Defending Made in China

Defending Made in China

Chinese officials vehemently stand by the Made in China brand. But are their claims founded?

The "Made in China" brand has dominated global headlines in recent weeks for all the wrong reasons.

The global recall of Mattel's toy products, the recall of 46 million overheating Nokia batteries, pet-food disasters ... the list, unfortunately, continues to grow.

It's almost impossible to avoid Chinese-made products these days and consumers around the world lean heavily on China for everything from shoes, to pet food, toiletries, coffee machines, books and toys.

Most Chinese products have earned the reputation among consumers as being cheap but largely decent.

But give the sustained negative media coverage over faulty, and in some cases dangerous products, the Made in China brand is suffering a image crisis.

The recalls, while being a public relations nightmare for brand owners, have much wider implications for Chinese brands looking to expand into the global market. Any product carrying the Made in China label is now vulnerable to a consumer backlash.

For years Japan suffered from poor consumer perception, but today a markets a number of leading brands including the likes of Sony and Toyota. Same too for Korea, which now competes aggressively on the world stage through technology brands like Samsung.

A growing list of Chinese brands including Snow beer, China Mobile Communications and Lenovo are currently on the global expansion path, and in their own right are strong and reliable. But will the continued problems surrounding Made in China brand thwart their expansion plans? Not according to some.

Chinese official responding to the Mattel recalls point out that many Made in China brands have contributed to China's status as one of the world's trade giants, arguing that it is impossible for the label to have cheated its way to that status.

Bo Xilai, Chinese minister of commerce, responded to suspicions over the quality of Made in China products recently, arguing that China products will only become more popular on the global stage.

"We believe that the incident will only motivate us to do better in future," Xilai says.

"We take responsibility for the goods we make. Chinese companies are responsible companies and China is a responsible nation. We attach great importance to the quality of our goods. We not only care about domestic consumers, we care about all people around the world who buy Chinese goods."

In 2006, China's export volume was second only the US. China's growth speed, however was 7% higher than that of the United States, leaving some to predict that China's export may possibly overtake the US by US$50 billion in 2007.

For China, Made in China, is arguably one of the most important trade brands the country has under its belt, to shrug off these consumer concerns may be to the detriment of its export industry.

Granted, the Chinese government has responded to some of these concerns launching a four-month "special war" to improve safety and product quality and an outright ban on false advertising.

But tracking false claims and doggy products in what is now a huge industry, may take more than just government rhetoric.