If DoorDash recently launched a “Bag Chat” featuring animatronics characters, Meituan, the Chinese super-app, is competing by having a coffee chat featuring Lu Xun, a famous author in Chinese history! Read on for the scoop.
Patron saint of stressed-out office workers
Lu Xun kept his image during his lifetime as one of China’s greatest authors. But, this time, he is playing dress-up as “the patron saint of stressed-out office workers” in China. Yes, through a Meituan-hosted coffee chat. No, it’s not like the ghosts in the “Harry Potter” series.
Office stress in China is real. According to studies, almost30 percent of the respondents in their survey experienced burnout, anxiety, and depression at work. So, Meituan is seeking to end that work-related stress. Through a coffee chat.
The “Have a Coffee Chat with Mr. Lu Xun” generates AI versions of the famous author, and instead of basically playing the role of an author, he becomes a workplace therapist for young consumers. This discovery sounds great!
This happens in Shanghai
Accessible in several areas, Shanghai is the setting of the coffee chat. Why Shanghai? Well, this is since it was the writer’s old haunt.
Famous for its luxury and its culturally-loaded café spots around the city where there will be interactive screens through which the people can communicate with the AI version of the author.
The coffee chat is in question-and-answer format, and people can also take images with the author.
Meituan is also making sure that this will be trending. When people share campaign images of the experience online, they may receive a limited-edition vest cup colored with the shades of purple, inspired by Lu Xun’s signature look. They may also receive novelty merchandise items like mustache-shaped coffee straws and Early Zao coffee coasters.
Aside from the coffee chat itself, there is also a short film pairing the author’s quotes with the all-too-familiar workplace frustrations: complaints about exhausting office dinners, impossible management demands, and – ironically – anxieties that the author-therapist will answer.
Get to know Lu Xun
Lu Xun is a mustachioed leading 20th-century Chinese writer and critic, known for his essays in China’s historical traditions and modern conditions.
For instance, his story, “Diary of a Madman,” critiqued traditional Confucian culture, influencing the New Culture Movement, a progressive Chinese intellectual movement in the 1910s and 1920s that rejected traditional Confucianism in favor of Western ideals, particularly science and democracy.
His other work, “The True Story of Ah Q,” used humor to reject the old order. In his later years, he became politicized, becoming the leader of the League of Left-Wing Writers in Shanghai, and came to see the Chinese communists as the only salvation for his country.
This partnership together with Meituan is only in time with the writer’s 145th birth anniversary and 90th death anniversary. The Chinese app also collaborated with the Lu Xun Cultural Foundation and the Shanghai International Coffee Culture Festival for this coffee chat. For more delivery news, keep following Ridesharing Forum, thank you!