Since the 1990s, Sony has been flush with Chinese customers. Over the past 15 years, the company has amassed a loyal following, often referred to as โthe special oneโ, distinct from their contemporaries including Apple and Samsung.
Like all great brand-to-netizen relationships born on the internet, the love affair between Sony and their fans has now taken a playfully cultish turn with a โhymnโ to the Japanese companyโs greatness.
The title of the song โ็ดขๅฐผๅคงๆณๅฅฝโ [โSony Dafa Is Goodโ or โIn Sony We Trustโ] is actually a parody of the slogan that Falun Gong, that heretical Chinese organization, uses to promote itself.
Falun Gongโs devotees are well known in China for printing their own slogan on low-value notes to increase the circulation of their ideology. Itโs a political taboo that has now been adopted as a meme, including the printing of โSony Dafa Is Goodโ on five yuan notes.
The catchy hymn includes some heartfelt phrases, including โAinโt no music without Walkmanโ, and โLong live Sony, Down with Samsungโ, as well as a liberal smattering of Chinese swear words [Full translation below].
Furthermore, in a salute to Sony gaming consoles, cameras, audio players and other electronics, netizens have adapted fun pictures of Hirai Kazuo, the president and CEO of Sony Corp, to parody a spiritual leader of new era.
The popularity of this saying can be traced back in 2014 when a serious of Dafa parodies came out. In general, it is a way of persuading people to choose one and get rid of another (competitors, for example). However, why Sony became the most recognizable Dafa is still unknown. In Zhihu, Chinaโs Quora, people post countless compliments on Sony [here, here, and here] praising its quality, design, advance tech andโฆ humanity.
For many people who were born in China during the 80s and 90s, Sony has been one of the only steady brands throughout their lifetime. In the last two years, they have secured even more fans by introducing its reasonably priced region free PlayStation 4 in China, while Microsoftโs Xbox One remained region locked and expensive.
Although Xbox One entered the market half a year earlier than Sony, who even delayed its shipping after beginning its pre-order without any specific reason which is often seen as challenging the bottom-line of Chinese customersโ tolerance, people still blame Microsoft for its ruthlessness while offering only blessings for Sony.
It seems that despite the periodic anti-Japanese sentiment that lingers in China, Sony magically remains a favorite in the weird world that is the Chinese inter-web.
[Lyric Translation]
{Chorus}
Sony Dafa is good, Sony Dafa is good
Hirai Kazuo shouts
We top up the faith
Sony is all good, Sony rules it all
Long live Sony, Down with Samsung
Donโt trust Super AmoLED, it is fake as hell
Worldโs gone wrong, Sonyโs the right way
Buy a Sony phone, do not say no
Stop minecrafting and get in the HD game
Nintendo cheats you with Monster Hunter
Toukiden beat the s**t out of it
with localisation
Sony Sony buy buy buy
Sony is the mo********ing faith
{Chorus}
DSLRโs out, MILC rules
Carl Zeiss, 4D Focus
and 5 axis stabilization
The true, the beautiful and the good
Ainโt no music without Walkman
A whole new definition the player brings
True music is worth ยฅ8000
That sort of money is just s**t
{Chorus}
