A menswear company in China has come under fire for a laundry care tag that many users online have called sexist and derogatory towards women.
A menswear company in China has come under fire for a laundry care tag that many users online have called sexist and derogatory towards women.
A Chinese company’s laundry care tag has been slammed as sexist online (Representational image)
The tag, found on a coat made by Jiangsu-based Gu Zhuo Kang Zheng Garment Company, does not carry wash or care instructions. Instead, it simply reads: “Please give it to your beloved woman, she knows everything”.
These instructions about giving the coat to a woman for laundry appear in both Chinese and English, reported South China Morning Post. The tag also carried two QR codes that link to the company’s social media accounts.
Backlash erupts
The controversy erupted after an internet user shared a photo of the tag online, prompting it to go viral.
The tag sparked a divided response on mainland social media, with many criticising the implication that women should handle household chores. They slammed Gu Zhuo Kang Zheng Garment Company for catering to outdated gender stereotypes.
“How come you let your beloved women do the chores for you? This is apparent exploitation. Why not print the complete washing method and add a sentence ‘please finish reading this and learn how to wash clothes for the sake of your beloved person’,” one online observer wrote.
“Which brand is this? Sisters, we should boycott it,” another said.
In response to the backlash, a company spokeswoman known as Sister Yang apologised, insisting that there was no intention to demean women.
Yang blamed the confusion on mistranslation.
“It is our inappropriate expression, as well as the wrong spelling of some English words, that led to the public’s misunderstanding that we look down on women and we aim to provoke the opposition of the two sexes. That is not our original intention,” she said.
She explained that the company had noticed customers often damaged garments made of delicate fabrics by washing them incorrectly.
“Our observations found that some men know little about garment material and washing, while females tend to care about these details. Therefore, we would like to suggest to our customers and the people around them to together pay attention to washing methods.
“Due to our insufficient capacity to express ourselves, we did not convey our message correctly. I am very sorry about that,” said Yang.