s organising gaffes, fans who invested big money only to get scammed, and influencers and celebrities who gave a shady event publicity, there are serious nuggets of wisdom you can extract from the drama. Moving forward, here’s what we – fans, organisers, influencers, and morbidly fascinated spectators alike – can take away from the Shopee and BLACKPINK fiasco.

1 – Take ALL the receipts

What gives angry Blinks such a strong legal case with the DTI is that they have receipts. Pics or it didn’t happen – and Blinks had pics of everything.

Screenshots exist of the first set of terms and conditions stating that purchases could be completed until June 1, 2019. So when Shopee changed the text of the terms and conditions to May 25, 2019 on June 5, 2019 (the day before the event), Blinks had proof. Pictures also exist of winners being notified about their tickets, as well as pictures of the notifications disappearing, and screenshots of unhelpful conversations with Shopee’s customer service reps.

 

2 – Just be honest

See, for a promo to run, it needs to be granted a permit by DTI. Shopee does have the right to vary their terms and conditions, but they would need to run this by DTI again, and it’s quite unlikely that DTI would approve deadline changes when the contest is already underway. Shopee is in hot water for either not obtaining DTI permission for changing their contest mechanics, not notifying their customers of the deadline, or both.

Taking Shopee’s intentions on good faith, maybe this is all just a case of bad planning – someone got the dates mixed up when they applied for the permit, or someone posted the wrong date upon release of the contest terms and conditions. If that’s the case, be transparent with your customers about mistakes or changes in contest rules, instead of swapping the mechanics in secret and hoping no one will notice.

 

3 – Be wiser about where you put your money

Not to shame people who have money to spend, but perhaps spending 100K on a promo – not even an actual event, but the slim hope of going to an event – might not have been the wisest idea.

What the Shopee scam has proved is that there are real people out there willing to exploit the devotion that fans have for their idols. And while getting scammed is never the victim’s fault, perhaps we can deter scammers next time by refusing to give their shady gimmicks any of our money.

Contests that aren’t based on skill or an equal chance at the luck of the draw – but on whether you can spend more money than the person next to you (in this economy? Kim, there’s people that are dying) should give all of us some MAJOR PAUSE next time.

 

4 – Do commensurate damage control

It goes without saying that Shopee had to do a lot of backpedaling in the days after the event. Notified winners whose tickets disappeared were offered a P1,000 voucher as an apology for the mix-up – a Band-aid over a bullet hole for Blinks who paid anywhere between P17,000 to P170,000 for a shot at the event. Winners who discovered their tickets were revoked when they were already at the venue were laughed at by staff, some of them going as far as to call Blinks “uto-uto”.

And the complaints weren’t just from the fans who didn’t get in; attendees who got as far as the meet-and-greet revealed that the poster for signing turned out to be a letter-sized page (with a photo of the BLACKPINK girls taking up only ⅙ of the paper).

Shopee has since issued an apology encompassing everything that has happened: “We understand that the event fell short of the high standards that Shopee users and BLACKPINK fans expect.” “High standards” – people aren’t asking for expensive catering or fancy freebies at events, man. They just want to not be scammed out of their money or be laughed out the door by your staff. Do better.

 

5 – Organisers should be attentive to their guests

Trouble continued to unfold at the actual event. Fan videos show BLACKPINK member Jennie having difficulty breathing during a speaking bit onstage. She kept a hand on her stomach and looked to be hyperventilating during the segment, although she continued to smile and held her ground. It’s been speculated that she was having a panic attack.

The incident drew Shopee criticism from fans inside and outside of the event for their apparent failure to notice Jennie’s predicament and offer her assistance. While we have no official statements from either side on what happened to Jennie after the video, the lesson to be learned here is that next time, whether you’re hosting a homegrown guest or a global superstar like BLACKPINK, event staff should be apprised on how to spot and handle on-stage emergencies.

 

6 – We really need to stop making light of health issues

It’s bad enough that Jennie had a panic attack (or at the very least, was visibly uncomfortable on stage) and the organisers offered no help. What she didn’t need after that was a trio of Filipino celebrities – Awra Briguela, AC Bonifacio, and Riva Quenery – pointing out her discomfort and using it as a punchline for a quip on Instagram Live:

A subsequent Instagram Live where AC and Riva tried to explain that Awra had said the event as “sick” and they had clarified, “Sick ba as Jennie, or sick like lit?” did little to make the entire conversation better. Which is a good sign – because it we’re really way past laughing at people’s illnesses and discomfort.

 

7 – Check your privilege (and sit down)

One of the biggest complaints of fans was that influencers and celebrities that had not joined the promo had scored access to the event for free. If that didn’t sting enough, some influencers rubbed salt in the wound by responding unsympathetically to fan comments that called them out.

Disclaimer: Everyone wants clout on the Internet, everyone wants to get into cool places. (Even me!) But creating content for the Internet is a job. You don’t get free stuff and invites to events because you’re such A Special Person – you get free stuff and invites because it’s a business transaction. Sure, it wasn’t your fault that you were offered access to an exclusive event, and fine, if you feel you must go, then go – but don’t lose sight of the fact that it’s because it’s your job to create publicity.

Famous personalities who were asked for a response to the incident could have just shown solidarity with the victims, rather than invalidating the fiasco because they got to be part of the fun. Instead of constantly insisting that it wasn’t your fault you got lucky, just say it was part of your job, and move on.

 

8 – Remember the legs we stand on

Shopee’s grab for influencer support that sidelined the ordinary BLACKPINK fan (while simultaneously taking thousands of pesos of their hard-earned money) can leave us with one other thing: perhaps it’s time to rethink the value we place on influencer culture.

Face it, celebrities wouldn’t be here if there weren’t fans who tirelessly edit content, create dedicated accounts, and make so much noise on the ground. During scams like these, it’s like they’re fighting the social media algorithm, but they’re losing in real life. They’re the real heroes of marketing, and perhaps we should be giving them a fair shot at brushing elbows with their idols – instead of eagerly taking their money then shutting the door of opportunity in their faces.

*The views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the original author. These views and opinions do not necessarily represent those of the 8List.ph.

 

What’s your take on the whole thing? Tell us below!

 


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Reina Regina is the author of the poetry book Please Pick Me. She's also a professional tarot reader, Instagram creator, book reviewer, and former nurse. She talks tarot and tells tiny stories daily on instagram.com/reinaxregina.

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