Dongfeng Honda was accused of infringement after intense public outcry and discussion on Chinese social media over FAW-Volkswagen Audi’s ad plagiarism controversy caused a ripple effect.


The agency which shot the video apologized on Monday for not communicating the commercial purpose and the content with Ning Yuan, the owner of Mingyue Yuanjia where the video was shot. The content was similar to Ning’s experience which caused emotional harm and negative impact on Ning and her team. 

The agency also said in the apology statement that related content was taken down and the agency will strictly obey the standardized process and conduct content review more seriously to prevent similar situations from happening again.

In a latest case, an ad from Dongfeng Honda was blamed for “stealing other people's experiences.”

Dongfeng Honda said that it is still learning about the situation and the agency that made the ad said the idea is not an infringement and the content is original although it might be similar to someone’s experience, which is “totally unavoidable,” according to Hongxing News.

At the beginning of the video ad, a woman says she is attracted by the beautiful natural view to live in the Mingyue village in Chengdu, Southwest China’s Sichuan Province, and decides to set up a dyeing studio as her startup business.

The video was shot in Mingyue Yuanjia, a multifunctional space that combines restaurant, cafe, accommodations, bookstore and a dyeing house in the Mingyue village.

On Sunday morning, Ning said on her Sina Weibo account that that the video  completely stole her experience in Mingyue village and used the space as a commercial shooting site for Honda advertisement without notifying her.

"I feel like my life was stolen from me," Ning said, adding that the advertisement has used the space of her start-up and the script of the actress was mostly taken from her book and her posts on social media.

Ning said she is now looking for lawyers to prepare for a lawsuit and hopes Honda and the advertisement agency can give her a reasonable explanation.

The video has been removed from the internet.