The main station undercuts the MCN organization's "violent calling" routine

Recently, a batch of short videos with topics such as "cancellation of takeout" and "removal of takeout" have appeared on social platforms, attracting widespread attention. These videos are obviously templated and are often mass-produced by multiple accounts in a short period of time. What seems to be the statement and appeal of individual catering businesses is actually a public opinion gimmick concocted by the MCN organization, which understands that "emotion is traffic".

The short videos copied in batches are from "Brother Betelang"

Creating gimmicks just to attract traffic

Not long ago, on the short video platform, a set of shooting templates of only a few seconds was copied in batches. There is no oral broadcast, no dialogue, the picture is almost static, and the slightly rough visual presentation attracts netizens to leave a large number of messages in the comment area.

The account of a beef noodle restaurant operating in Yibin, Sichuan presented a more conflicting picture - two clerks "escorted" another operator, who wore a black plastic bag on his head and made a squatting posture, pointing his fingers to the words on the banner.

The reporter went to a branch of the beef noodle restaurant and asked how the short video was created. The on-site clerk said that the idea was provided by professional operators, and the purpose was to push it to the "city" page of the short video platform to attract netizens to eat noodles in the store.

The reporter searched on the short video platform and found that another restaurant in Yibin also posted a short video with the same template. The owner of the restaurant revealed that he only hosted banquets and never offered takeout. The idea of ​​making short videos came from the video account operator "Brother Betelang".

Another restaurant that has released a short video with the same template is a semi-open stall. There are only three tables in the outdoor area in front of the door, so the dining space is quite limited. When the reporter visited, a rider came to pick up the takeaway.

The restaurant clerk admitted that the store has always had takeout business and posted this short video because the boss joined an association. The "association" mentioned by this clerk appears in every banner of the short video with the same template - "Sichuan Boat Club".

The “same boat party” for shooting such videos

What's the origin?

The reporter's investigation found that the accounts posting relevant videos were not limited to the catering industry. The owner of a clothing store also held up the same banner in the video. The clerk of this clothing store confirmed that the company where the Sichuan Boat Club is located is the company that operates their store’s short video account.

What is "Sichuan Boat Club"? In a short video featuring Brother Binlang, he and his partners introduced the business scope of the "Sichuan Boat Club": "Let the boss spend the least time and the least money to get the maximum traffic!"

The reporter finally contacted Brother Betelang in the video through the recommendation of the merchants he visited, and came to Sichuan Shizhou Culture Media Co., Ltd., which operates the "Sichuan Boat Club", on the grounds of consulting marketing business. The Betel nut brother also revealed to reporters his "violent calling" routine.

Brother Binlang introduced that he is responsible for "starting accounts" for physical merchants and attracting traffic. Partner "Brother Waizui" trains the self-operation skills of short videos and live broadcasts. The founder Lao Lei comes from the real estate industry. The three plan to continuously expand through the community and build a commission platform that gathers resources from various industries.

Facing the reporter's inquiry about marketing for physical restaurants, Brother Binlang suggested that he could first run an account through his team for 3,800 yuan a month, publish 15 videos, and control the traffic. The shooting template of "cancel takeout, cancel live broadcast" is exactly the "starting tool" that he personally tested and used.

If a restaurant is unwilling to give up its takeout and live broadcast business, wouldn't it be inconsistent with the content of "cancel takeout and cancel live broadcast" spread by short videos? Brother Binlang said frankly that it does not matter whether "words and deeds are consistent". "Only with public opinion can there be traffic."

Legal experts: The content spread in such short videos may be illegal

The reporter combed through and found that, in fact, this is not the first time that topics related to "cancel takeout" have been used to divert traffic or even make profits, and the "Sichuan Boat Club" is not the only relevant MCN company.

There are also some short videos with the copywriting "I am delisting the food delivery platform under my real name and calling on my colleagues to delist it as soon as possible". The traffic they bring eventually leads to paid training courses and shop intermediary business of an organization called "Fuyuan Shop Search". The above-mentioned accounts are mostly named after "Fuyuan Shop + City Name + Nickname", forming an obvious account matrix. They are both communication channels and tools for business transformation.

The reporter checked public information and found that some MCN organizations or marketing accounts used controversial topics to mass-produce false content to attract attention, and then used the traffic to sell courses or promote commercial services. There has been a precedent of being dealt with by relevant departments.

According to the "Notice on Strengthening the Management of "We-Media"" issued by the Central Cyberspace Administration of China, when "self-media" publishes information related to public policies, social events, etc., website platforms should require them to accurately label the source of the information and display it in a prominent position when publishing.

Legal experts said that some of the content published in such short videos may be suspected of being illegal. In addition to the platform's need to delete relevant information in a timely manner and include it in the information database, the publishers of such rumor information, especially the MCN organizations behind them, should also bear relevant legal responsibilities, including closing accounts.

In addition, Tang Zheng, a researcher at the Journalism and Social Development Research Center of Renmin University of China, said that to deal with such problems, we cannot just delete a single video. Content platforms should move the focus of management forward and proactively identify cases with common characteristics such as simultaneous posting of multiple accounts, highly similar copywriting, and ultimately leading to course sales or other unjust enrichment, and cut off the interest chain of "creating confrontation-obtaining traffic-selling courses-unjust enrichment". The most important thing is to combat the organized efforts to create false buzz, manipulate public perception and profit from it.