On April Fools’ Day, Meituan staged a funeral. Not for a product. For a feeling. Its fully AI-generated short film Trouble Is Dead (麻烦死了) declares the end of trouble (mafan, 麻烦). The word is a widely known concept in Chinese and could be used to describe any number of the daily frictions that drive you up the wall.
In the film’s mock-serious send-off someone asks: ‘who killed trouble?’ The answer is revealed through a string of all-too familiar scenarios. Users hesitate over meal choices, travel plans and itineraries. Each moment of indecision is resolved by Meituan’s AI assistant, Xiaotuan (小团).
The framing here is that Xiaotuan isn’t just some AI assistant, but a tool that removed the second guessing around daily trouble. The film doesn’t push technical claims, Meituan is tapping into capability and lived experience. ‘Trouble’ becomes a shared cultural shorthand – something everyone complains about but rarely defines. And Meituan kills it off.
It’s an absurd concept, which is why we can’t forget the timing. April Fools’ Day gives the campaign permission to be so, handling the topic with a light touch that removes any boredom with another dry product push.
Xiaotuan was introduced as an AI-powered search function earlier this year with the push Ask Xiaotuan (问小团). During Spring Festival, it expanded into scenario-based services, helping users plan reunion dinners and trips through a dedicated in-app hub.
Trouble is Dead consolidates those iterations into a single idea. Xiaotuan is no longer just a feature set. It’s positioned as a decision-making layer across Meituan’s ecosystem, one that promises to make choices easier, and in doing so, make everyday consumption feel frictionless. We’ve all sat flicking through Meituan too long, wondering what in the hell we’re going to eat. Maybe this was long overdue.
