China’s Massive Image Problem

As China gears up to host this year’s Summer Olympics, I can’t help but notice what a lousy image problem that the Jolly Red Giant has to contend with over the next several months.

There isn’t any getting around it — China remains a communist nation, one that is embracing capitalism at the same time. Here in the west, in the U.S. in particular, the communist side of things isn’t emphasized all that much — gee, we don’t want to hurt their feelings or have them get mad at us or something….

Anyway, back to the image problem.

The Ghost of Tiananmen Square — Inasmuch as the party leadership (Communist Party, that is) would like to forget the event, June 4, 1989 is a day that untold millions will never forget. China, in a bid to suppress a protest, turned on those demonstrators killing hundreds, perhaps thousands in the process. To this day, human rights activists continue to expose China’s forced labor camps, mistreatment of dissidents, and the curtailment of free speech among other offenses.

Dissent Groups Are Still Very Much Alive — The Falun Gong, Buddhists, Christians, Muslims, et al, are very active within the country, with separatist-minded regions such as Xinjiang and Tibet giving the authorities the most problems. China’s revelation of a recent hijacking attempt was too vague to believe and likely a way for the central planning committee to tell dissidents to back off or else.

Product Quality Is Deplorable — Sure, not everything made in China stinks, but when pets die and tainted paint is found in children’s toys, consumers have every right to be concerned. Blaming it on changing standards and foreign designs just doesn’t cut it — if consumers perceive your products to be inferior, they’ll stay away.

Beijing Is Terribly Polluted — Ethiopian marathon runner, Haile Gebrselassie, is the best example of an athlete who is concerned about Beijing’s air pollution problem. Gebrselassie (who has asthma) mentioned on BBC recently that he would not run the marathon; instead, he stated that he would participate in the 10,000m event. Oddly, the BBC broadcast mysteriously disappeared when it was aired in China. You, think?!

Personally, I’m glad that when it comes to marketing my work is with small businesses, an easier area of concentration. I’ll be watching the Olympics this summer in part to see the athletes in action but also to observe how the People’s Republic of China handles what just could be a major publicity disaster in the making.

Do you, Baidu?