MiHoYo's Tears of Themis Terminates Dove Collaboration After Controversial Marketing Copy

Summary

MiHoYo's law-and-romance mobile game Tears of Themis has announced the termination of its brand collaboration with Dove, following a controversial promotional video released by Dove's official flagship store. The video included copy such as "find a flirt while your boyfriend is away and ask for chocolate," which sparked strong backlash from players and the public. On the evening of August 25, Dove issued an apology, admitting the copy was inappropriate in both expression and values, and stated that it was posted by a third-party operations team without strict compliance with the brand's review process. Dove said it had removed the video and would strengthen its review mechanism and team management. However, as the subsequent handling of the incident failed to gain widespread recognition from the player community, the Tears of Themis project team engaged in multiple rounds of communication with Dove but could not reach an agreement, ultimately deciding to terminate the collaboration. This incident is noteworthy for highlighting the importance of content review in cross-industry game collaborations. For a story-driven mobile game like Tears of Themis, players are highly sensitive to values and emotional experiences. Dove's copy not only contradicted the game's themes but also crossed the line on issues like "ambiguous relationships" and "betrayal." MiHoYo's decision to end the…