[Correspondent Diary] Chinese IT Giant That Recommended Debt but Couldn't Even Break Even

China's 2nd Largest E-commerce Firm JD.com Criticized for Loan-Promoting Ads
Chinese Tech Giants Alibaba, JD.com Warned Over 'Money Play' Practices

[Asia Economy Beijing=Special Correspondent Jo Young-shin] China is a society where all economic activities are possible with just a smartphone. All commerce is conducted through smartphones.

Financial transactions are no different. With just 3 to 4 clicks, one can get a loan. Compared to the complicated procedures of bank loans, most people obtain loans through mobile payment platforms such as Zhifubao (Alipay) or Weixin (WeChat Pay). Because loans are so easily accessible, people's sensitivity to debt inevitably dulls.

Recently, JD.com, China's second-largest e-commerce company, was criticized for releasing an advertisement encouraging debt among low-income groups.

Jingdong.com, China (Photo by Baidu)

This advertisement was created by JD Finance, JD.com's financial subsidiary, and was broadcast through Weibo (China's version of Twitter) and Douyin (China's version of TikTok) to promote loan products.

Disguised as a filial piety-themed ad, it shows a low-income man worrying about his mother's motion sickness while they are on a plane together. To upgrade his plane seat, he uses JD Finance's easy loan service and borrows 150,000 yuan (approximately 25 million KRW).

After the ad aired, Chinese consumers condemned it on social media as an irresponsible advertisement encouraging loans to low-income groups.

One netizen raised their voice on Weibo, saying, "All team members responsible for making this advertisement should be fired."

Another netizen sarcastically asked, "Do you not have to get your money back?" and questioned, "Do you think migrant workers have the ability to repay?"

On Baidu (China's version of Naver and Daum), not only articles criticizing JD Finance but also various articles warning about the pitfalls of daily interest rates were posted.

According to Bonghwa Network in China, JD Finance's financial business consists of banks and other financial institutions, individuals and companies, government, and other sectors, with the sales proportion of individuals and companies reaching 52.37% as of the first half of this year. It sarcastically noted that China's giant IT companies are making money through interest on small loans.

Chinese Alibaba financial subsidiary Ant Group (Photo by Baidu capture)

It also criticized that after encouraging loans, violent collection (aggressive debt collection) is being carried out.

As criticism of JD's advertisement poured in from all over China, JD issued a statement saying, "We sincerely apologize," and bowed their heads, saying, "There is no excuse. It was completely wrong."

Concerns are rising across China that credit issues may soon emerge as a social problem. The dominant analysis is that this is why the Chinese government blocked the IPO of Ant Group, the financial subsidiary of Alibaba, China's largest e-commerce company.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.