Personal care company apologizes for botched advertisement
A man uses a sanitary pad to wipe a mirror in the commercial.
A man uses the sanitary pad as an eye patch.
The Chinese branch of US personal care giant Kimberly-Clark apologized yesterday for a botched commercial for its Kotex brand, blaming mistakes in management.
The commercial released by a verified Kotex account on Douyin, China's version of TikTok, showed a man using feminine sanitary pads as eye patches, insoles, and cleaning cloths to wipe tables and mirrors, drawing ire from women who viewed it as offensive and disrespectful.
"The commercial was released by a third-party contractor without our consent. It seriously went against our values and is totally unacceptable," the Chinese branch of Kimberly-Clark said in a statement on its Weibo.
The sanitary pad is also used as an insole.
The Irving, Texas-based consumer behemoth removed the video and shut down the account, pending an internal investigation.
"If you can't sell them all, you can donate them. Don't waste them like that. If these are not female hygiene products, then I won't buy them. You can go ahead and develop the male consumer market," said an angry Weibo user Colin_622.
The commercial is released by a Douyin account claiming to be the official Kotex account.
The sanitary pad is used as a cleaning cloth.
Kotex issues an apology on its Weibo account yesterday.
