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PR in China: pain for Apple and VW

  • byKey
  • 2013/03/21
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The following is a guest post by Philip via MarketingToChina.com, edited by Key.

20130321-apple-01

crisis

Apple and VW appeared on CCTV on Mar.15, not in advertising, but on consumers’ rights protection party. And obviously, they are big PR trouble.

Apple Ostrich PR

Apple was reported to treat Chinese consumers at a different standard in terms of after service. Chinese consumers can’t get a brand-new back cover as claimed in the Apple ads and even the warranty is much shorter than that in the US.

However, Apple has taken no reaction against the crisis?!!! I can’t understand how such a successful brand can forget to defend their brand reputation?!!! As an employee from Apple revealed, “the solution that Apple’s headquarter takes is to keep silent and let their PR office in Beijing handle it”. Let’s see what their Beijing office is doing:

Over 2 million posts on Sina Weibo, no reaction from Apple’s PR

Thousands of media are criticizing the behavior of Apple, still no reaction from Apple’s PR

.

news criticizing apple's announcement

news criticizing apple’s announcement

Until now, the most significant reaction from Apple is a superficial announcement saying that Apple is dedicated to producing the world’s first class product and bringing consumers unique experience.

 

It's not a good idea to bury head at this moment

It’s not a good idea to bury head at this moment

 

Since when, Apple adopted ostrich PR strategy? It will not help solve the problem, but showing competitors more weaknesses to attack. No doubt the announcement arouses a new wave of criticism. The government media, Renmin; the most popular portal, Sina and the influential IT site: Saidi publish their news blaming the arrogant attitude of Apple.

Netizens also show their anger to this announcement, what makes things worse is that the reaction of Apple even hurt some people’s patriotism.

方舟远方：苹果声明不足两百字 网友戏称为假大空经典范文

Apple’s announcement is even less than 200 words, classic example of “empty wordsbogus speech”.

小笼包圈圈：烂苹果，只换不修，换尼玛啊，我过了保修期只坏了个音量键就叫我花1800块换机，烂苹果，你们去死吧。。。

Stupid Apple, only change no reparation. What the fucking change! I only damage a button within the warranty and it cost me over 1800 RMB to repair it. Stupid Apple, screw you…

不想长大ss：为什么 只有中国保修不给换后盖？为什么其他国家连后盖的整机给换？

Why back cover replace service is not available only in China? Why all the other countries can enjoy this term?

VW wishy-washy PR

VW’s reputation of German quality simply crushed over one night. DSG became its Achilles heel.

Different from Apple, the defect of VW comes from a long term solid investigation led by the government. With the statistics from 10 000 cases, 3 000 feedback from users and 12 on-site investigations, AQSIQ (General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine) published result that DSG is vulnerable to the safety problems.

And AQSIQ forces VW to recall half a million cars in China.

.

VW cannot solve the problem in this way

VW cannot solve the problem in this way

.

What’s interesting for the case is that VW publish an announcement, promising to solve the problems for consumers as soon as possible. And this piece of news has been published by around 1000 media. At almost the same time, a journalist dialed number of VW’s after service and gets the answer that “only a small part of the cars will be recalled”. And this has also attracted dozens of online media to report.

The key opinion leaders are also playing important roles in the case. The founder of “auto family” site, Li Xiang also complained the problem of VW DSG, as a victim of the defect. Obviously, consumers are not satisfied with VW’s products and PR crisis control.

陈大口：认同，我现在最大的悲哀是，就算大众愿意换一个全新的dsg波箱给我，也不能解除我的心魔，我还是会担心载着家人在高速路上失去速度，后果不堪设想。悲哀。

I agree. The problem is even if VW replace a brand new DSG, I still can’t feel safe. I will always worry about losing speed on highway, with my family.

MR月光宝盒：以大众一贯的作风来看，不具备壮士断腕的魄力。所以，DSG是啥样，以后还是啥样。除非大众已经找到了新的技术路线，否则还会一直使用下去。至于已经购买了的用户，多拜拜菩萨吧，别寄希望于召回。

According to the habit of VW, they won’t sacrifice the knights in order to save the queen, but keep the existing DSG unless they discover a new technology. As for the people who have already owned one, lay more hope on preys instead of recall.

