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A string of sanitary pad brands have admitted their products are often smaller than advertised — sparking fury among Chinese women.
Chinese women have reacted with fury to revelations that sanitary pads made by several leading brands are often smaller than advertised, forcing the companies to issue a string of groveling apologies.The scandal, which has embroiled many of the country’s leading sanitary pad makers, is the latest example of young Chinese women launching grassroots online campaigns to defend their interests.The row first erupted in early November, when a cluster of videos went viral on Chinese social media in which influencers showed that popular sanitary pad products were often significantly smaller than their manufacturers claimed.In one clip, an influencer measures the lengths of the absorbent pads inside products made by leading Chinese brands including ABC, Sofy, and Space 7, and compares them with the product sizes listed on the packaging, which refer to the total pad lengths.In response, many consumers are now urging manufacturers to label the lengths of the absorbent pads — the actual usable parts — on their packaging.The social media posts also triggered a series of follow-up investigations that produced similar results. Domestic media outlet The Paper, for example, tested 24 sanitary pad products from eight major brands, and found that the total length on 88% of the products were at least 10 millimeters shorter than their manufacturers claimed.![]()
A screen grab from social media shows a user measuring the length of a sanitary pad made by domestic brand ABC. From Xiaohongshu
The hashtag “sanitary pad length fraud” began trending on the microblogging platform Weibo on Nov. 6, and the outrage continued to build over the following days.“Sanitary pads are already incredibly expensive, and now they’re even falsifying the length,” read one highly-upvoted post on Weibo. “Do these people have no morals, trying to make money off women like this?”Under Chinese law, the size discrepancies were often technically legal. Industry standards allow a discrepancy of up to 4%, which would equate to about 10-15 millimeters depending on the length of the sanitary pad.But this fact did little to contain the outrage. The issue struck a particular chord with Chinese women, as there has long been a sense that sanitary pads are unaffordable and difficult to access in some parts of the country.The average retail price of sanitary pads in China rose by 4% year-over-year on average between 2018 and 2023, according to data from Chinese market research firm Insight and Info.As the online backlash intensified, several brands’ customer service agents sought to mollify concerned customers, explaining that minor variations in product sizes were inevitable during production.However, one representative from a distributor for ABC managed to escalate the crisis further by making dismissive comments to a customer via a popular e-commerce platform.During the exchange, the representative told the customer that a 10-20 mm discrepancy was “normal,” and said that the customer was free to purchase another brand’s products if they were unhappy.Screen grabs of these messages were later posted on social media, sparking yet another wave of angry posts. ABC reacted by issuing its first official apology on Nov. 13, in which it acknowledged that an inappropriate comment by a third-party distributor had exacerbated the issue.But the statement simply inflamed the situation further, as customers criticized the apology as insincere. That led ABC’s founder, Deng Jingheng, to make a far more effusive apology on Nov. 22.“I make no excuses here and once again sincerely apologize to everyone,” Deng said in a video released via Weibo. “I want to tell you all that we aim to become the first company in the industry to achieve ‘zero negative deviation’ from national standards.”According to Deng, the new products will be launched by December, and the company vowed to eliminate all product size deviations by March 2025. ABC has removed all its sanitary pad products from sale on its official online stores on the platforms Douyin and Taobao.Several other brands, including Shecare and Beishute, have also issued their own apologies over recent days, as the industry races to restore public trust.The sanitary pad scandal is the latest example of major Chinese brands being forced to take action to appease female consumers. Last September, cosmetics brand Florasis issued an apology after facing accusations that its products were unaffordable.Earlier this month, personal care brand Flauhra was forced to retract an advertisement after facing widespread accusations that the campaign was demeaning toward women.Download the new Sixth Tone app at the App Store or Google Play
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