Chinese firms apologise for ‘shrunken’ sanitary pads | EUROtoday

Major sanitary pad makers in China are apologising after being accused of promoting pads which are shorter than marketed.

It comes amid a storm of anger after viral social media movies confirmed Chinese girls measuring the lengths of sanitary pads from fashionable manufacturers – displaying that the majority of them fell wanting what was acknowledged on their packaging.

The uproar has prolonged into broader grievances about girls being short-changed by female hygiene merchandise, which have a historical past of security scandals in China.

Chinese girls have taken it upon themselves to name out high quality considerations in sanitary pads, probably the most generally used female hygiene product within the nation.

In one of many earliest movies, posted on 3 November, a person on Chinese social media platform Xiaohongshu examined 9 manufacturers of sanitary pads with a measuring tape, displaying that all of them fell wanting the size acknowledged on their packaging.

“Will cutting a few centimetres help you strike it rich?” the person wrote in her video.

The revelations quickly ignited widespread criticism, with shoppers accusing sanitary pad makers of being deceitful.

“The inflated sanitary pad length is just like the insoles under men’s feet,” reads one fashionable Weibo submit.

Amid the uproar, an investigation of over 20 completely different sanitary pads by Chinese information outlet The Paper discovered that just about 90% of the merchandise had been “shrunken”, measuring at the very least 10mm shorter than claimed on their packaging. Tucked inside most of them had been even shorter absorbent layers, that are meant to absorb menstrual circulate.

The Paper additionally reported that whereas nationwide requirements for sanitary pads specify that the merchandise can measure inside 4% of marketed lengths, they don’t specify the size of the absorbent layer in sanitary pads.

Following a torrent of complaints, authorities stated they had been revising the present nationwide customary on sanitary pads, in response to native media.

Met with enquiries and complaints from prospects concerning the discrepancy in its sanitary pad lengths, the favored Chinese model ABC additional stoked outrage after its customer support reportedly responded to a grievance by saying “if you cannot accept [the length difference] then you can choose not to buy it”.

ABC stated in an announcement in mid-November that it was “deeply sorry” for the “inappropriate” response, and promised to enhance its merchandise to realize “zero deviation”. Other firms together with Shecare and Beishute have additionally issued apologies.

Chinese state media has additionally weighed in on the controversy, criticising producers for slicing corners.

“As a daily necessity for women, quality of sanitary pads is directly related to the health and comfort of the user,” reads a Xinhua article. “The problems existing in some products on the market cannot be ignored.”

Sanitary pads are probably the most generally used female hygiene product in China, the place the market is valued at $13bn (£10bn). However, the merchandise have additionally made headlines through the years for issues of safety.

In 2016, police busted a large “fake sanitary towel” operation in southeast China, the place tens of millions of sanitary pads had been manufactured in a manufacturing unit with out correct hygiene measures and packaged as fashionable manufacturers. In 2021, fashionable female hygiene model Space 7 apologised and vowed an investigation after a girl claimed she discovered a needle in one in every of its sanitary pads.

The wave of anger additionally displays broader grievances felt by girls over the standard of merchandise meant for them.

“Is it that hard for sanitary pads to tackle women’s needs?” reads a trending hashtag on Weibo.

Another trending phrase that has caught on amid the blowback encapsulates the outrage: “Sanitary pads yield a centimetre; women yield for a lifetime.”