China’s consumer rights show names and shames US brand Nike, Japan’s Muji
Nike admits only to a ‘mistake’, while Muji says CCTV annual show is ‘misleading’
At an annual event to name and shame dishonest businesses, Chinese state media took on two global consumer brands: accusing US sports apparel maker Nike of misleading advertising and Japanese retail brand Muji of mislabelling food products.
In response, Nike admitted a mistake in a product description but said it was not false advertising. Muji said it was the CCTV report that was misleading, as the address shown in Japanese on its labels was that of its parent company, not of the place of origin of the products.
Every year, state-run CCTV programmes an evening show on World Consumer Rights Days (March 15), in which it takes aim at shoddy business practices, from unsafe food to poor-quality products and services sold in China.
In the past, it has targeted major brands including the US fast food giant McDonald’s and French supermarket chain Carrefour. Many Chinese consumers use the show to update their shopping blacklists.
In a six-minute segment, Nike was criticised for misleading information on limited sales of one model of basketball shoes, a remake of the pair retired NBA star Kobe Bryant wore during his final game at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. Nike promoted the shoes as having air cushions in the heel, but Chinese who bought the shoes for 1,499 yuan a pair found that wasn’t true, the report said.
