A Xiaomi Group Leader Called Young People Losers, Had To Resign Due To People's Rage

The incident happened during the 20th AmCham China Annual Human Resources Conference on November 21. Wang Mei, the vice managing director and vice president of Xiaomi’s Qinghe University, said in her speech that: Xiami believes that in the future, who holds Diaosi will control the world, be young and reach out to the world.

However, the word “Diaosi” is slang in Chinese, commonly used to ironically mention young people that are considered losers with unattractive appearances and no social statuses. Netizens often use this slang to mock each other, the word is considered discriminatory and disrespectful.

Obviously, Mei didn’t mean to insult anyone. What she meant was that young people will be core consumers and the company will make products to meet their needs.

Nevertheless, internet users in China thought differently. As soon as the speech went live, it caused a huge rage, even among Xiaomi fans.

“Do you mean losers use Xiaomi products?”

“Holding a Redmi on my hands and listening to that, I just want to throw the phone away.”

Some even thought that Wang Mei’s statement not only disrespected fans and users but also showed conflict with the current situation when Xiaomi is trying to transform from a maker of cheap phones into a maker of premium phones.

A user commented: “Xiaomi has succeeded in dragging itself back to the low-end phone range.”

The matter got so intense that Xiaomi had to make a press release on November 25, stating that Wang Mei regrets causing so much damage from her reckless statement to fans and users. She decided to resign and the company approved.

Wang Mei also made a pubic apology in her response, saying that the statement was her own mistake and not relevant or representative of the company’s viewpoint and perspective.

“Please don’t have a wrong idea of Xiaomi,” she said.

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