China’s ride hailing giant Didi Chuxing got a little creative in trying to repair its reputation. Didi made its own version of a roast show, in which comedians and celebrities mock each other on stage. The format has gained popularity in China.
The Didi roast put company president Jean Liu on stage with three product managers, where they were roasted by three comedians and a Didi driver, who mostly made jokes about passengers. They included jokes on price discrimination, passenger-driver conflicts and how it always takes too long to hail a ride with Didi. Liu and the managers also got up and made jokes mostly about themselves.
But the show, which aired on Tencent Video last week, apparently did not impress authorities. State broadcaster CCTV said in a commentary that comedians, drivers and product managers cannot represent most users. It added that Didi was beating around the bush when addressing problems brought up in the show. People need more pragmatic solutions from the company, the article concluded.