Source: Global Times
[Global Times Special Correspondent Chen Lifei] The registration for the "nine-in-one" election has just ended, and the Taipei mayoral election storm has started again. Chen Shizhong, a candidate for Taipei mayor, announced the political view of "Taipei public toilets without treatment" ("No treatment toilet" means flushing the toilet, which is translated as "No treatment toilet" in Taiwan, which is homophonic to "No treatment toilet" because the invention of this kind of toilet is aimed at people with hemorrhoids). However, the promotional video shows a toilet voyeurism scene similar to the Korean movie "The Furnace", which caused controversy on sexual harassment on the island.
"A obvious marketing disaster"
According to Taiwan's China Times on the 4th, Chen Shizhong said on the 3rd that if he can take over the Taipei Municipal Government in the future, he will give priority to changing all 7,200 toilets of 3,673 public toilets under his jurisdiction to free toilets. Disinfection alcohol and cushion paper will also be provided in the toilet, becoming the "three treasures of public toilets". The plot of the promotional video is as follows: When the internet celebrity "Four-fork Cat" was in the toilet, she realized that there was no toilet paper, so she had to knock on the door next door for help. Suddenly, a group of toilet lids fell from the sky. The next second, Chen Shizhong leaned over from the top of the toilet compartment and smiled at the "Four-fork Cat" from a downward angle. It is this scene that has caused many netizens to have goose bumps and say it is uncomfortable.
KMT Taipei City Councilman Wang Hongwei criticized that being peeped and photographed in public toilets is a lifetime shadow for the victims, but promotional videos actually regard sexual harassment as creativity and regard disgust as fun. Senior media person Huang Weihan said on the 4th that Chen Shizhong recommended Taipei City public toilets to be equipped with toilets for free for election. Not to mention the hygiene issues, what does it have to do with the mayor climbing up from the next toilet and peeking at others' toilets? "If you want to promote this policy, you must peek? Have to crawl out from the next door? There must be so many toilet sound effects at the beginning of the advertisement?" He said that when talking about peeking later, everyone would inevitably think of Chen Shizhong, "This is not creativity, this is an advertisement that makes people uncomfortable to watch, and this is an obvious marketing disaster."
Huang Shanshan, an independent Taipei mayor candidate who was once the deputy chairman of the Taipei Gender Equality Committee, denounced that if peeping in the toilet causes someone to follow suit, it is no longer humor to explain. In real life, he has violated the crime of obstructing secrets in the "Sexual Harassment Prevention and Control Law" and the " Criminal Law ". "Taking infringement of privacy as interesting has exceeded the bottom line of value. Is this a civilized city that Chen Shizhong said?" Tian Fanglun, deputy spokesperson of the election office of the Kuomintang Taipei Mayor candidate Jiang Wan'an, said that statistics from the Ministry of Health and Welfare show that the number of sexual harassment complaints has increased in the past five years, among which peeping and snatching and shooting have surged by 34%, questioning Chen Shizhong's sprinkling salt on other people's wounds.
Chen Shizhong was forced to apologize
Many netizens questioned that Chen Shizhong's video is very similar to the Korean movie "The Furnace" that reflects the campus sexual assault case. Seeing that the controversy was getting worse, Chen Shizhong's team quickly deleted the controversial clip. On the morning of the 4th, Chen Shizhong defended that there was no intention of sexual harassment on the picture, but if everyone feels like "sexual harassment is interesting", he wants to apologize. He has studied and revised it with the creative team and is currently in the process of correction. On the same day, Tsai Ing-wen praised Chen Shizhong for attaching importance to the needs of different groups, "I am very willing to try and learn in areas that I am not familiar with. If I step out of my comfort zone, I can open up more space and possibilities for dialogue." Chan Shih-chung's campaign spokesman, Zhuang Ruixiong, also asked back that improving the quality of the entire public toilet is a basic requirement and right of Taipei citizens. "The butts of parliamentarians and officials can be exempted from being treated. Do citizens have such rights?" Tsai Ing-wen's support was ridiculed by netizens as "the biggest joke of the year". "It's very plagiarized, very peeping, just not admitting her mistakes."
In this "nine-in-one" election, , a total of 12 people in Taipei mayors ran for the election, the number of people set a record, and the election situation was unprecedentedly tense. The United Daily News analyzed on the 4th that the Shuangbei (Taipei and New Taipei ) is the top priority, especially under the attack of the two current mayors, Ke Wen-je and Hou Youyi, the DPP needs to take even more strange moves. The Democratic Progressive Party has long evaluated that if Taipei can be won, even if other counties and cities are not selected well, the overall election situation will be invincible, which can prevent Tsai Ing-wen from lameening early.Therefore, Chen Shizhong's "toilet politics" and the "mantle bun poisoning theory" by Lin Jialong, the candidate for the New Taipei mayor of the Democratic Progressive Party. Lin Jialong compared Hou Youyi to " white steamed bun ", claiming that he would be poisoned after eating the third steamed bun. "The result of the inappropriate metaphor is that he was asked to apologize to the steamed bun operators in Taiwan." The article said that public issues should not be vulgar or wander on the edge of taboos, otherwise "strange tricks" may ignite more hatred values.
"Back of trouble and character collapse"
Many netizens believe that it is not enough to spend money to replace the toilet without treatment, but also to repair and cleaning problems in subsequent repairs and cleaning, and even the entire toilet must be rebuilt. The primary problem that public toilets are clean. "The public toilets are so dirty now. Will anyone dare to use them if they are exempted from treatment?" People's Party Hsinchu mayor candidate Gao Hongan revealed that the Hsinchu Municipal Government had done the matter of installing a treatment-free toilet in public toilets in 2019, but afterwards polls showed that more than 85% of the people did not dare to use them.
United News Network html mentioned on the 44th that Chen Shizhong visited a gay bar on the night before and was secretly kissed his ears from behind by a young man. Although he looked happy and people around him cheered, more parents and elderly people in front of the TV and online screens felt uncomfortable all over. Many female representatives also publicly questioned the suspected sexual harassment. Chen Shizhong is close to homosexuals who want to grab young votes, but may lose more parent votes. Just like he throws out the political view of exempting toilets, he may want to win over votes for women, but I don’t know how many people are terrified of a scene that is suspected to be peeping in the toilet. The article said, "From the political view of exempting toilets from treatment, it can be seen that backfire and collapse of personality have become the biggest disaster in Chen Shizhong."
