China turns cold on foreign
brands By Robert Hartmann
HONG KONG - Many makers of international
brand-name products have flocked to China in
recent years, particularly after the country's
accession to the World Trade Organization, to tap
the potentially huge market. But are such
world-famous brands trusted by Chinese consumers?
Not really. In fact, Chinese consumer confidence
in foreign brand-name products is decreasing after
frequent media reports about their shabby quality.
Early this month, two young men from
Hangzhou, provincial capital of Zhejiang in
eastern China, sued the Zhongcui Foodstuff
Co Ltd
for producing and putting on the market Coca-Cola
and Sprite drinks containing the preservative
sodium benzoate, which has been proved to be
harmful to human health when consumed over a long
period. The plaintiffs accused the manufacturers
of covering up the preservative's chemical nature,
thus depriving the consumer of "the right to
know". The case is reported to have been accepted
by a court in Hangzhou's Jianggan district and
will soon go to trial.
This is only one
recent example of people questioning the quality
of foreign brands. Other examples found in Chinese
media reports include: complaints about the
quality of US brand Boshromb Eye Liquid; the
recall of six models of Sony digital cameras;
excessive iodine in Nestle powdered milk for
infants; baby clothes and adult underwear
containing harmful substances; shoes made by
European firms Clarke, Strada and George being
burned because of their allegedly shabby quality.
As a result, Chinese consumers have
started frowning at some foreign brands in the
past couple of years.
Spring 2005 has
become known as "the Black Spring" because more
than 10 reputed brands, including Colgate,
Carrefour and McDonald's, had serious
product-quality complaints made against them. It
seems the famous foreign brands are facing a
"Waterloo" or a "Qualitygate" crisis.
For
many years after China opened up to the outside
world in the late 1980s, the credibility of
world-famous brands was high in the minds of
Chinese consumers. This credibility, however,
seems to have been greatly undermined by recent
quality complaints.
Recently, the
state-run Xinhua News Agency's International
Herald Leader weekly and China's popular Internet
portal Sina.com jointly conducted an online survey
to ask consumers: "How much do you still believe
in foreign brands?" Of 2,477 people surveyed,
48.73% had only "a lukewarm belief in their
quality", based on unpleasant experiences using
the products. Another 36.79% maintained that they
still "have confidence in their quality", based on
the belief that, once quality problems arise,
these multinationals will take measures either to
recall the problematic products or destroy the
unsold ones. In contrast, a manufacturer of
domestic brands would be reluctant to do so,
unless exposed by the media.
According to
the poll, more than 80.38% of respondents held the
view that "foreign famous brands often
discriminate against and bully consumers in
China". Mr Wang, a consumer in Shijiazhuang,
provincial capital of Hebei in northern China,
told the International Herald Leader that in the
past, he had no confidence in domestic brands of
home-appliance products and used to buy Japanese
brands instead. But in recent years, he found that
the latter's manner of treating consumers and poor
after-sale services worsened a great deal. For
instance, his friend bought a problematic Japanese
camera and could not get proper protection from
the manufacturer.
Ye Yuanchun with
Zhejiang's provincial Council for Protecting
Consumers' Rights told the International Herald
Leader that there are three major causes for
rampant quality problems with foreign brands. One
is that some local manufacturers of such brands do
not operate lawfully. The second is a lack of
government supervision. And the third is the blind
worship of foreign brands by Chinese consumers.
In Beijing, Professor Chai Xiaoqing with
the business school at China University of
Political Science and Law said that when problems
arise, foreign brands should respond promptly,
explaining the nature of the defects and taking
measures to remedy them. They should also notify
the authorities.
Chai said these companies
are free to adopt different policies toward
marketing their products to China, Europe and
North America, but surely they should not employ
"double standards". For those products that have a
direct effect on human health and environmental
protection (such as food and cosmetics), a
universal standard should be adopted by all
countries. As for products that have less impact,
a proper quality-to-price ratio should be
maintained - ie, only high quality should be
linked to high price. Moreover, the consumer
should be provided with complete and accurate
information about products.
Chai added
that consumers must understand that good product
quality is established on a statistical basis, and
that statistical good quality does not rule out
the possibility of defective products being
produced. "To do justice to them, one should not
panic on discovering problems and proceed to cry,"
Chai said.
Shi Tongyu, director of the
Institute of Journalism under the Chinese Academy
of Sciences (Academia Sinica), pointed out that
with the rapid development of China's economy in
recent years, consumers' mentality has changed
from blind worship of famous foreign brands to a
more balanced view.
Other experts point
out that, as all enterprises aim for maximum
profits, it would be dangerous to put faith in
their corporate "conscience". To protect
consumers, therefore, there is an urgent need to
improve quality monitoring and supervision in
China.
Robert Hartmann is a Hong
Kong-based freelance writer.
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