China, to put it mildly, has an image problem. And the Chinese government’s most recent ham-handed stunt isn’t going to solve the problem.
UPDATE: Uh Oh! I screwed up. Big-time. As several commenters noted, China Air is actually owned by the Taiwan (Republic of China) not China (People’s Republic of China). I am embarrassed, to say the least. But I still call for a boycott of Chinese made and Chinese-sourced goods, based on the fact that we can’t tell the country of origin of products we buy. And clearly, those from the People’s Republic of China are unsafe.
By now you know that a China Air plane exploded on the runway last week at Naha Airport in Okinawa and, miraculously, all 165 people aboard escaped unharmed. Passengers slid down emergency chutes to escape and the crew jumped out the cockpit window to safety.
A Desperate Attempt to Protect the Brand
What you might not have heard is that as soon as the fire was out, officials from China Airlines covered their logo with a thick coat of white paint.
Apparently officials thought they could literally white wash over the name and logo to limit further damage to its image.
And the airline had official government sanction for their actions. It’s not like they made the decision alone. China’s Land, Infrastructure and Transport Ministry’s Aircraft and Railway Accidents Investigation Commission officials granted the request, judging that it would not hinder the investigation into the accident.
Obviously, this isn’t a random incident. China is the country that brings us poison pet food, poison toothpaste, poison children’s medications, and most recently, poisoned toys. And those are just the products we know about.
China Trade Boycott is Necessary
I do not want to buy another item made in China, assembled in China, or containing ingredients from China unless and until there is a way to actually guarantee that they are safe.
The problem is, we don’t know the country of origin of ingredients of the products we buy, and we have no way to know the quality of those ingredients even if we did.
Our too-much-ain’t-enough economy creates the demand for all the cheap crap that floods the shelves of Wal-Mart, etc. But that doesn’t absolve them, the manufacturers and importers of Chinese products, our government, or China’s government from responsibility.
Have you heard a candidate with a position on how to insure the safety of imported goods? I haven’t. We’re on our own here folks.
I don’t care what the PR campaign that you know is coming up says, money talks and it’s time for a trade boycott.
Copyright B.L. Ochman, all rights reserved
At least they used lead-free paint. I think..?
Right on, BL.
I stopped buying goods made in China a few weeks ago. Boycotting ingredients SOURCED from China will be a little more difficult!
Nice rant BL-however China Airlines is the government run airline of Taiwan(Republic of China) not China(People’s Republic of China) so….
I know you’re not the 1st victim of geo-political confusion. :)
wow. :)
type China Airline in google and check out the airline company.
how silly.
The China Air involved in this accident is Taiwanese owned and operated- that would be the Republic of China (aka Taiwan) and not the People’s Republic of China.
So, your point was?
Perhaps your rant would have been more convinicing if you have done your homework and get the facts right: China Airlines is a Taiwan-based carrier, it is NOT from Mainland China. In fact, China Airlines is not even allowed to fly directly to Mainland China. Try to get the facts right next time.
Try to get the facts right next time before you rant: China Airlines is a Taiwan based carrier, not from Mainland China. In fact, China Airlines is not even allowed to fly directly to Mainland China. Here’s a hint: do a google/yahoo search for China Airlines, it’s not that hard.
Don’t you REALLY think it wouldn’t make some people (if not every one)’s life better from buying some made-in-china products? (Especially for those with very low income)
Thanks for your comment on my blogged response to this post. I really like your writings and agree with the concerns
Anyone has the right to boycott or ask for boycott, but is it wise? Is it working the way you want? I think it is rather stupid! China is rightly on our planet and it will eventually get to it place in our world it deserves …
I love your blog, but I’m really disappointed with this post. And no, not for the Taiwan thing, which is almost misdirection because no one’s commenting on your actual opinion here.
This issue is not about China. That’s media spin, good ratings. The issue is about companies, AMERICAN companies who don’t give two hoots about quality control. What, you don’t think they can figure out what they’re selling you? The 150x markup can definitely pay for some good testing, at the very least.
This is bad management, this is disrespect for the consumer, this is way beyond Dell Hell. If you can write 40 (greatly enjoyable) posts on Dell, you can at least write about the true issue here.
I’m disappointed because you’re as guilty as the media and as the companies. “The buck stops in some foreign country, conveniently the foreign country everybody’s wary of, the one which is stealing our jobs, the one our politicans like to politicize, the one which is so freaking far away no one will even look at us.” Let’s boycott them, keep everyone happy, while we keep selling them inferior, dangerous rot.
The sad part is, whatever problems China has, they’ll figure it out – they’ll fix it. The real problems that are HERE, will stay unmended – and worse, unnoticed. What’s not scary is that these products are from China. What’s scary is that NONE of these (OUR) companies care about their (OUR) products, or their consumers(that’s right, US).
I can turn on any channel, flip through any newspaper, if I wanted to read a rant on China. But I know you can do better. Call out the companies, call out their PR people. Ask them where the buck stops.
The buck should screech to a halt here.
Dear MK: Ah, so you want me to change the world! Believe me, I’m trying. And when I am Queen, this will all be different. :>)
BL
Covering up the company logo on the aircraft with white or black paint after it crashed is standard procedure with every airline. So it’s not a China thing.
How do you like this?
Mattel apologizes to China for toy recalls
BEIJING (Reuters) – The world’s largest toy maker, Mattel Inc, apologized on Friday for damaging China’s reputation after recent massive recalls of its Chinese-made toys, admitting it targeted some goods that were actually up to scratch.
Thomas Debrowski: “”But it’s important for everyone to understand that the vast majority of those products that we recalled were the result of a design flaw in Mattel’s design, not through a manufacturing flaw in Chinese manufacturers.”
http://ca.today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=businessNews&storyID=2007-09-21T113149Z_01_PEK103940_RTRIDST_0_BUSINESS-CHINA-SAFETY-MATTEL-COL.XML&archived=False
Schinkies! Of course there were design flaws. That’s what I and a lot of other observers noted.
But WHY was Mattel not inspecting the plants? WHY was there ANY lead paint in ANY toys made by Mattel or any other company.
What a load of hooey!