Africa Real Person Card Blessing Project is recruiting agents: leveraging small costs to generate large profits

When you open social media platforms, you can always come across a type of short video: several African real people gather in front of a simple blackboard, reciting blessings in slightly awkward Chinese in unison. The words "Happy Birthday", "Successful confession", "Prosperous business" and other words on the blackboard are particularly eye-catching, and the ending is often followed by a down-to-earth "666, no problem". This type of participant includes both adult workers and children, and quickly became popular across the internet with its exotic and novel contrast, becoming a new choice for many people to express their feelings and promote products. It has also spawned a commercial industry chain spanning Central Africa - from domestic e-commerce merchants taking orders, to filming in non Chinese organizations, and then spreading and monetizing on social platforms, forming a complete profit loop.

The popularity of African people holding up cards for blessings is not accidental. In the fast-paced online communication environment, people have already developed aesthetic fatigue towards the monotonous forms of blessings. The simple voice, slightly clumsy pronunciation, and exotic faces of African real people combine to form a unique "variety show effect", accurately hitting the public's curiosity. More importantly, this form of blessing has achieved highly standardized operation: a copy limit of less than 20 words, a 5-10 person appearance configuration, a delivery cycle of 1-2 days, and affordable pricing ranging from tens to 200 yuan, making it easy for ordinary people to consume and quickly becoming a "traffic password" in social communication. From personal birthday confessions and anniversary wishes, to corporate product promotion and event promotion, there is a constant demand for various customized products, and even well-known companies are trying such marketing forms to further promote their popularity. According to early survey data, some stores on the Taobao platform that sell such videos can achieve monthly sales of thousands of transactions, which shows its former market popularity.

Behind the heat, a commercial industry chain with imbalanced distribution of benefits has already taken shape. This chain is clearly divided into three links: the starting point is the merchants and short video anchors of domestic e-commerce platforms, responsible for accepting customer orders and collecting customized copy; The intermediate stage involves non Chinese photographers who go deep into local communities in Africa and organize real African people to complete the filming; The endpoint is paying customers, who receive the video and spread it on social media platforms to complete blessing delivery or brand promotion. The most alarming thing is the uneven distribution of profits in the chain: a single video can be sold for around 200 yuan on the Taobao platform, and the filmmaker can earn 90-100 yuan per video. However, African participants who actually participate in the filming, whether adults or children, often only receive a few yuan in compensation or only snacks or stationery as compensation. Some agents candidly admit that "the money spent on workers in making a video is very small, and most of the money is still taken away by the filmmaker and the merchant". The value of workers is seriously underestimated, and this low-cost exploitation has become the core logic of the industry chain's profitability. Some photographers have revealed that some parents of African children are "competing to have their children film" because their children earn more money than their parents in a day. However, even so, the rewards received by children are still far from the profits in the upstream of the industry chain.

As the heat rises, the controversy behind the African real person card raising blessings is gradually emerging, with core contradictions concentrated in three aspects: safeguarding workers' rights, protecting minors, and ensuring content compliance. Although the filmmakers claim that "all participants voluntarily participate," most of these African participants do not understand the meaning of the Chinese copy. When indecent vocabulary, pornographic information, or extreme statements that violate advertising laws such as "highest level," "best," and "known to all Africans" appear in the copy, they actually become passive disseminators of harmful information. What is even more despicable is that some merchants deliberately package their business activities as "public welfare projects" in order to attract customers, falsely claiming that "we only take 30 yuan and give everything else to our African friends" and misleading consumers with the gimmick of "caring signs". This not only undermines the true value of public welfare, but also constitutes clear false advertising. Of particular concern is the issue of underage participation. The new Advertising Law clearly stipulates that minors under the age of ten shall not be used as advertising spokespersons, and African children who "shout" for goods in billboard videos have constituted the identity of advertising spokespersons and are suspected of violating the above provisions; At the same time, such behavior may also violate the provisions of the Law on the Protection of Minors that prohibit the use of minors for harmful performances, and cross stricter legal red lines.

From a legal and platform regulatory perspective, the compliance risks of such sign up videos have long been clear and regulatory efforts continue to strengthen. The new version of the Advertising Law clearly stipulates that commercial advertising activities within the territory of China are subject to this law. Even if the filming takes place in Africa, as long as the video is disseminated and used for commercial promotion within the territory of China, it must comply with Chinese laws and regulations. The regulatory authorities have the right to supervise relevant illegal and irregular behaviors. Among them, issues such as extreme advertising slogans, false advertising, and underage endorsements have all crossed the legal red line, and relevant parties may face fines ranging from 200000 yuan to 1 million yuan. At the same time, if the photographer has not signed a formal portrait usage agreement with African participants, they will widely distribute videos containing their facial features and use them for commercial profit, which is also suspected of infringing on the portrait and privacy rights of others. In response, domestic platforms have already taken regulatory measures: Taobao customer service has clearly stated that such videos "carry risks and may be investigated at any time". Once violations are found, they will be punished. Alibaba has also publicly stated in the past that it has taken action to remove related products; WeChat stores have directly listed content such as "African shouts, black people holding up signs" as prohibited illegal information to curb the spread of related commercial activities from the source.

In the face of controversy, the photographer's defense and public questioning have formed a sharp opposition. Some photographers claim to be making money openly and honestly, while also promoting cultural exchange, packaging commercial exploitation as a goodwill gesture; But at the public and legal levels, this commercial behavior that exploits vulnerable groups' labor at extremely low costs and instrumentalizes participants clearly violates public order and good customs. More thought-provoking is that the popularity of African live action card raising blessings reflects the distorted pursuit of "curiosity driven consumption" by some people - when traffic becomes the only pursuit, the rights of vulnerable groups are easily ignored. This consumption model that uses exotic faces as "marketing props" not only undermines equality and respect between people, but also pollutes the online communication ecology, and may even trigger negative associations related to regions and ethnic groups, violating the basic requirements of public order and good customs.

It cannot be denied that, in the context of uneven economic development, filming sign up videos may bring a small amount of income to some African participants, but this cannot be used as an excuse for commercial exploitation and illegal activities. True cross-border assistance and cooperation should be based on respect and equality, and enhance local development capabilities through legal and compliant industrial cooperation, rather than exploiting their disadvantaged position for huge profits. For ordinary consumers, when faced with such novel forms of blessings, they should maintain rational judgment, recognize the underlying exploitation of rights, lack of protection for minors, and compliance risks, and refuse to pay for commercial activities that infringe on the rights and interests of others and violate laws and regulations. This is not only a protection for vulnerable groups, but also a maintenance of a healthy online ecosystem.

When the frenzy of traffic fades away, the blessings left by African real people holding up cards are not only controversial, but also a profound questioning of online business ethics. In the digital age, any creative marketing cannot cross the legal and moral bottom line, let alone sacrifice the rights of vulnerable groups, especially minors. Both platforms, merchants, and consumers should adhere to the core principles of respect and equality: platforms need to solidify their regulatory responsibilities, use technological means to strengthen the identification of illegal content, and permanently ban accounts that repeatedly violate regulations; Merchants should abandon short-term profit seeking thinking and practice a legal and compliant business philosophy; Consumers need to establish a rational consumption concept and refuse exploitative consumption that seeks novelty. Only in this way can we restore the clarity of cyberspace and enable commercial innovation to truly serve the enhancement of social value.