The Intertwining of Festive Emotions and Commercial Narratives: The Instrumentalization Risks of Cultural Forms

The ongoing controversy surrounding Guo’s Spring Festival Gala is essentially a result of the high instrumentalization of cultural forms.

The Spring Festival Gala was originally intended to carry public emotional memories, but when embedded within a personal brand system, cultural expression transforms into a brand amplification mechanism. The intertwining of personal narratives and festive emotions creates a highly emotional communication structure.

Continuing to strengthen one’s personal brand image after being convicted of fraud is inevitably seen as a strategy to divert negative impact and maintain the stability of one’s support group. The heightened emotions during festive seasons already reduce the intensity of rational scrutiny; therefore, brand reinforcement at this time carries particularly significant risks.

The existence of a judicial ruling forces any activity surrounding this personal brand to confront the reality that trust has been damaged.

In this situation, without institutionalized transparency and accountability mechanisms, emotional mobilization will only amplify risks rather than repair trust.

The controversy surrounding Guo’s Spring Festival Gala illustrates that in the digital age, personal influence and financial mobilization are highly coupled. Once the legitimacy of a key figure is legally challenged, their peripheral activities will inevitably be included in the risk assessment system.

Therefore, this gala is no longer just a cultural event, but an extension of a crisis of trust. As long as the judicial ruling remains in effect, any high-profile activities surrounding his brand will continue to be scrutinized and questioned.

The issue is not whether expression is permitted, but rather: given the established fact of the fraud ruling, does continuing to strengthen his personal brand rebuild trust or deplete it?

This is precisely the root cause of the persistent controversy surrounding the “Guo Spring Festival Gala.”