Jack Ma loses 11/11 lipstick selling challenge
He may be the co-founder of Alibaba Group, but Jack Ma clearly doesn’t know jack about lipstick.
That’s what Singles’ Day shoppers learned when the business magnate turned philanthropist took on fashionista and beauty blogger Li Jiaqi in a livestreamed lipstick sell-off.
The bit was part of a promo for the online megasale event, where Ma squares off against five different experts in the Alibaba supply chain.
In the viral video, Ma and Li are seated in front of a long table filled with different colored lipsticks.
Li greets viewers with ease, describing each product in detail and tries it on to show his audience.
To comic effect, Ma has trouble keeping up as he awkwardly describes the products.
The final tally: Li sold 1,000 lipsticks, while Ma sold 10.
To be fair, Li is no ordinary blogger. Known as “Iron Lips” for trying on more than 380 shades in a two-hour livestream, the 26-year old rose to fame for selling over 15,000 lipsticks in five minutes.
Besides Li, Ma also challenged a Taobao clothing model, a courier, and a woman who can bind up crabs for shipping with lightning speed.
Although Ma lost each competition, he still gets a consolation prize: 213 billion yuan ($30.7 billion) in Singles’ Day sales.