Surrogate drinker app shut down following state media criticism

While it may have seemed a dream job for some, a Chinese tech start-up has abolished a service which looked to link up teetotalers and lightweights with “surrogate drinkers” for alcohol-fueled social and business functions.

The tech firm, eDaijia (e代驾), was founded in Beijing in 2011 and is mainly known for its mobile app which helps inebriated car owners connect with designated drivers. Last month, the company decided to launch a new service based around “designated drinkers.”

More than 100,000 people signed up for eDaihe (e代喝), which literally translates to “drink on someone’s behalf.” The location-based service allowed potential drinkers to state exactly how much baijiu they were willing to imbibe to save others the headache.

However, by Wednesday of this week, the service had disappeared from eDaijia’s app with a company spokesman stating that it did not conform to “socialist core values” and lacked “positive energy,” the South China Morning Post reported.

“We will be punished if we get more media attention,” the spokesman added.

These comments followed a number of editorials in Chinese state-media attacking the service, including one commentary run in the People’s Daily on Tuesday which listed three areas of concern:

1) That though Chinese business negotiations carried out while binge drinking may be uncouth, they emphasize personal accountability. 2) That having a stranger show up to a business or family function and start drinking on behalf of an individual would be strange and embarrassing. 3) And that the company would apparently bear no fault if a designated drinker ended up gulping down more than he/she could handle.

It’s not completely clear if eDaijia was ever totally serious about this new feature, though considering that eDaihe launched in 36 cities around the country, it sorta seems like it was. As Sixth Tone notes:

Zhang Dongpeng, an eDaijia representative, told Chengdu Business Daily on Tuesday that the designated drinker service was purely a publicity stunt. “We hope everyone will notice and laugh it off,” he said. “Nobody’s actually drinking for anyone else.”

However, in a previous media report, eDaijia told Sina Tech that it had spent months developing the new service. Furthermore, the company said, eDaihe would be vital for connecting “wimpy” drinkers with seasoned alcoholics, and for helping lonely men find pretty women to drink with them. “It’s not a joke,” the article said.

While the Chinese government has been trying to crack down on grand, maotai-fueled banquets in recent years, drinking remains an extremely important part of doing business in China. Back in 2016, graduating students at the Anshun Vocational Technical College in Guizhou were even tested on how much Chinese liquor they were able to choke down.

“You’re all going to do sales jobs after graduation, drinking baijiu is the thing you must learn!” a professor told his students beforehand.

However, China’s hardcore drinking culture has recently come under fire following incidents such as what happened last September in a Zhuhai bar when a 19-year-old college student celebrating the end of his exams ended up dead after allegedly drinking six cocktails in three minutes. The previous year, a young bridesmaid in Hainan choked to death on her own vomit after being pushed into drinking at a wedding.

Meanwhile, eDaihe’s failure shows once again that not all ideas are yet fit for China’s sharing economy. Last year, an innovative Beijing-based startup that offered shareable sex dolls was shut just four days after its launch.

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