My capital is quite large.

The next morning, as the sun rose.

A major promotional campaign jointly launched by four core platforms—Yinfu, iQiyi, Bilibili, and Haofeng Weibo—quickly went viral across the entire Chinese internet!

[The all-female rap talent show, "Hack & Fear Girls," is now open for global recruitment!]

The poster's design is visually striking, featuring a cool neon pink and black color scheme paired with a fragmented artistic texture, announcing that Haofeng will soon select the first all-female rap label from Dongda University on this track that has just been cultivated by Tencent.

If the official announcement of this new program was just a jolt to netizens who were used to watching Haofeng and Tencent fight, then...

Then, the reward terms, clearly stated on the first page of the official recruitment regulations, ignited this fire into a raging inferno—

The national champion of this season's "Hip Hop Girl" will take home a grand prize of 500 million RMB!

Following this, in the comment sections of Weibo's trending topics and on various gossip forums, several "insiders" quietly released a bombshell revelation that left everyone breathless:

The winner of this show will likely receive an exclusive, full-contract management agreement from Haofeng Film & Television!

……

Signing Haofeng?!

The moment those four words were uttered, the entire underground rap scene across the country went crazy!

As the saying goes: "All the world's hustle and bustle is for profit; all the world's chaos is for gain."

Those underground female rappers who spend years working through the night in underground livehouses and barely earn a few thousand dollars a month performing their hearts out, all dream of stepping into the spotlight and getting a piece of the pie!

How comfortable can life be after stepping from the darkest, most stagnant underground swamp into the mainstream?

Just look at the crooked-mouthed guy who was ridiculed for shouting "Shell is just that real" after Sprite was poured on his head, but now he's getting tons of commercial performances and endorsements!

In this circle, as long as you're not out of your mind and do something as career-ruining as sleeping with your sister-in-law...

The money you can earn by stepping into the spotlight is definitely dozens or even hundreds of times more than what you used to make by living underground!

It wasn't just the female underground rappers in China who were envious.

The news spread like wildfire, reaching neighboring South Korea via the internet.

In the practice rooms of entertainment companies of all sizes in Seoul, dozens or even hundreds of young female trainees from Dongda University, who had endured rigorous training and even bullying for that elusive debut spot, had their inner fire ignited the moment they saw the announcement!

"Go back home! Buy a plane ticket and go home right now!!"

"Even after five or six years of training in South Korea, you might not get a debut spot. Go back and participate in Haofeng's audition, get five million in cash, and sign with the top entertainment company in China. Only a fool would stay here and continue eating kimchi!!"

These girls, who have undergone intensive training in South Korea, already possess incredibly solid basic singing and dancing skills, and writing lyrics and rapping are more than their forte.

For a time, economy class on all major flights from Seoul to Gimnyang was almost entirely booked by these young girls carrying suitcases and rushing back to China for job interviews!

……

however.

Just when the entire internet thought this would be another happy star-making extravaganza,

The program's official supplementary rules, which included a rigid and unreasonable threshold, precisely triggered a major controversy in the public opinion field of women at Tokyo University!

The third point in the recruitment details was bolded and highlighted in bold:

[Age limit for participants: Must be under 22 years old (as of the registration deadline).]

My age is stuck at 22!

This threshold has kept the vast majority of established female rappers in the domestic underground scene out of the door!

Faced with the angry questions and protests from these veterans, Haofeng Variety's official response lacked any of the politeness expected of a major company, instead being blunt and overbearing:

The show is called "Hack Girl".

"We're looking for girls, not hip-hop housewives."

……

"A hip-hop housewife?!"

These six words ignited a war on the internet!

"Anyone over 22 is considered a married woman?! Are all of your executives at Haofeng with their heads full of unhealthy ideas?!"

"Blatant age discrimination! Blatant gender oppression! Disgusting!"

"The Qing Dynasty has been gone for a hundred years, and Haofeng is still using the age of twenty-two to define women? Boycott! Boycott him across the entire internet!"

Suddenly, all sorts of outrageous protest hashtags appeared on various trending search lists.

Countless self-media outlets and influential figures claiming to champion feminism flocked to the scene, launching a massive online campaign of condemnation.

As Haofeng's arch-rival, Tencent would naturally not miss the opportunity to kick him while he was down!

That very evening, Tencent Video's flagship talk show, known for its satirical commentary, practically rewrote its script overnight, quickly setting the competition theme for the night as:

At what age can a woman be considered a girl?

The stand-up comedians on stage used all their satirical skills to thoroughly ridicule Haofeng's notion of being 22 years old.

At the end of the show, the female stand-up comedian surnamed Yang, known for her sharp wit, delivered the memorable line that garnered widespread applause online that night:

"Does Haofeng think that people over 22 should be eliminated?"

"I tell you—because men are boys until death, women are girls until death!!"

……

As soon as this slogan was released, female netizens across the internet were almost moved to tears, and they flocked to Tencent Video to send bullet comments in support.

however.

What puzzled Tencent's PR department and the general public was...

Faced with this overwhelming boycott and condemnation, Haofeng's public relations department, which is usually known for its quick control of public opinion, remained completely silent this time, offering no PR clarification whatsoever.

Not even a single order to delete posts or limit traffic was issued, allowing these people to spread their message freely on the trending topics!

Inside the office of Haofeng's Variety Department Director.

Huang Jie, the newly appointed official, looked at the program-related discussion data in the backstage area, which was increasing by hundreds of thousands every hour, and her face was full of a confident smile.

What kind of backlash from public opinion? What kind of public relations crisis?

In the eyes of those who make variety shows, there is no such thing as "black traffic" in the world!

The harsher the criticism, the higher the level of discussion.

This niche talent show, which was just officially announced, achieved nationwide exposure in just one day, something that couldn't be achieved even with tens of millions of GG fees!

The art of marketing is to gain online popularity for free!