LEXI'S THINKING SPACE

My day begins with scrolling through Xiaohongshu while I’m still in bed. I watch videos that my friends shared with me from the night before. I then reply to these videos with reactions to keep our digital ‘friendship spark’ (an icon appearing in the conversation). Throughout the day, I will also share videos and content that I find interesting with my friends.

I think this is a perfect example of relational labour as I actively maintain connections throughout the course of my day to ensure my relationships stay intact in the digital world.

Getting up from my bed and I open the curtain realising that it is a sunny day, I then take a photo and post it on Instagram Stories to share my joy. I believe this is emotional labour.

Instagram is a very personal and private space for me and my close friends to express joy and vent frustrations, the likes and replies from my friends are a form of emotional support for me, BUT, I think they also represent data points that Instagram’s algorithms can profit from.

Sometimes in the afternoon, I usually check on Linkedin to stay updated on the industry trends I’m interested in. I also check updates from my ex-company, previous mentors and alumni to keep my professional network active – Sometimes, I comment, and sometimes I just like the post.

I also repost university content mentioning my work and update my profiles with my latest status. The labour I perform here is hope labour in which I’m investing time and efforts to construct a professional image that can lead to future employment opportunities. It’s unpaid, but it’s driven by the hope of my long-term professional goals. 

November has come to an end, so I scroll through my photo album to create a post on WeChat Moments. I choose photos of beautiful landscapes I travelled to and the friends I met in November, and then carefully curate a caption that shows my positivity towards life and also my language skills.

WeChat is a platform that connects my entire social ecosystem: my family, friends, co-workers, mentors, etc. Hence, I believe this involves self-fashioning labour by creating and maintaining a positive, multifaceted image for my intimate, social and professional relationships. 

Some Reflections…

The platforms extract immense profit from my data—monetising my habits, interactions, and emotions—while my “rewards” are limited to intangible benefits like validation and connection. Am I adequately rewarded? Not quite. The value I generate far outweighs what I receive in return. This is the paradox of social media labour—unpaid yet undeniably productive.

London has been getting really cold recently. As someone who spent 13 years living in Southeast Asia, where summer is the only season, I caught a severe cold…while having to write my final papers of the semester…

Half of the medicines I brought to London are ‘999感冒灵’ (999 Cold Remedy), a national medicine brand in China that we always go to whenever we feel ill – It feels like a safety net. 

In March 2022, ‘999 Cold Remedy’ launched a campaign, ‘Planting the Seeds of Spring.’

The Narratives: 种春天 ‘Planting the Seeds of Spring.’

The video tells four real-personal stories based on life struggles:

The Customer Service Lady faces harassment from a male customer but has to continue to endure it silently due to work pressures.

The Printing Shop Owner is stuck in a monotonous routine; the mundane work drained out his passion for life. Therefore, he starts to ignore customers and displays unfriendly attitudes.

The Socially Anxious Girl is misunderstood as a rude person for hesitating to hold an elevator door as she is afraid of engaging in any form of social interaction.

The Grieving Father is struggling to cope with the loss of his son, he surrounds himself with his son’s belongings, completely drowning in the overwhelming sorrow.

Each character is stuck in a metaphorical winter—cold, isolated, and overwhelmed with challenges. 

> The transitions: Through small acts of kindness and human connection, they encounter changes. The customer service lady helps a blind woman order a ‘999 Cold Remedy’ with professionalism and care, receiving a 5-star rating with sincere gratitude. The printing shop owner offers a student with financial difficulties free service, receiving a thank you note that sparks joy and hope in his work. The socially anxious girl made a brave step to help a neighbour who locked herself in the bathroom, forming a new friendship. Lastly, the grieving father finds comfort by hanging out with his son’s friend, sharing memories of his son. 

These tiny moments of care and empathy bring about a transformation from ‘winter’ to ‘spring. This then brings out the brand message:  Simple acts of warmth can plant seeds of hope and recovery in the coldest lives.

