Jindi Chocolate marketing campaign triggers backlash over suggestive content
Jindi Chocolate faced public backlash after a marketing campaign for its Gold Bear chocolate featured the slogan "Little bear becomes big? Is this what you can hold!" which was perceived as having sexual innuendo. The company attributed the issue to automatic optimization by the social media platform's system but faced criticism for inadequate content oversight and attempting to blame AI.
What happened
In February 2025, Jindi Chocolate published a product note on Xiaohongshu for its Gold Bear chocolate in response to user feedback that the reproduced product appeared smaller than the original. The company intended to clarify that the new product was a 1:1 replica with no size reduction.
The Xiaohongshu Qianfan advertising platform's automatic optimization feature recombined the product note's text and images, generating and displaying the content as a large-text poster with the slogan 'Little bear becomes big? Is this what you can hold!' This phrasing was perceived by users as having sexual innuendo.
On January 12, 2026, Jindi Chocolate released an apology statement acknowledging inadequate control over the advertising placement process and responsibility for the misunderstanding caused.
Reported impact
The campaign sparked significant public backlash and criticism on social media, with consumers expressing disappointment and stating they would not purchase the product.
Index analysis
The company initially attributed the problematic content display to the platform's automatic optimization system, but critics argued this was an attempt to blame AI and neglected Jindi's responsibility for inadequate final content review and monitoring.
Analysis indicated that the original materials submitted by Jindi already contained the phrase 'is this what you can hold,' suggesting the issue extended beyond the system's automatic recombination of elements.
Governance controls
Jindi announced immediate suspension of all Xiaohongshu Qianfan advertising for the Gold Bear chocolate product line and established a specialized team to comprehensively audit the advertising system for risks.
The company committed to establishing a full-process review mechanism for marketing content with clearly defined responsibility checkpoints before, during, and after advertising placement.
Classification
Sources and evidence
Sources not yet published
This record was researched and written by the Index from original reporting. Its sources are still being verified by an editor, and they are listed here once that check is complete. Until then the record carries no reviewer.