An advertising video on Douyin showed a man carrying a pad everywhere he goes, using it as an eye mask, foot pad, or a rag to wipe down objects.
“If it is too bright to fall asleep you can use it as eye masks. It is so soft,” said a man in a laid-back way in the video and drew out a pad from a box of Kotex to cover his eyes.
In another scene, the man put a pad in his shoes to dry sweat and used the pad to wipe down a desk after he accidentally spilled a glass of water.
In the face of controversy, Kotex China said on its official Weibo account on Tuesday that it was sorry for the uncomfortable experience created by the video.
“The video is made and released by our marketing agencies without approval by the brand. It is seriously contrary to the values of the brand,” Kotex said in an apology letter, which has since received 3,700 responses and 2,777 comments.
Kotex said it has removed the content and rectified the error as soon as they became aware of it, and pledged to optimize its internal management process to prevent similar situations from happening again.
Some Chinese netizens say they don’t buy the apology and many were still outraged by the brand for using a man to advertise female hygiene care products in such a ridiculous way.
“I don’t care about the brands for pads but from now on I won’t buy Kotex,” commented one netizen on Weibo.
“The video is so disgusting with no respect for women at all,” commented another individual using the handle “nanababe.”
“Sanitary napkins never need men for promotion or endorsement,” a user named “songruanfengtangtusi” added
“Now it’s time to expand the male market?” commented another netizen.
Other netizens showed understanding, saying that the brand should be more responsible when it comes to promotional content.
Photo:Web
