Zhao Dong stood in the perspective of consumers being God and felt that he had been backstabbed by Hunan Provincial TV.
He wanted to make trouble for Hunan Provincial TV, but Director Fan preempted him by having someone halt the broadcast of Silan’s advertisements on the station.
With Silan embroiled in such a major scandal, if the television station continued airing its ads, would that not be aiding and abetting evil?
The advertisements had to be taken down.
As for the advertising fees Silan had already paid, according to the contract they did not need to be refunded. After all, Silan had engaged in false advertising first, so it counted as Silan breaching the contract.
“We are merely the platform for broadcasting advertisements. There is no way for us to monitor the quality of the advertised products.”
At an internal meeting of the television station, Director Fan conducted a profound self-criticism. “However, this incident has taught us a lesson. In future work, we must be more cautious!”
Director Fan truly was a master performer.
Hunan Provincial TV was not Director Fan’s personal fiefdom. There were quite a few people who did not get along with him, such as Liang Dan.
Liang Dan pretended to be puzzled. “Director Fan, you have already been very cautious. Whether Silan’s products actually have problems has not yet been conclusively determined. There are no inspection reports—”
Director Fan, with a pained expression, interrupted Liang Dan. “Compared to inspection reports, I trust consumers’ actual experiences more. Xiao Liang, we cannot sacrifice the conscience of media professionals for the sake of advertising revenue!”
Director Fan delivered a righteous lesson to Liang Dan.
Was Liang Dan convinced?
Of course not.
Yet Liang Dan had no way to deal with Director Fan.
After the episode on the “Silan rights-protection incident” aired, it sparked considerable social repercussions. Before this, outsiders had called Hunan Provincial TV an “entertainment station” that would entertain to death for ratings. Colleagues in the industry looked down on it to some extent.
In fact, Hunan Provincial TV also produced serious news programmes, but their viewership was overshadowed by talent shows, idol dramas, and variety programmes. Audiences had little recollection of the station’s serious news output.
The “Silan rights-protection incident” let the outside world see that Hunan Provincial TV could not only produce this type of news programme but could do it very well.
Stepping on a social hotspot was not impressive. What truly mattered was deeply analysing the pain points of related social news and daring to say what others would not. That was the conscience of a media professional.
In terms of reputation, Director Fan’s operation was flawless.
As for economic benefits, once a news programme gained viewership, would it lack advertising clients?
Pulling Silan’s advertisements freed up slots for other clients. Director Fan won reputation without losing revenue. Apart from a minority like Liang Dan who would nitpick, the station’s leadership was very satisfied.
As soon as the meeting ended on Liang Dan’s side, Manager Guan’s call came through.
“How did the meeting go? Is the station really going to let Old Fan mess around like this?”
The failure of Crown of Thorns had caused Manager Guan enormous financial losses. Although his company would not go bankrupt, it had still lost nearly twenty million.
Twenty million was no small sum. For Manager Guan’s company, it was a huge blow. Even larger entertainment companies would suffer greatly from such a loss. The most infuriating part was that Crown of Thorns had no chance to air at all.
Wen Ying’s accusation of plagiarism against Blue Whale had only halted filming of Crown of Thorns. In theory, Manager Guan could have countersued Blue Whale for compensation. The original work was one thing, the adaptation another. Some film companies, knowing the source material was plagiarised, would still push ahead and broadcast the adaptation, preferring to be cursed by audiences than to lose their investment.
Manager Guan had wanted to do exactly that.
But Director Fan, that treacherous old fox, had signed a contract with Manager Guan stipulating that Crown of Thorns could only be sold to Hunan Provincial TV for broadcast. Director Fan stubbornly refused to air a plagiarised drama, claiming fear of being sued alongside by Wen Ying. With filming nearly complete, Crown of Thorns was stuck in limbo and could only be suspended indefinitely.
By this point, how could Manager Guan not realise he had been played by Director Fan and Wen Ying together? He hated both of them intensely. Whenever Wen Ying was criticised, regardless of whether it concerned Manager Guan, he would spend his own money to hire water armies to pile on. This time was no exception.
As for Director Fan.
Hiring water armies was useless against him.
Manager Guan had even tried using money and women to corrupt Director Fan, hoping to seize a handle and pull him down. He had attempted it several times, but Director Fan never took the bait.
