Milk Contamination to Catalyze Consumer Awareness and Accountability
September 18th, 2008 by Rich
The last few days have brought news of melamine contaminated Chinese milk to the international stage. 4 children to date have died, 6000 have been affected, and it is only in the last few days that parents around China have been given the information they need to assess whether or not their child may be affected.
For many, this crisis is bringing back memories of lead paint Barbie dolls, tainted toothpaste, and the millions of products that were recalled as part of the “made in China” product safety scandal. .. and it is another scandal that has been poorly handled at the agency & media level.
However, where I think this scandal is different than last summer, and where I believe this scandal will have a long term positive impact, is that the direct impact of this failure is local. It is to date, a problem that has harmed Chinese children, alarmed Chinese parents, and publicly exposed to 1.3 billion Chinese the greed that undermines China’s development and its people.
With that in mind, what Taihu’s Algae was to environmentalism, and the 5.12 earthquake was to philanthropy, this latest scandal will be the next turning point in China’s civil society.
1) Consumer confidence in Chinese brands will be lost in China - Already there are reports that the contamination goes further than the milk powder (possible yogurt and ice cream bars). However, with previous problems with baby formula and pharmaceuticals is still fresh in the people’s minds as well
2) Consumers will begin asking tough questions of the agencies that were supposed to monitor and report problems with the system. Already, there are rumors that reports were suppressed during the Olympics, and should this prove true the pressure will grow on executives, officials and media to explain why action was not taken immediately
3) Consumer “Strolls” may begin as more parents receive the news that they are sick. Of course, companies are already announcing that they will compensate parents for the next 5 years, but for some/ many that may not be enough and with citizen strolls already proving successful in addressing environmental problems - parents may see this as an opportunity
Chinese parents hold little else more important than their child’s health, and as we saw in Sichuan after the loss of thousands of school children, parents are not afraid to be vocal and active. Where this will be an opportunity to take civil society, and public participation, to the next level is that the public at large (children or not) will relate to those who have been affected.
Government agencies will need act fast to shore up consumer confidence of China’s food products (dumpings, sauce, water, dairy, etc are all at risk), and public action will be needed to satisfy consumers who will be monitoring the event(s) closely.
This entry was posted on Thursday, September 18th, 2008 at 10:33 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
May 19th, 2008 at 4:43 am
anybody here know of a good site to find more info on Survey Companies? I’ve got this site bookmarked and im gonna keep checking it out, but i still would like to find a site that covers Survey Companies a little more thoroughly..thanks
September 18th, 2008 at 8:12 pm
[...] This post from Crossroads (an excellent blog on corporate social responsibility in China) makes a prediction that I’m quite sure will prove to be spot-on: “…what Taihu’s Algae was to environmentalism, and the 5.12 earthquake was to philanthropy, this latest scandal will be the next turning point in China’s civil society.” [...]
September 19th, 2008 at 8:23 pm
[...] from Crossroad points out some potential positive impacts of the poisonous milk scandal on consumer awareness. Posted by Oiwan Lam Print Version [...]
September 20th, 2008 at 10:10 pm
not much news from any ‘consumer associations’ or ‘consumers groups’ yet in China; but maybe this will start to change… these kinds of pressure groups are relatively effective in the West.
From the government’s perspective such groups could be a better outlet for consumers to express their opinions through (rather than through direct conflict).
September 24th, 2008 at 9:00 am
Adam.
what consumer rights groups exist that are independent of industry and trusted by gv’t?
I am curious as I think having a hotline, or a better business bureau, for consumers to call could have a positive impact on providing channels that prevent these issues..
R
September 25th, 2008 at 1:39 am
exactly… i think some will develop though from somewhere. Either the gov ones become a bit more independent or an ‘association’ becomes more publicly vocal, or…?
It is clearly needed as another source of ‘pressure’ that can identify risks before they become problems, or at least to ensure fast remedies to problems!
Go start one up
March 26th, 2009 at 8:34 am
Are u so inhumane to wish for natural disasters on others as a “turning point”?
March 26th, 2009 at 8:50 am
True Voice to the ignorant.
No. We were not wishing anything along the lines that you suggest, and I hope you will reread our post with a bit more open mind.
As a brief update, since this tragedy took place, not only did the legal system for class action lawsuits improve, but Beijing also moved fast to pass a Food safety act.
We are of course bothered that this event happened in the first place, but at the same time we are encouraged to see that Beijing has look to learn from the events to prevent similar issues from occurring again.
Perhaps you would rather the lessons be repeated?
R