Chinese woman nicknamed 'Miss Aluminium' gains TikTok fame for English-language sales pitches

One woman in China might just have found the winning formula for selling products online — or in her case, capsule houses or tiny homes.

The employee of Liaoning Yitong Intelligent Equipment Manufacturing, also known as Etong, has become somewhat of a viral sensation on TikTok, with many of her videos, presented in English, attracting over 100,000 views.

Not bad for an account that has been on TikTok for barely a year. 

The company began posting on TikTok under the account @Robert_etong in December 2023, with different salespeople on rotation who'd introduce the company's micro apartments that "ship all over the world".

But it appears the internet crowd has found its favourite presenter in one particular 'auntie' who has taken over hosting duties since February of this year.

Speaking in Chinese-accented English, her spiel in each video is almost identical, and begins with her trademark introduction, "Hello boss!"

The company's video views did not appear to pick up, however, till a few months later in June, when a video where she introduces their product that is "cheaper than a car" went viral, with over 472,000 views as of writing.

@robert_etong This house is cheaper than a car and spacious #etonghouse#tinyhome#resorts #capsule #airbnb #tinyhouse #mobilehouse #prefabhouse ♬ Monsieur Melody - 松巴音乐

Since then, the channel has garnered thousands of views for each video, and has even earned the woman — who has so far not been identified — many fans.

More recently, she has also tweaked her script to include "Hello Habibi", probably in an attempt to reach out to the masses in Saudi Arabia where her products ship to.

Nicknamed 'Miss Aluminium'

While some TikTok users have made disparaging remarks about her English, where she mispronounces words such as "aluminium" and "contact", a majority of the others appear to have grown fond of her accent and earnest sales pitches.

Her efforts have even earned her the nickname "Miss Aluminium", with "aluminium" spelt in different ways due to how she pronounces the word.

"Me waiting for the alumunumu," wrote one commenter on TikTok.

"New word unlocked. Cat cat (contact) me," remarked another.

Some users have also expressed admiration for her fluency in speech, despite English evidently not being her native language.

Remarked one user on Chinese social media: "Stop making fun of her, it's not easy to remember so many words, much less [worry about] grammar."

But it appears the detractors have not deterred her in any way.

In fact, she seems to have embraced her newfound identity and even doubled down on her winning formula.

A clip where she is introduced as "Miss Aluminium" on Aug 1 has so far managed to garner over five million views (and counting) on TikTok.

Another recent video shows her 'teaching' her boss how to make a sales pitch exactly like how she does it — much to the delight of viewers, of course.

Wrote one user: "The boss has some videos with decent English but Mrs Alumolemu is teaching the boss how to say it properly and give the people what they want."

"Our Mrs Alumolemu teaching the next generation," wrote another.

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candicecai@asiaone.com