On March 24, the topic of “P&G” hit the Weibo hot search, with a current reading of 87.074 million, because on March 13, P&G released a controversial text on its official WeChat account “P&G Member Center” with the headline “Women’s feet smell 5 times worse than men’s, don’t believe me? Smell it now,” sparked controversy and a subsequent apology from P&G.
According to the Chinese media on March 24, the article published by Procter & Gamble mentioned that the bacterial reproduction rate of men’s feet is 400%, and that of women’s is 2300%. No matter how clean women are, their underwear is dirtier than men’s, and women’s hair is twice as dirty as men’s.
The article also said, “Women also have body odor, and their breasts are the most stinky. No matter how clean a woman is, her underwear is dirtier than a man’s, and a woman’s hair is twice as dirty as a man’s.”
After the article was widely circulated, it caused doubts and dissatisfaction among Chinese netizens. Some netizens said, “If it is normal science, it is acceptable, but if there are obvious insulting words, there is really a problem!” “Don’t PUA girls to sell goods.” Some netizens also questioned, “Isn’t it a personal hygiene issue to be dirty or not?” They felt that P&G’s actions were “slandering women” and “looking down on women”, and some netizens believed that the content of the article was not supported by research data. Currently, this article has been deleted.
After the controversy, P&G issued an apology, saying that the company solemnly apologized for the disrespectful content of the recent article on the account.
“P&G has always promoted the values of equality, inclusion and respect. The company has removed the article and seriously rectified the operation of the account. The company will certainly reflect deeply and prevent similar situations from happening again.” Source