15 March is World Consumer Rights Day, and the annual “315 gala” is hosted to name those who are found to have violated consumer rights. This year, once again, China saw a scandal with feminine sanitary products. Less than 3 months after the last scandal, netizens brace for one that is even worse.
The centre of the scandal is one company in Jining, Shandong, Eastern China, which was found to be producing counterfeit sanitary products, including sanitary pads and diapers. The company takes defective materials and scraps from legitimate manufacturers to “recycle” and “refurbish” into new products before using fake packaging to appear as branded products.
- #翻新卫生巾 Recycled sanitary pads: 570 million views on Weibo, ranking number 1 on the Hot Search list
- #近五年爆过雷的卫生巾品牌 Brands that had scandals in the last 5 years: 86.17 million views on Weibo, ranking number 2 on the Hot Search list
Women in China have long faced nightmares about hygiene products from official news and word-of-mouth rumours. This is why the hashtag “Which brand hasn’t had a scandal” yet also reached number 10 on the list. People also jokingly asked Lei Jun of Xiaomi to make pads that are safe. Both show that trust is the most important and it is currently lacking between consumers and brands in this market.
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