The biggest failure of expression management is making "expression management" itself become news.

This Wednesday (August 19), Unitree Robotics was listed on the Sci-Tech Innovation Board.

The biggest news, apart from the 629% surge in share price that pushed founder Wang Xingxing's net worth over 100 billion yuan, is another "big news": Wang Xingxing's facial expression!

Investors who won the new share allotment are cheering, institutional investors are grinning with red scarves around their necks, media outlets are scrambling for headlines, and the entire internet is feeling happy for him.

Only Wang himself did not smile.

A financial reporter's report from the gong-striking site goes like this:

During the group photo session, leaders, guests, and members of the underwriting team all smiled and exchanged pleasantries. Wang Xingxing, standing at the center position, kept his lips tightly pressed and wore a blank expression, looking like a regular "office worker" who just showed up for work. When the ceremony ended and they took the elevator downstairs, while others were still congratulating each other, he kept his head down scrolling through his phone.

A person whose net worth exceeded 100 billion yuan overnight did not have a single smiling photo throughout the big celebratory day of his own company's listing. No matter who this happens to, people can't help but ask: Why aren't you smiling?

As soon as this incident came out, almost the entire internet was discussing Wang Xingxing's "facial expression".

The author went through the relevant comments, which can be roughly divided into several schools of thought.

The first school: the "office worker" meme is the most popular.

This is the most widely spread statement.

Under the Weibo topic #Wang Xingxing Keeps a Calm Expression at Unitree Listing Site#, most of the top-liked comments follow this line: "With a net worth of 100 billion yuan, he still looks like an office worker checking in for work", "For others, striking the gong is a highlight moment, but for him, it's just a regular Monday morning meeting".

The second school: the "expression management" theory, which is the most mysteriously spread.

This statement first appeared under the Weibo topic #Wang Xingxing Expression Management#, where a blogger posted that "it's rumored that he was told to control his expression well and not look too overly joyful".

Another blogger further extended the story: "It's said that the listing counseling agency previously told him to do a good job in expression management, not to be too happy, and to stay steady".

Note that all of these are "it's said" and "it's rumored" with no solid evidence, but people love to hear such stories, so the more it spreads, the more real it seems.

The third school: the "typical scientific researcher demeanor".

Some netizens think that Wang Xingxing is a typical tech nerd who is naturally not interested in the sense of ritual of the capital market.

The fourth school: "There's hidden bitterness in his heart", which is the most profound take.

Wang Xingxing doesn't not want to smile, he just can't. The more frenzied the stock price is driven up, the higher the market expectations are raised, and the greater pressure he bears.

Why didn't Wang Xingxing smile?

The author will analyze this from the perspective of public relations communication from a different angle.

If you look closely at this listing communication campaign of Unitree Robotics, you will find it is full of "contradictions" from start to finish. Wang Xingxing's lack of smile may just be the most noticeable one.

Contradiction 1: The more you try to manage expression, the more it becomes news.

Let's first talk about the most widely spread "expression management" theory.

The author has previously planned corporate listing ceremonies, so he is quite familiar with the whole process. Securities firms or financial PR agencies do conduct pre-listing training, but what do they cover? Clothing — what suit to wear, what tie to match; media interview response — what can be said, how to avoid sensitive questions; process — what the whole gong-striking listing process is, what time leaders need to arrive, what to say, and so on.

For example: when a financial reporter asked at the site "what do you think of the opening performance", Wang Xingxing only whispered "sorry" and declined the interview. This is the result of public relations training.

But no one will manage how you smile. Personally, I think there is no need for such management. A normal adult, at the gong-striking occasion of his own company's listing, will react naturally. Smile if you are happy, look serious if you are nervous, and keep a blank face if you are tired. No one will criticize you for not smiling properly. Of course, you can't laugh wildly, which is basic etiquette. But not laughing wildly and not smiling at all are two completely different things.

Having said that, if Wang Xingxing was really told to "do a good job in expression management, not to be too happy, and stay steady" — then I think this is a very bad suggestion. Because the worst kind of "expression management" is to turn "expression management" itself into news.

Think about it: if no one interferes with him, he will act naturally. Even if he is naturally not a smiley person, people will at most say "this person is quite serious" and then forget about it. But once someone specifically tells him "you need to manage your expression, don't smile", he will start to deliberately control his facial muscles, which will make his face stiff, look abnormal, and then everyone will notice it.

No one would have cared whether you smile or not, but after such management, everyone starts to wonder why you don't smile. Then the whole internet discusses it, it hits hot search lists, all kinds of speculations emerge, and some people even analyze his micro-expressions. A listing ceremony that could have passed in a low-key way has turned into a continuously fermenting public opinion event just because of a suggestion of "expression management". This is not managing expressions, this is creating hot topics.

But you may say: Wang Xingxing has always been like this in daily life. I casually searched for a few photos, and he did smile brightly before.

Of course, there are also photos where he looks cool.

Contradiction 2: The communication strategy wants to be low-key, but a big star is invited to the celebration.

If you broaden your perspective, you will find that the entire listing communication strategy of Unitree is full of the same awkward contradiction.

First look at what the official did. On the listing day, the official WeChat account of Unitree Robotics only posted one article, no short videos, no publicity for the victory banquet, and of course no photos of Wang Xingxing smiling. The entire official communication can be described as "extremely restrained" — a company with a market value of 300 to 400 billion yuan went public, but the official publicity volume is so small that it looks like they are doing something furtive. And of course, there are no "smiling" photos released.

A few days earlier, before the gong-striking ceremony, Unitree Robotics released a short video showing its robot jumping beyond human limits. The video had a good communication effect, and the whole internet was discussing "Unitree's robot can already jump so high".

What is this? This is a typical market value management communication strategy — since the "brain" (large AI model) is not yet mature enough, they first break through the physical limits to support the valuation imagination space with hardware capabilities. Objectively speaking, this move is quite successful. At least it is not as embarrassing as the "DeepSeek moment" of a certain AI company, and it did not attract much media questioning.

But this "restraint" on the listing day was broken by a big star. That's Wang Leehom!

Can you imagine that? On one hand, the official WeChat account only posted one article, and even did not publicize the celebration banquet, on the other hand, every move of Wang Leehom at the appreciation dinner was filmed by all the people present. Fortunately, Wang Xingxing did not sit next to Wang Leehom, otherwise it would be even more funny: one was strictly managing his expression, the other was sunny and bright, the contrast would make the contradiction even more prominent.