It turns out the super-cute 9-year who sang, was in fact lip-syncing. The real singer was 7, and deemed not attractive enough to be on camera. A secondary issue is that some of the fireworks were digitally added to the live TV feed. So viewers at the event did not see many of the effects that TV viewers got to see. No one knew the truth of these two things till these leaks emerged.
Are either of these controversies? Brands, and the Chinese government is a brand of sorts, do what they can to put themselves in the best possible light. Everyone knows that the cover stars of magazines are air-brushed, and no one seems to care. It is expected. Certainly, it detracts from the stunning nature of the ceremony. I now want to question what else was fixed that up till now I thought was amazing. That is not a good thing for sure.
So far I quite admire the Chinese response, which has been, "deal with it". If this escalates, perhaps they will become more contrite, but what I like is the simple explanation and honesty about their dishonesty. Rather than evade or excuse, they have simply said, we thought this would make the event better. Bizarrely, by telling the truth about why they lied, it could defuse the whole situation. How many other PR crises are made worse by the desperate flip-flopping and justifications? (Wide-stance anyone?)
For the record, I do feel pretty bad for the denied 7-year old. That was pretty cold.
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