After YouSiyi's financial troubles exploded, Zhao Lusi and Zeng Shunxi faced backlash, and Li Ruotong's compensation plan is touching.

CCTV has pulled back the curtain on U.S.Y.I’s hypocrisy. The brand claims it is imported, but in reality it is produced in China; its overseas registration address is actually a car repair shop.

Public information shows that Zhao Lusi and Zeng Shunxi were both previously reported as endorsers for U.S.Y.I’s ordinary food products. In addition, names such as Qin Hailu (Yinengjing), Wu Xin, and Zhang Xiaohui have been mentioned multiple times as having participated in live-streamed sales. Other media reports have also said that Li Ruotong, Ming Dao, Sun Jian, and top live-streaming rooms together with Huicheng also have all stocked related products.

It’s not the first or second time that celebrity endorsements of counterfeit and shoddy products have gone wrong. It’s just that, driven by the temptation of high profits, celebrities keep taking risks—after a single live stream, counting the cash and feeling great. Of course they wouldn’t say things like that. Only Liang Jia Hui has been frank about it, after all, Liang Jia Hui doesn’t do live commerce.

There’s no doubt that U.S.Y.I’s fiasco has also taken down the celebrities on the same bandwagon. It’s just that after the fiasco, some celebrities escaped in time and have a chance to “survive,” while others continue to pretend to be deaf and dumb, unwilling to take any responsibility.

First, give Li Ruotong a thumbs-up. She quickly issued a statement of apology. Beyond apologizing, she also provided a “front-loaded after-sales mechanism.” No matter the purchase date or whether the product has been opened, as long as the issue is raised on the day she is contacted at the door, a full refund is granted immediately. She also set up a dedicated after-sales channel to handle related matters. This kind of after-sales plan is essentially Li Ruotong taking the consequences herself: for products that have not been opened, it’s possible they can get a refund from the manufacturer, but for those that have already been opened, it would be very difficult for Li Ruotong to get the manufacturer to refund and return the goods. So it’s very likely Li Ruotong will restore her reputation by paying out of pocket.

Ming Dao, who doesn’t really get many film offers, basically survives by doing live-streamed sales. He also promised that although the brand side had not yet provided a detailed solution, he would be responsible all the way through for every consumer who placed an order. His solution is also to pay first: complete the refunds within 7 working days. It’s just that Ming Dao’s plan doesn’t clearly state whether only products that have not been opened are eligible for compensation, but it still counts as showing sincerity.

There’s also Zhang Xiaohui, who promised to front-load compensation within 15 working days as well, though it still hasn’t clarified whether compensation applies only to products that have not been opened.

Other live-streaming commerce influencers have also offered various solutions. Some responsible live-streaming hosts offer full refunds—such as Chen Guoquan. Some have gritted their teeth and said they would offer one refund for every three. Others, though slightly less aggressive, have still responded responsibly and are willing to first refund the 15% commission they themselves received.

Compared with the above, some celebrities look extremely irresponsible. I will put all of them on a blacklist.

This includes, but is not limited to, Zhao Lusi, Zeng Shunxi, Qin Hailu (Yinengjing), Wu Xin, Sun Jian, as well as those working alongside Liang Jia Hui and Dong Yuhui.

All of these celebrities have made a fortune, especially Zeng Shunxi. Based on the previously exposed fees paid to Ju Jingyi, the endorsement fee he received for “Moon Scales and Xiu” (“Yuelin Qiji”) would not be less than 10 million. Compared with that, the small amount of money from live-streamed sales really doesn’t amount to much. But as of the time of publication, none of these celebrities have provided explanations or solutions.

This incident once again shows that when celebrities endorse brands or do live-streamed sales, people really need to be extra careful. A celebrity’s role is essentially not to introduce product details, but to borrow credibility to amplify trust for the brand. Especially in fields where information is not transparent—health products, maternal-and-child products, cosmetics, and cross-border goods—consumers often don’t place orders because they understand the formula and supply chain. Instead, they buy because “this celebrity is promoting it, so it should be reliable.” Once the product goes wrong, it’s hard for celebrities to fully cut themselves off with “not being aware,” because when consumers pay, what they are buying is exactly that “trust endorsement.”

Regarding the impact on these celebrities and streamers, in the short term it mainly has three layers.

First, reputational damage. Even if legal responsibility has not been determined, the public will still remember: “you promoted this.”

Second, increased commercial partnership risk. Brand sides and platform sides will be more cautious going forward, especially when it involves health products and functional claims.

Third, potential legal and compensation pressure. If regulators later determine that the advertising and promotion involved serious issues, consumer rights protection, platform accountability, and disputes over joint liability for brands could continue to expand.

So how do we prevent something like this from happening again next time?

For celebrities and streamers, you can’t treat “the brand provided a test report and the legal team reviewed the contract” as a get-out-of-liability card. What you should truly do is: check the production process, verify qualification boundaries, review promotional scripts, verify evidence of claimed effects, and verify whether cross-border identities are real. Especially for health products: if they include keywords like “imported,” “expert recommendation,” “miraculous effects,” or “blue-hat” (borderline-related) wording, you should be extra vigilant.

For consumers, don’t keep treating “celebrity recommendations” as a quality guarantee either. When buying these kinds of products, prioritize three things: who produces it, whether it has compliant qualifications, and whether the advertising is excessive. If the story is told too enthusiastically, the background is blown too magical, and the price is inflated too high, it’s often even more important to be careful.

In essence, this U.S.Y.I incident isn’t just one single brand going down—it’s a concentrated interrogation of the “turning celebrity credibility into cash” model. In the future, anyone who dares to take on deals like this easily will likely have to pay an even higher price.