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The rise and wrath of China’s middle-class consumers
Quick to punish, but just as capable of pushing companies to do better, China’s shoppers now wield a power that can make or break global and domestic brands.
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Chinese restaurant chain Xibei faced significant blowback over its use of frozen and pre-cooked ingredients after celebrity entrepreneur Luo Yonghao criticised the company on social media.
PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES
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In mid-September, upmarket outdoor apparel brand Arc’teryx found itself at the centre of a public relations firestorm when it set off multi-coloured fireworks in the foothills of the Himalayas, sparking a furious environmental backlash that compelled the company to quickly issue an apology.
The spectacular high-altitude stunt was meant to pay tribute to nature and was a collaboration with pyrotechnics artist Cai Guo-Qiang, but it unleashed widespread outrage instead over its potential ecological damage to Tibet’s fragile ecosystem and prompted the Chinese authorities to swiftly launch an investigation.
