P&G China Was Fined Over $100,000 for Vulgar Advertising
- Chaileedo Press
- Jun 28, 2022
- 3 min read
P&G China was sentenced to stop publishing the illegal advertisement and fined $104,000 for posting an article titled "women's feet smell 5 times worse than men's" that violated the advertising law on the WeChat public account "P&G Member Center".
On June 27, China Standard Time, @DengGaoJing, a lawyer, disclosed on Sina Weibo that P&G China was fined 700,000 yuan ($104,000) by the local market regulator in Guangzhou, South China's Guangdong Province, for publishing a vulgar advertisement that insulted women.
The penalty started with the article alleging that "women's feet smell 5 times worse than men’s”. At that time, the ad caused a lot of disputes in China and was reported by CHAILEEDO. (Related article: P&G Screwed up Again for Accusing of Disrespect to Women)
According to CHAILEEDO, Chinese netizens expressed their disappointment with P&G China, saying that it insulted women and provoked gender confrontation. Some of them even started calling for a public boycott of P&G's brands. It is worth mentioning that Deng Gaojing's legal team filed a complaint with the local market regulator in Huangpu District, Guangzhou, regarding the vulgar copyright in order to fight for women's rights.
Subsequently, @P&G China, the official account of the company on Sina Weibo, issued an apology statement on March 24, which mentioned that the company always advocated the values of equality, tolerance and respect. Besides, P&G China had removed the article and rectified the operation of the WeChat account. Finally, the company made a solemn apology to all women. However, the short statement did not quell the anger of Chinese netizens.
Four days later, the local market regulator in Huangpu District, Guangzhou, formally built a case against Procter&Gamble (Guangzhou)Ltd.
On June 24, the Chinese National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System officially released an administrative penalty announcement, in which P&G was fined 700,000 yuan. CHAILEEDO learned from the written decision on the administrative penalty that Procter&Gamble (Guangzhou)Ltd. had the following two illegal facts.
First and foremost, the market regulator found that P&G's use the comparison of body odor between males and females to advertise, which violated Article 9 (7) of the Advertising Law of the People's Republic of China: "Advertisements shall not have the following circumstances: (7) obstructing social public order or violating good social morals".
Otherwise, the content that P&G China quoted in the article did not indicate the source and caused the inaccuracy, which violated Article 11(2) of the Advertising Law of the People's Republic of China: "Advertisements using data, statistics, survey results, abstracts, quotations and other quoted content shall be true and accurate and indicate the source. If the quoted content has a scope of application and a validity period, it shall be indicated".
The regulator further stated the release of the copyright "women's feet smell five times more than men’s" caused negative social impacts. Regarding the fact that P&G China had taken the initiative to rectify the situation by removing the advertisement and canceling the WeChat account, as well as actively cooperating with the administrative authorities in the investigation, on June 24, 2022, the local market regulator in Huangpu District, Guangzhou, issued an administrative penalty of stopping the publication of illegal advertisement and fining P&G China 700,000 yuan ($104,000).
So far, the vulgar advertisement incident that made P&G China disputable in the Chinese market has ended, but the impact of this advertisement on the corporate image as well as the reputation is far from over.
A marketing campaign of a brand is supposed to convey the positive value of the brand itself. But if it involves content that is disrespectful to women, it will leave a bad impression on consumers create a very negative impression or even sparkle public disputes.
CHAILEEDO noticed that some netizens made a detailed classification of the brands operated by P&G in Greater China, so that they can "precisely boycott" the brands, including SK-II, OLAY and other well-known international brands.
It is reported that China is currently one of the strongest growing markets for P&G. According to the 2021 earnings report of P&G, the organic sales in Greater China achieved a 12% year-on-year growth, and Pantene increased by 25% year on year. The above statics shows that the Chinese market with considerable female consumers is indispensable to P&G.
It is worthwhile noting that the official website of P&G China has a special section on "Gender Equality" at present, saying "We aspire to build a better world where there is no gender bias and where all people have an equal voice for all - inside and outside P&G. "
Whether this is a slogan or a guiding principle for action is difficult for CHAILEEDO to determine with precision. But what is certain is that the fine of more than $100,000 will warn more major international cosmetic brands, including P&G, to be more cautious in their advertising and marketing in China.
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