Why This Video Works

The video uses a typical storytelling technique by showing struggles first, then ends with uplifting and emotional narratives that deeply resonate with the audience. The whole video does not show a strong focus on selling products or introducing the product; it highlights the concept of warmth and renewal, which is a perfect metaphor for the function of ‘999 Cold Remedy’. 

From a branded content perspective, this video fits into Jonathan Hardy’s concept of “integration without separation.”  The video does not simply represent ‘999 Cold Remedy’ as a product, it seamlessly integrates the brand values of care, trust and renewal into a compelling story. In this case, the audience is invited to connect with the stories and emotions sent in the video and thus, connect with the brand. 

A National Household Medicine in China: Healing Beyond Health

Being a national brand, 999 has built generations of trust in Chinese households. To most people, it’s not just a medicine but a cultural touchstone that delivers care and love equally as health. The brand has been able to build an image that connects with emotional warmth in the product.  

_{(*Explainer note here so I don’t confuse you to think that this is a magical cure to all illnesses: the medical ingredients are all very common Chinese medicines and paracetamol that you can get anywhere over the counter)} 

For me personally, ‘999 Cold Remedy’ is a remedy I go for whenever I feel sick; as a kid back home, living in Singapore through my teenage years and now studying halfway across the world in London. It has a pleasant taste, and I’m always sure that the next day after drinking it, I will feel much better – It’s a sense of safety and familiarity during fragile moments. I can tell that this video campaign understands this emotional attachment from the audience and has delivered it in this video campaign. 

Broader Trends: The Rise of Emotional Branded Content

“Donaton (2004) asserts that the alliance of advertising and entertainment media is a means to repair the damaged business models of both. Branded entertainment is vital to save the media and marketing communication industries. We are witnessing, says Donaton, a fundamental transformation of the business of marketing communications from an intrusion-based marketing economy to an invitation-based model. This represents a shift of power from communicators to consumers.”​ 

Jonathan Hardy 

The video campaign sheds light on a shift in advertising towards “invitation-based engagement.” Successful brand campaigns like the ‘999 Cold Remedy’ call for consumers to engage through narratives with emotional connection. Furthermore, driven by the convergence of paid, earned, shared, and owned media—the PESO model, this video is also a reflection of a larger transition in the advertising industries in China.

Recently, the clay effect filter went viral across social media platforms; what it does is to transform a real picture into a clay figured character by the AI function embedded in photo editing apps.

So I tried putting one of my favourite female characters from the movie ‘YOLO’ into the app, and the transformation was striking… 

I expected the result to be funny-looking but never expected it to render her into a complete male figure? I searched up online to see if others encountered the same problem as me, maybe it was a technical problem within the app?

As I see more users posting and joking about this problem, something strikes me: Is it a hidden bias within the AI system and has nothing to do with technical issues?

My Thoughts and Analysis

The photo I uploaded to the system shows a strong, determined woman with a muscular build and an intense demeanour, which challenges the stereotypical image of a woman. Therefore the AI connected these features to a male character.  

AI algorithms are designed and constructed by humans, so this wasn’t a technical error—it was a bias of societal values encoded in the technology.

AI Doesn’t Make Decisions In A Vacuum

“Search results reflect the values and norms of the search company’s commercial partners and advertisers and often reflect our lowest and most demeaning beliefs”

Safiya Noble

As mentioned in Algorithms of Oppression, the output from AI is shaped and influenced by training data, algorithms and the potential biases of the engineers who develop it. Therefore, no technology is completely objective and provides neutral results, it can mirror societal norms and inequalities. 

The Bigger Picture: Misrepresentation and Erasure

As I engaged in more research on this topic, I realised there are multiple AI photo generator tools with the same behaviour: Turning a short-hair woman into a man, a back view photo of a person is by default recognised as a man, woman character without makeup is rendered with makeups and nail polish…… 

_{Clay filter by Remini}^

_{Clay filter by Meitu}^

I think this reflects a much broader issue: AI systems often misrepresent or erase identities that do not align with mainstream norms.

