Empty carts are threatening Shopee with their decision to partner with Toni Gonzaga as their new endorser.
At a media event yesterday, Shopee officially announced Toni Gonzaga as its newest endorser. Not long after the announcement, netizens threatened to boycott this online shopping platform.
"Since yesterday we are trending, today we are grateful for our netizens for the mentions and engagements, they are the reasons why we are here today," Gonzaga commented at a media event, unbothered by the negative criticisms that were circulating.
Hashtags #BoycottShopee and #ByeShopee have been trending on social media. They even went as far as deleting the Shopee app along with the tweets that they are announcing their switch to the rival e-commerce platform Lazada.
Gonzaga has been a controversial figure since the start of the 2022 elections as she widely campaigned and supported the current President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Vice President Sara Duterte.
In response to the backlash, Shopee Philippines gave a statement to the Philippine Daily Inquirer that it chose Gonzaga due to her “mass appeal” and that it has nothing to do with her political leanings.
It also had a bad announcement timing considering the previous news circulation about Shopee downsizing their workforce. Early this week, the Singapore-based e-commerce giant announced that it was letting go of a “low single-digit percentage” of its 67,000-strong staff globally. The downsizing came after it reported a $931 million loss in the second quarter of 2021.
Since the announcement of the downsizing was close to their unveiling of the new endorser, the public was quick to connect that this had to do with the talent fee of Gonzaga. Shopee customers were outraged by the choice of Gonzaga with her expected fat paycheck as a direct connection for the layoffs.
Shopee has yet to comment on the mass layoff in their offices.
Tags: #Shopee, #ToniGonzaga, #Lazada