Artikel,
Bad PR week for Western brands, or just turbulence?
Danwei.org, (31. Aug, 10:58 AM 2007-08-31)
Zusammenfassung
This week has seen two prominent Western companies in PR hot water
in China.
Electrolux
An assistant to a senior Electrolux executive has become an Internet
celebrity after revealing photographs of her were hacked from an
American man's password-protected photo website.
Roland Soong has summarized the affair and translated some Chinese
Internet chatter about the case:
...Beijing Youth Daily contacted Electrolux and was informed by the
company public relation specialist that Shi Jing is the assistant
to the manager of the home electronics division and she is presently
on leave due to mental pressure.
...There are many ängry young people" among the online commentators
and they are not very polite. Here are some comments:
"The problem with Shi Jing is not that she posed nude, or she had
intercourse with someone. There are so many Japanese adult video
girls, but why should any normal person scold them? Shi Jing's problem
was that 'she wants to look aloof in front of her compatriots, but
she acts like a dog in front of foreigners'."
"Let us unite all our powers and find out the true identity of this
foreigner."
This is similar to the Secretary PK Boss affair in April 2006, in
which a strongly critical email from a Chinese secretary to her grouchy
Singaporean boss was circulated nationwide. That company was EMC,
a network information storage provider.
It is highly unlikely that there was any effect on EMC's bottom line
because of the scandal: If anything, the fuss made a lot of Chinese
netizens know the name EMC. The fact is, a lot of people in China's
cities can sympathize with having a grouchy Singaporean boss, or
a Chinese secretary who looks like a flower but turns into a vixen
when vexed.
Carrefour
From Forbes:
French hypermarket Carrefour is facing a peculiar kind of growing
pain for its breakneck growth in China: systemic corruption among
its management ranks at the local levels.
As many as eight managerial staff at Carrefour China have been detained
by Chinese police in a wide-ranging probe initiated by the company
itself over bribe taking by its managers at its city procurement
center in Beijing and seven other outlets, including one in Shenzhen...
...The police summoned 22 suspects for questioning between June 25th
and August 1, including 12 local suppliers, according to two major
publications, Shanghai Securities News and China Business News. The
investigation netted an unidentified number of corrupt managers working
at the fresh produce department who requested kickbacks in the form
of promotional fees from suppliers. Carrefour did not dispute the
reports...
...A report published by China Business News in February last year
revealed the value of kickbacks for a procurement manager working
at a Carrefour outlet, who earned a monthly salary of 3,000 yuan
($397) but managed to top this up to more than a million yuan ($132,000)
every year by devising some innovative forms of bribery such as the
acceptance of credit cards, lottery prizes and payments made in exchange
for hosting promotional campaigns.
While the Western press is carefully noting that Carrefour itself
initiated the investigation, that point is not given much play in
the Chinese reports; most of Beijing's morning newspapers reported
on the case today.
Seems like bad PR for Carrefour, but it also recalls a similar scandal
in January this year, when Shanghai police detained 22 company executives
for bribery and graft. The authorities said at the time that "bribes
worth 4 million yuan (US$514,000) allegedly were given to staff at
seven companies by local computer network operators, in return for
equipment orders" (see China Daily story). The companies named included
consulting firm McKinsey & Co., McDonald's, Swiss engineering firm
ABB Ltd. and American appliances maker Whirlpool Corp., among other
companies.
At the time of the arrests, your correspondent did some research on
behalf of one of the affected companies about the PR fallout and
especially the online chatter about the affair. These were some of
my conclusions at the time:
Some people think that such corruption is a normal part of business
and life in China and that there is nothing special about this case.
Such people do not approve of this type of behavior, but recognize
that is is really common in China.
Many bloggers said that corruption is part of the unspoken rules of
business and society, but criticized it as an impediment to the growth
and development of China.
There seems to be nobody blaming the companies affected, nor attaching
negative associations to them because of the scandal.
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Comments on Bad PR week for Western brands, or just turbulence?
1. Add this to the list: - Amid bribery scandals, Beijing Benz car
sales drop in July.
http://www.gasgoo.com/autobiz/3056/Amid-bribery-scandals-Beijing-Benz-car-sales-drop-in-July.html
Posted by: Shaan | August 31, 2007 3:11 PM
2. Very intelligently presented: you offer two sets of two cases,
ostensibly on the theme of PR fallout. In so doing, you've also conveniently
juxtaposed the public reaction to a legal personal relationship (outrage
- set 1, case 1) with the reaction to an illegal commercial relationship
(crickets chirping - set 2, case 2). So, let me turn it around on
you and ask: How do you interpret the striking contrast in the reactions
to these two incidents? I'm perfectly happy to get both of us in
trouble. Allow me to add that I think there's more going on here
than simply a protectionist attitude regarding 'our women', if you
will. That aspect may well exist, but doesn't seem sufficient as
an explanation. To me, it seems more interesting than that.
Cheers
ps Were you a troublemaker before coming to China?
Posted by: Du Yisa | August 31, 2007 3:42 PM
3. Hmmm... a young women agrees to pose nude - foolishly certainly
- for a foreigner alas! - but doubt she was paid money to do so,
so seems a private issue between her and the total dork that she
did this for, feel sorry for her, and then you tie this in with Carrefour,
which is SO completely relevant... are you seriously finding a tie
in to this? what the f*** do they have to do with each other? Anyhow,
EVERYONE who lives and works here understands that total corruption
on every level if possible is the name of the business game in China,
so why bother even commenting on it? Yawn.... Sinking their own good
ship, much to the disadvantage of some very decent, honest people
here, welcome to China! But ah, they don't usually own things....But
this is something that Chinese themselves will have to find a way
out of. Domestic economy aside, all the money in China is mostly
coming from outside through direct trade and investment. Personally
I think the gov't will deal with it, central control might be the
saving grace - a few more executions!! - but when you have society
with no spiritual rules, and that has jumped into the emptiness of
modern society overnight... anyone surprised?
A personal opinion... anyone who shops at a French supermarket is
daft anyhow. Even though I am European I would say buy AMERICAN or
German any day. Bought so much complete garbage at Carrefour, everything
fell apart in seconds. The LOWEST quality I have found here in this
lovely country.
Posted by: So who's to blame? | September 3, 2007 12:10 AM