Source: CCTV, Sina Weibo, AQSIQ

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36 comments

    1. ha ha…2nd class,,,,u better wake up first,,,Chinese or even all the human being enjoy belonging to different classes

      Reply

      1. ha ha,yehp,i think so too,please treat them dirt dirt more before they screw all 1st class on the Earth,terrible is ongoing……ha ha ha……

        Reply

  2. Wonder why Chinese would buy anything that whitey westerners sell?

    Chinese ever see Chinese on TV adverts or commercials using shampoos, drinking Buds beer, sleeping on expensive beds, driving BMW or Audi cars, go on vacation to beach hotels in the Caribbeans, sleep with whitey women in hotel rooms or marry to whitey women with kids living in the white neighborhoods?

    NO, there ain’t any.

    Yes there are no Chinese people in Canadian ads because Chinese are the invisible minority, the Chinese come behind Arabs or muslims and that makes Chinese third class citizens.

    Chinese with money here are looked at as cheaters and money hungry pigs, so Chinese just don’t buy any brand name stuffs or expensive cars and houses and be like the rest of us cheap skates.

    Reply

  4. Even unsuspecting Chinese females who go with the Whites have alarmingly wound up dead by their White boyfriends hands. Some Asian sites here even keep rosters of all the Asian females who are killed by their White men. It’s a shocking disgrace that is downplayed and unreported by the mainstream Western press.

    Reply

    1. ‘who go with the whites’. lol.. My female friend dated a Chinese man when she lived in Shanghai, did she ‘go with the yellows’?? Another friend of mine has an African girlfriend, did he ‘go with the blacks’? Come now, we live in a more complicated world. Its not that simple. Racist thinking like that caused World War 2, lets go forward, not back, whadya say?

      As for these many murders, please show some links. I’m interested.. yes.. 中文新闻也可以。。

      Reply

  5. Never mind Apple products; that Mickey Mouse skirt is the funniest piece of clothing ever made.

    Reply

  6. Apple boss Tim Cook apologises to Chinese consumers after state media accuses the firm of arrogance and greed.
    ===============================================================

    Chinese soft power at work.

    Reply

    1. China wants to know, what… “led to the perception Apple’s attitude was arrogant and that it do not care and attach importance to consumer feedback?”

      The west still thinks that most of the Chinese in China are poor like the blacks in the US.

      Check this out, a Chinese woman from the mainland went to Paris to shop for luxury stuffs and when she went to pay for the $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$85,000.00usd tap in Euros, she was send out the door.

      No stuffs and no face.

      Reply

  7. What goes around comes around. Maybe if China put some effort into respecting (and enforcing) world IP (intellectual property) rights, Apple and VW would try a bit harder in treating their chinese customers a bit better.

    As it is, when you’re being robbed blind by a certain demographic, it’s hard to put on a smile and go that extra mile in customer service.

    China is like Africa and the Middle East, the only (ONLY) reason the rest of the world cares about them is the money potential. Otherwise they’d be left in their own dirt with nothing but a quaint tourist stop for the rest of the world to visit and point and laugh.

    Reply

    1. OK, return all the IP stuffs the west stole from China first.

      Like paper, gunpowder, rocket tech, compass, silk, China as in potteries and dish wears, and the computer tech.

      The west enjoy the freebees for 100s of years but won’t pay up for the stolen Chinese IPs.

      Reply

    2. I think you have it backwards, here is the proper version:

      “China is like Africa and the Middle East, the only (ONLY) reason the rest of the world cares about them is the money potential.

      What goes around comes around.”

      Then:

      China doesn’t put much effort into respecting world IP rights.

      ———————————————————————————————————-

      Lastly, there is no such thing as “world” IP. You pursue IP rights in a country, and that does not make it automatically valid everywhere in the world. IP is also a capitalism concept, so people living in socialist countries have no inherent duties to protect that.

      Reply
  8. Pingback: Damage Control in China: Bow Down to the Government - PRNewser

  17. Interesting. I have been using apple for a long time and I feel apple products have the best longevity compared with other brands. Although initial price is higher, but over time apple product can actually save money as you don’t need to change phone so frequently. Also I really like the glass
    material of iPhone, very solid and strong

    Reply

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