Feminine care brand Fuyanjie called out for 'vulgar' and 'unscientific' ad

Chinese feminine hygiene brand Fuyanjie has apologised for its latest marketing campaign where it promoted a lotion which was touted as a solution for women with darkened genitalia to make it more “pink.”  The campaign also said that the darkening of the area could be due to women wearing tight pants or having an active sex life, and further drove home the point with statistics around men being deterred from darkened genitalia and smell.

This saw the brand coping criticism for being unscientific and the hashtag “Fuyanjie Ad Insults Women” (#妇炎洁广告被指侮辱女性#) going viral on Weibo. Since then the brand published an apology for the “inappropriate content” and ensured the public that such a mistake will not occur in the future. It also said that the product has been removed from the shelf .

Nonetheless the brand still saw netizens upset for capitalising on women’s hygiene while and discriminating against them.

Fuyanjie has been in the Chinese market under the Renhe Pharmaceuticals Group. The brand also sells sanitary napkins and female hygiene products.  

This is not the first time Chinese women have called out a brand for insensitive sexist ads. Last year, Chinese stand-up comedian Li Dan was fined for a women's underwear ad for Ubras which was deemed vulgar and insulting to women's dignity, according to multiple media reports.  On February 24, Li published a video on his account on Weibo for Beijing-based underwear brand Ubras, in which he said that underwear is "equipment that can help women win by lying at the workplace."

However, the ad sparked anger among the public, and both Li and Ubras pulled the ad and apologised on Weibo, saying that the promotion was improper. He added, "I should have expected the impact it would have." The post drew firm from netizens in China, criticising that he was a sexist. 

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