Noble’s critique of search engine algorithms highlights that these systems often reinforce historical and cultural biases, resulting in a perpetuation of the marginalisation of underrepresented groups. In the case of the clay effect filter, the transformation of female to male evidences the failure of these systems to recognise the wider diversity of femininity. 

Why Does It Even Matter?

This is where I want to bring the theory I mentioned in my previous blog. The AI system is embedded everywhere into our everyday tools and applications, tools like these photo editing apps and trends like this clay filter on social media operate within the ‘economy of visibility’ (Banet-Weiser, 2018). They are built to cater to popular cultural norms to attract wider audiences and that perpetuates the invisibility of the diverse appearance and value of femininity. 

What Can We Do Then?

The next time an AI tool provides you with a result that makes you feel wrong or uncomfortable, stop and question it, or even report it to the developer. Every conversation about these small glitches helps us to better construct technology that truly works for humans and represents humans. 

I spent most of my life living and studying in Singapore (where the Netlix’s APEC headquarter is located), watching shows on netflix almost felt like a natural part of life — something we simply took for granted? 

In 2019, I returned to China for an eight-month-long holiday after completing my ‘A’ Levels, I realised Netflix is not officially available back home… criessss

Netflix’s Presence in China

Netflix is available in over 190 countries, but not in China. This is because foreign media content is heavily monitored in China to ensure it aligns with cultural, political, and social standards. Hence Companies like Netflix need special licenses to operate, and their content must comply with regulations on censorship. 

On the other hand, China has very established domestic streaming platforms like Tencent Video, IQIYI and Youku, almost dominating the market. Thus making Netflix extremely challenging to enter the market. 

So Netflix chose a different approach: It licensed some of the shows to Chinese streaming platforms that aligned with Chinese cultural and political expectations. 

_{‘Stranger Things’ available on IQIYI’} ^

How Do People Watch Netflix Content in China

2019 was when ‘Sex Education’ gained viral popularity, and there was no way for China to allow shows with LGBT and teenage sex content to stream on Chinese platforms. I was already watching the show halfway back in Singapore, so I had to find a way to access it.  

VPNs, also known as Virtual Private Networks, are the go-to solutions for people who study/work overseas to access restricted foreign platforms in China, including Google, emails, and, of course, Netflix. 

How it works: VPNs allow users to bypass China’s internet restrictions – the Great Firewall and access Netflix as if they were in another country.

This is the VPN I currently have on my phone and laptop. There are various country network routes for you to select and connect to. If I want to access the Singapore library of content for Netflix, I simply connect to the Singapore Route. However, you will have to pay for most of these VPNs, and they are not always stable. 

It’s like a cat-and-mouse game. China is realising the issue with VPNs and is actively monitoring and blocking these applications. Thus, no one VPN can work consistently.

Creative Alternatives to consume Netflix content

‘视频搬运’ (video reposting) and ‘解说’ (commentary) on social media platforms like Bilibili, Xiaohongshu and Douyin have emerged as popular methods for audiences to consume global media content while navigating local restrictions. 

‘视频搬运’  is a process of people downloading foreign content from platforms like Netflix or YouTube and re-uploading it to Chinese social media platforms. These uploads are often edited to remove sensitive content and add Chinese subtitles that comply with the local regulatory requirements.

‘解说’, on the other hand, provides summarised versions with comments on foreign content. Creators usually edit the key moments of the show together to tell the entire story in a condensed 5-10-minute video. In this case, the audience does not need to watch the entire show to understand its main narrative. 

A Critical Political Economy Perspective

“Who can say what, in what form, to whom, for what purposes, and with what effect are determined by and in part determine the structure of economic, political, and cultural power in a society”

Nicholas Garnham

All these alternatives to viewing foreign content can be viewed through the lens of the critical political economy of communication, which emphasizes how power structures shape the production, distribution, and consumption of media. These are typical examples of how local audiences in China navigate through these power dynamics, altering global media content into formats that align with their restricted environment.

Some Final thoughts

While these alternative solutions to access global media content highlight the ingenuity of how Chinese audiences navigate and overcome local restrictions, they also raise concerns about intellectual property and media ethics. I guess this is where it also sheds light on the complex relationship between cultural exchange, regulation, and media economics in a globalized yet fragmented media landscape.

