China's biggest shopping day is free erotic moviescoming up this month, and Amazon's biggest rival is recruiting the celebrities it needs to capitalize on the event.
The Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba said Tuesday that former Los Angeles Laker Kobe Bryant and the band OneRepublic would join the company's "global ambassador" Katy Perry at a gala Nov. 10.
The gala will take place in Shenzhen the night before Singles' Day, a kind of Valentines' Day when people buy gifts for themselves. Alibaba popularized the shopping event as its Global Shopping Festival. This is the second year the company has put on a gala to promote the e-commerce event.
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Alibaba announced that Katy Perry would perform at the gala last month, and added Bryant and OneRepublic to the roster Tuesday. Beth Behrs, an actress on the CBS sitcom "2 Broke Girls," which is popular in China, will be at the gala, too. Alibaba said it would tease more celebrity guests in the coming weeks.
The gala is broadcast on TV over four hours and attracted 100 million viewers last year, Alibaba said.
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Amazon announced last week it would launch a version of Amazon Prime in China in an effort to compete more aggressively with Alibaba there. Amazon also announced on Tuesday that it had already started its "Black Friday" deals, meaning Christmas shopping in the U.S. is now effectively two months long.
The US tech giant might need to get Katy Perry, too.
