Day of reckoning for some ...
By Hu Min |
March 15, 2013, Friday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
TODAY'S Consumer Rights Day could prove to be quite a grilling for some companies, with the unveiling of a number of quality scandals.
Tonight, news program "3.15" - one of China's most widely watched TV shows - will name and shame companies that have violated consumers' trust.
The CCTV show often catches companies off guard, and the fallout can sting, as McDonald's found out last year when it was criticized on food safety. McDonald's apologized, but its share price fell as China's army of microbloggers unleashed their anger online.
The company, along with KFC, had been supplied with chicken raised on farms where excessive chemicals were fed to the birds.
McDonald's is giving away more than a million breakfast McMuffins across China on Monday, Reuters reported. But the US fast food chain say there is no connection with the Consumer Rights Day. The timing was purely coincidental.
"The minute there are questions about your practices that appear in any way credible, that can be devastating to consumer trust and extremely difficult to get back," Shanghai-based James Roy, a senior analyst at China Market Research Group, told Reuters.
Over the past 12 months, a large number of quality scandals have been reported in Shanghai, involving many international brands.
Marks & Spencer were criticized for shrinking leisure wear and excess water in breakfast cereal, and H&M shoes failed quality tests.
Kraft was involved in two cases regarding expired cheese and packaging containing excessive levels of fluorescent agents, but the company said yesterday that the authorities were wrong.
International brands that were caught up in quality-related problems covered a broad range of areas. Food products were the most mentioned with cases involving Nestle, Lipton, Ikea and Twinings.
Domestic dairy giants Mengniu and Bright Dairy were also involved in food safety scandals, further eroding people's confidence in domestic dairy products.
Clothing and shoes were involved in a number of cases with brands such as Vero Moda, H&M, Edc, Mogg Pink, adidas, Zara, Levi's and Jack & Jones involved.
Panasonic, LG, Nongshim and Chanel were also named in cases affecting consumers.
The Shanghai Consumer Rights Protection Commission has a hotline 12315 where some people can answer in English, but the hotline is not well-known among the expat community. None of seven expats interviewed yesterday knew about it.
There are many fake cigarettes sold in the city, said Greek Konsuela Alatalo, but she said she did not know where to complain.
Robert, an American who declined to give his full name, said "it would be quite upsetting" if he found what he supposed to be genuine products turned out to be fake. "Absolutely I will complain, and I will probably go to the police," he said.
A Norwegian who gave his name as Ingar said he had bought fake or poor quality products many times.
"I altogether avoid that shop or that brand afterwards, and complain only if the amount of money is very high," he said.
He said he had lost millions of yuan after he bought an apartment in Xujiahui Garden.
He said he had problems with the management company after he bought the apartment.
"I went to court many times, but in the end I realized nobody could really help me and the only way was to sell the apartment again."
Tai Ailian, executive deputy secretary general of the Shanghai Consumer Rights Protection Commission, said expats were welcome to forward complaints to the commission.
Tonight, news program "3.15" - one of China's most widely watched TV shows - will name and shame companies that have violated consumers' trust.
The CCTV show often catches companies off guard, and the fallout can sting, as McDonald's found out last year when it was criticized on food safety. McDonald's apologized, but its share price fell as China's army of microbloggers unleashed their anger online.
The company, along with KFC, had been supplied with chicken raised on farms where excessive chemicals were fed to the birds.
McDonald's is giving away more than a million breakfast McMuffins across China on Monday, Reuters reported. But the US fast food chain say there is no connection with the Consumer Rights Day. The timing was purely coincidental.
"The minute there are questions about your practices that appear in any way credible, that can be devastating to consumer trust and extremely difficult to get back," Shanghai-based James Roy, a senior analyst at China Market Research Group, told Reuters.
Over the past 12 months, a large number of quality scandals have been reported in Shanghai, involving many international brands.
Marks & Spencer were criticized for shrinking leisure wear and excess water in breakfast cereal, and H&M shoes failed quality tests.
Kraft was involved in two cases regarding expired cheese and packaging containing excessive levels of fluorescent agents, but the company said yesterday that the authorities were wrong.
International brands that were caught up in quality-related problems covered a broad range of areas. Food products were the most mentioned with cases involving Nestle, Lipton, Ikea and Twinings.
Domestic dairy giants Mengniu and Bright Dairy were also involved in food safety scandals, further eroding people's confidence in domestic dairy products.
Clothing and shoes were involved in a number of cases with brands such as Vero Moda, H&M, Edc, Mogg Pink, adidas, Zara, Levi's and Jack & Jones involved.
Panasonic, LG, Nongshim and Chanel were also named in cases affecting consumers.
The Shanghai Consumer Rights Protection Commission has a hotline 12315 where some people can answer in English, but the hotline is not well-known among the expat community. None of seven expats interviewed yesterday knew about it.
There are many fake cigarettes sold in the city, said Greek Konsuela Alatalo, but she said she did not know where to complain.
Robert, an American who declined to give his full name, said "it would be quite upsetting" if he found what he supposed to be genuine products turned out to be fake. "Absolutely I will complain, and I will probably go to the police," he said.
A Norwegian who gave his name as Ingar said he had bought fake or poor quality products many times.
"I altogether avoid that shop or that brand afterwards, and complain only if the amount of money is very high," he said.
He said he had lost millions of yuan after he bought an apartment in Xujiahui Garden.
He said he had problems with the management company after he bought the apartment.
"I went to court many times, but in the end I realized nobody could really help me and the only way was to sell the apartment again."
Tai Ailian, executive deputy secretary general of the Shanghai Consumer Rights Protection Commission, said expats were welcome to forward complaints to the commission.
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