Manager Guan very much wanted to hear something damaging about Director Fan from Liang Dan. Liang Dan replied irritably, “It was just Old Fan’s personal glorification meeting. What can anyone do about him? Unless he makes several more mistakes, his position is secure!”
Director Fan’s background was not particularly strong, but his professional ability was outstanding, or perhaps he was simply lucky. Every decision seemed unremarkable at the time but proved correct in hindsight.
With Director Fan’s current momentum, even buying a few dramas with average ratings would not matter. No one could guarantee every drama would be a hit, and the station leadership would not trouble him over it.
Moreover, most of the dramas Director Fan had approved for purchase had exploded in viewership.
Recently, Director Fan had negotiated another drama with Jiaxin Film and Television, the first adaptation of a bestselling romance author, Shui Mingyue, known as the little queen of romance. Hunan Provincial TV held an internal preview screening and was very optimistic about its ratings potential.
Old Fan was about to gloat again.
Old Fan always managed to acquire these dramas.
Those useless lot at Oriental TV had collaborated with Jiaxin multiple times. Why could they not outbid Old Fan?
Liang Dan pressed her lips tightly together. “Old Fan has pulled Silan’s advertisements. Now we wait to see if Silan will cause trouble for him.”
If Silan did not make a fuss, would that not be tantamount to admitting their products had issues?
Condemning Silan’s products without relevant inspection reports felt to Liang Dan like Director Fan had acted too hastily.
Manager Guan, however, was delighted. “Hasty is good. If he is not hasty, how can we grab his pigtail?”
Silan had to make a scene.
Manager Guan and Zhao Dong were old acquaintances. They had collaborated before when Manager Guan wanted to deal with Xu Mei and Zhao Dong wanted to block the broadcast of Alley People. Both had been full of confidence, only for the key “witness” Cao Bo to turn against them at the press conference, foiling their plans.
It was Manager Guan who had helped Zhao Dong secure the advertising slots on Hunan Provincial TV for Silan.
Even if Manager Guan did not call Zhao Dong, Zhao Dong would hold him accountable.
Since they were allies, how could Manager Guan not give Zhao Dong a heads-up?
Naturally, Manager Guan swore oaths and pushed all blame onto Director Fan, cursing him as an old schemer who deliberately kept Liang Dan in the dark while plotting.
“Old Fan just bought a drama from Jiaxin.”
Manager Guan shifted responsibility. “I recall you do not get along with Jiaxin…”
So it was Zhao Dong’s own failure to be on guard.
Zhao Dong was rendered speechless.
As a film and television company, Jiaxin naturally sold its productions. Shui Mingyue’s adaptation was not produced by Jiaxin; they had taken it on later. Zhao Dong had paid no attention to which station it would sell to.
He had never imagined that selling the drama was merely the surface and that Jiaxin had bundled it with a news programme exposing Silan.
Manager Guan egged Zhao Dong on to cause trouble with Hunan Provincial TV, and Zhao Dong thought the same.
If Zhao Dong did not confront Hunan Provincial TV, it would be as good as admitting the news report was true.
What did they mean by advertisements involving false propaganda?
Speaking carelessly carried legal consequences.
Bang, bang, bang!
The office door was knocked urgently.
Zhuo Chen pushed it open with a grave expression. “Quick, look at that beauty influencer’s blog.”
Zhao Dong’s heart sank. Without hanging up on Manager Guan, he rushed to the computer.
The beauty influencer’s blog had indeed been updated.
The latest post displayed several inspection reports for Silan products that the influencer had previously submitted for testing.
Several ingredients were specially circled in red.
“These additives are explicitly banned in several foreign countries. Not only does Silan use them across its entire product line, but it adds them in excess!”
They wanted inspection reports? Here they were, hammered with evidence.
The phone in Zhao Dong’s hand crashed onto the desk, emitting a harsh busy tone. Manager Guan on the other end had quietly hung up at some point.
The tide had turned. In Manager Guan’s eyes, Zhao Dong no longer held value.
Zhao Dong looked up at Zhuo Chen as though clutching at the last straw. “Mr Xie will not stand by and watch me die, will he? I have actually long felt I hold too many shares and wanted to transfer some to you.”