Have you ever stopped to watch a sex toy ad and then it left you feeling pleasantly surprised rather than shamed?

I was scrolling through Xiaohongshu the other day and an ad from OSUGA, a Chinese female sexual toy brand, caught my attention. This is not the kind of ad that slaps bold messaging directly to your face, but instead it sheds light on a largely undiscussed topic in China with elegance: Women’s sexual wellness. 

‘Give the world a little vibration’ is an ad by OSUGA in December 2023. The ad included elements that vibrate from everyday life such as electric toothbrushes, toys, phones, motors, and trampolines to deliver the concept that ‘If our lives do not have vibration, we would lose almost half of the joys.’ 

Open discussion on ‘Give the world a little vibration’

The appearance of the products and texts related to ‘sex’ are all very subtle, and the video used soft warm lights in visuals and serene music in the background to create a peaceful and comforting vibe. What got me really intrigued was that this ad does not deliver messages like “Hey look, this is a sex toy!”. It feels like the ad is trying to redefine the narratives around women’s sexual wellness in a way that is empowering, comfortable and elegant. The focus here is not about the products, it’s about shifting perspectives.

Of course, from the point of its commercial interest, I believe this is a strategic approach to align the brand with empowerment and wellness, making the product more approachable and resonant with the audience. 

And guess what? I quickly read through the comment section of the video and did further research about people’s reactions to it — People are not turning away, they are leaning in with curiosity and opening a conversation that is long overdue. 

Cultural Tension in China

With a more progressive attitude in most developed cities in China, sex is already a topic for open discussion. Conversation around relationships, intimacy and sexual awareness are becoming common, and even commercialised. You can read more about this attitude change from Sexuality in China: A review and new findings — Princeton University. 

However, topics on women’s sexual wellness remain stigmatised. Discussions about women’s pleasure at sex are still met with discomfort and dismissal, especially among the older generations who are deeply influenced by the Confucian values of modesty and restraint. Sadly, the more empowered younger generations including myself sometimes still feel uncomfortable when we discuss a topic like this, and I guess this comes from the subtle influences of our parents…

I think OSUGA realised this issue and acknowledged it in the ad. 

The ad focuses on self-care and pleasure being an essential part of wellness instead of the sex toy product, shedding light on this topic in a subtly and caring way. Therefore the female audiences who are just starting to embrace this conversation can deeply resonate with it while feeling cared and assured.  

The Backlash: Popular Feminism and Misogyny

Being confident doesn’t mean being shameless.”

– Comment from a Xiaohongshu user

Of course, an ad like this would face criticisms, and that highlights the ongoing “terrain of struggle” within feminist discourse. Critics questioned the content of this ad being inappropriate and shameless. This shows how misogyny often pops up whenever feminism makes progress, especially when it starts to challenge cultural norms.

“If you want to empower women, why not be more direct?”  

– Another comment under the same ad from Xiaohongshu

At the same time, OSUGA’s ad exists in “economy of visibility,” where these subtle feminist messages gain attention but are often criticised for being tied to consumerism as it does not challenge the real societal problem nor state any practical solutions. 

The relationship between popular feminism and popular misogyny is deeply entwined: popular feminism and popular misogyny battle it out on the contemporary cultural landscape, living side by side as warring, constantly moving contexts in an economy of visibility.”

Sarah Banet-Weiser

The Bigger Picture: Feminism in China

The OSUGA ad is part of the perspective shift currently undergoing in China, I don’t see the backlash as a fully negative thing as it always reminds us that feminism is a work in progress. 

Structural changes are definitely vital to achieving true equality. While there are criticisms of popular feminism, at the beginning stage of recognising such a topic in China, being able to spark such a public conversation is an influential first move. It’s a crucial step towards a future where women’s sexual wellness can be an open topic — they’re just a normal part of life.

Question: Can subtlety like this spark real change, or does it risk watering down the message?

Leave your thoughts in the comment section, and keep the conversation going….