'Made in China' gets a new gloss


By Benjamin A Shobert
Asia Times
Jan 15, 2010


We have become so desensitized to defective products originating in China that this week's announcement from the US Consumer Product Safety Commission about finding dangerous levels of cadmium in children's toys seemed oddly expected and has thus far ruffled few feathers.

Yet, while this particular issue may not be significant enough to upend the trade relationship between the US and China, or of such severity that it is likely to be the cause of a whole new set of import restrictions, it does add more weight to an increasing wariness and frustration with Chinese-made products on the part of American consumers.

The cumulative effect of these quality problems has the potential not only to impact the export-sensitive economy of China, but to create a systemic problem for what it means to have products of any variety sourced in China, an issue that could cause problems for an untold number of American and European consumer-product companies, as well as the retailers they serve.

In a series of television ads that started late last year with limited runs on CNN Asia, and now spreading to various media outlets around the world, Beijing seems to have acknowledged these fears, with a new ad program defending what it means to be "Made in China". The new ads go by the tag line "Made in China, Made with the World".

The advertisements are sponsored primarily by the Ministry of Commerce, in conjunction with four Chinese trade groups, and are developed by DDB Guoan-Beijing. Through them, the Chinese government appears to be acknowledging that the China brand is suffering from these repeated product quality problems and may need a global media campaign to prevent further damage.

Global marketing on the part of a country in the face of such a mounting set of negative publicity is extremely rare. The ads themselves have been in the works for some time, but the launch of the campaign appears with stories of tainted milk still lingering in people's memories.

Should further quality problems present themselves in other industries, the country could well face a collective and insurmountable disgust at what it means to have products sourced in China, with customers of Chinese manufacturers choosing to pay higher prices in order to avoid the "Made in China". Unlikely though such a scenario might seem, the very presence of the ads seems to reinforce the concern that the potential consequences could be severe. The net effect of a shifting tide of popular opinion could be more devastating than all but the most onerous of trade wars.

The TV ad begins by showing runners on their way through a park, and as one runner ties his shoe, the tongue of his running shoe can be seen bearing a label that reads: "Made in China with American Sports Technology". A home of distinctly European taste is the ad's next scene, with a refrigerator whose interior label states: "Made in China with European Styling". Teenagers listening to music at a bus stop are next up, shown holding an MP3 player that bears the imprint "Made in China with Software from Silicon Valley".

The flash from a photographer is the next to last, as clothing models have their pictures taken, with a peak of the inside label from one garment showing "Made in China with French Designers". And last, a businessman on an airplane looks out of his window to see a jet engine bearing the black lettering "Made in China with Engineers from around the World". The ad's primary slogan, "When it says Made in China, it really means 'Made in China, Made with the World'", ends the 30-second piece.

The products in question are interesting choices, ranging from the lowest technology (garment manufacturing) to the most popular of consumer products (the MP3 player, as shown in the spot a model curiously reminiscent of the iPod Nano), to one of the highest technology products that touches the average consumer's life, an airplane engine.

This part of the ad works both for the benefit of the China brand as well as to its detriment: undoubtedly the ad's designers hoped that by showing the breadth of products made in China, consumers would be reminded of how infrequently they encounter problems. At the same time, the ad may provoke an uncomfortable realization on the part of the consumer that they have no grasp of where the next quality problem from China could present itself. As the ad illustrates, given the sheer number and variety of products made in China, shielding yourself against Chinese-made products is all but impossible.

While the production value of the advertisement is not fully to Western standards, it is on the whole not poor; the overall effect on the part of the viewer is mixed. The ability to think strategically enough to understand the role such a global ad campaign needs to play in calming fears about what the "China" brand means suggests a responsive and somewhat sophisticated government. To be able to put out a coordinated program, strategically designed to talk to some of the most influential TV watchers, is well thought out. On the other hand, the ad has a twinge of what comes across almost as an inferiority complex, the entirety of the "China" brand reduced to that of being a passive manufacturer of the world's products.

It is a curious combination that may not create the desired effect, and it is an admission on the part of China that its role in the global economy is not that of creator or innovator, but as that of a factory. At its best, this ad seems to suggest that China wishes to remind the world of what it does well, in an extremely wide range of products. At the same time, it provokes the watcher to recall the interconnectedness between country's production capacity and global business. At its worst, the ad reinforces the idea of China as only a factory, capable of low-cost production and little else.

In a week that has seen one of America's technology leaders, Google, stand up to the Chinese government with a threat to withdraw from the country if the company cannot run an uncensored search site there, it is useful to reflect on whether we may have overstated the position of dominance enjoyed by Beijing.

The "Made in China, Made with the World" ad campaign is not a move born of strength; rather it is an admission that the "China" brand currently carries many weaknesses and is still quite vulnerable. The fact that much of the developed world is questioning its own economic models further complicates a balanced diagnosis on China's real versus perceived strengths. Among the implicit admissions made in this ad by the Chinese government itself is that China needs the world as much as the world needs China, a reminder which again communicates strength, mutual reliance, and some weakness.

In its own way, this ad may also serve as a reminder that the Chinese economy still has a lot of ground to cover if it is to compete with Western businesses.

Without intending to do so, the ad should also provoke a realization on the part of American and European companies that, in order to stay competitive, they must remain vigilant on those business practices that they do better than their peers, with further emphasis on research, product development, and consumer marketing.

However clumsy some may believe this ad campaign to be, it does reflect an awareness at the highest levels in China that the country must pay attention to, and work to create influence on, consumers' perceptions. As with many developments in China, once the government has shown this to be a necessary step, industry will soon follow.

For all the emphasis on Chinese businesses and their role in export markets, those companies who have truly separated themselves and built their own autonomous brands in export economies are extremely rare, few if any being known outside the circles of business professionals or China industry watchers. Consequently, the "China" brand, if it exists at all, exists as a country-of-origin locator, and is not tied to any particular product or industry. This is undoubtedly why such a concerted media campaign was deemed necessary: if consumers know only the most global version of the "China" brand, and relate it to the numerous and mounting stories of defective products, they will begin to make purchasing decisions to avoid Chinese-made products.

In addition, as the recession or near-recession in America drags out, more US-based companies looking for a marketing advantage may determine that sourcing domestically provides a short-term benefit that outweighs the cost savings of having product manufactured in China. The current faint cries for "Made in the USA" branded products could begin to build, leaving the "Made in China" brand to face not only baggage related to poor-quality products, but a spirit of economic nationalism in the US.

From Beijing's perspective, it makes enormous sense now to reach out and try to speak directly to American consumers, reminding them not only of the benefits they enjoy from their Chinese-made products, but the degree to which American companies rely on Chinese manufacturing.

At a time when the certainty of globalization's interconnectedness is being questioned, this television advertisement argues that the world benefits from China's productive capacity and that on balance China has earned the world's trust. But the mere fact that Beijing feels it must launch a concerted ad campaign to make these points suggests that many outside China feel quite the opposite, and that its position of strength is not as firm or all-encompassing as some might suggest.

Benjamin A Shobert is the managing director of Teleos Inc (www.teleos-inc.com), a consulting firm dedicated to helping Asian businesses bring innovative technologies into the North American market.

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