Mengniu smear blitz against Yili ends with jail sentences
Six people have been jailed or given suspended sentences for their roles in a smear campaign by dairy giant Mengniu against rival Yili.
Prosecutors in Hohhot's Huimin district said An Yong, 33, a brand manager in Mengniu's liquid milk division, came up with the idea of attacking similar products made by Yili in July.
A deputy general manager at the BossPR public relations agency, identified only by her family name, Xiao, then asked two of her employees to carry out the plan, Xinhua reported.
Xiao was given a suspended one-year jail sentence and An received a suspended 10-month sentence.
One Mengniu employee and three from the public relations agency were jailed, for terms ranging from three months to five months and 25 days. They will be allowed to return home for a couple of days each month. Huimin District People's Court president Yun Zhansheng said the defendants had been given lighter sentences because they were young, from 23 to 36 years old, had been co-operative and deserved a second chance in life.
Prosecutors said the online attacks included having writers post items on almost 100 forums to stir up anti-Yili sentiment among internet users and arranging for popular bloggers to criticise Yili's products, saying they triggered early puberty.
Writers posed as pregnant women or parents to attack Yili's products, and online news portals and bloggers carried the articles or discussions. Police said the defendants had launched the attack on Yili's products to increase Mengniu's sales.
They published 491 articles and the campaign against Yili spread to more than 5,000 instant messaging groups.
The scandal came to light in October when what was said to be internal Yili correspondence on the police investigation was leaked on the internet. It detailed a systematic attack by Mengniu.
