In this article:
- What happened to Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai?
- Why what the WTA did should matter to brands
- How your brand can win by emulating the WTA
Late last year, a social media post from one of tennis’s finest double’s players, Peng Shuai, rocked the sporting world What followed altered how the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) would protect its players — establishing a new standard of brand values. This article outlines what brands can learn from Peng Shuai and the WTA post scandal. Let’s start with the background.
What happened to Peng Shuai?
On November 2nd, 2021, Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai posted on social media about the sexual misconduct she suffered at the hand of prominent former Chinese Communist Party member, Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli.
Peng Shui’s Weibo post accusing Zhang Gaoli of sexual misconduct from the New York Times
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What followed was orchestrated censorship. The post was taken down within 20 minutes, hundreds of keywords were banned from search results, and — most disturbingly — the tennis star disappeared.
The tennis world immediately responded. From men’s world number one Novak Djokovic to the GOAT Serena Williams, current and former players, commentators, and journalists spoke out, many taking to Twitter to voice their concerns via the #whereispengshui hastag.
But the response didn’t stop at social media. Steve Simon, president of the WTA, demanded a thorough investigation and to speak to Peng Shuai. If China didn’t meet the terms, Simon was willing to do the unthinkable: break off the tour’s business dealings with China — a relationship worth hundreds of millions.
The Chinese government didn’t comply.
In a move that constituted “the strongest public stand against China taken by a sports body,” Simon responded by suspending all WTA events in the country.
Why the WTA’s actions should matter to brands
While the outcry from the tennis community was a thing of beauty to witness, the way Steve Simon and the WTA responded to the Peng Shuai crisis may be a watershed moment in how businesses live their values.
Over the last five years, consumer expectations around how brands engage with social issues have shifted dramatically. Perhaps seeing corporations as having the same societal obligations as prominent individuals, a critical mass of consumers are demanding that companies extend their impact beyond goods and services. They want the companies they love to do what they can to make the world a better place.
While some attempts to connect to this core element of the millennial zeitgeist have failed — Pepsi’s “Live for Now” campaign comes to mind — the WTA’s has set a new example by which brands may be judged moving forward. Their stand for women’s rights wasn’t technically innovative or a shining example of ad creative, it was just authentic. The WTA wanted to protect its players, and they were willing to truly sacrifice to do it.
The strength of their stand may have been the reason Peng Shaui resurfaced alive — albeit likely not free — 19 days after her disappearance. It’s also the reason the New York Times called Simon “the most talked-about leader in sports.”
How your brand can stand out by standing up
While many brands have certainly shifted their messaging in light of emerging consumer expectations around humanitarian and social justice issues, it’s rare to see those commitments make their way into actual stands. What’s more common is for immediate business concerns to outweigh moral considerations, like when the NBA threw Houston Rockets GM Daryl Morey under the bus for supporting the protesters in Hong Kong.
But Steven Simon has provided a roadmap for breaking brand slacktivism and corporate kowtowing by backing up words with deeds.
It’s not for the faint of heart, but it is one of the best ways brands can set themselves apart in a market where style posing as substance has reached its limits.