On Sunday, the market supervision bureau in Shanghai fined a dairy company named Bright Dairy and Food Co. Ltd for putting up an incorrect map of China. The company was established in 1996 and one of the top producers in the refrigerated fresh milk industry, with 12.146 billion yuan of revenues and 308 million yuan in profit.
As per reports, the dairy brand has been fined to the tune of 3,00,000 yuan (₹33,00,000) for a video advertisement titled, ‘Bright Dairy’s strategic plan from 2016 to 2020’, posted on the company’s website on September 27. The authorities penalised Bright Dairy and Food for not showing the ‘complete and correct territory’ of China, which is a violation of Chinese laws. The Shanghai market supervision, however, did not highlight any specific issue with the video ad.
Dairy firm withdraws the ‘contentious’ video ad
The company has now taken down the advertisement. In its response, the dairy brand had blamed a third-party company for negligence and oversight. At the same time, it has assured the authorities to ‘strengthen’ the screening of promotional material in future and reiterated that the ad did not reflect the company’s intent. Bright Dairy has initiated an internal investigation into the matter and claimed that the controversy has revealed ‘management-level problems in the company.’
Chinese government regulates the publishing of maps
The Communist regime in China has taken strict action against companies, in the past, for what it deems as ‘incorrect’ representation of Chinese territory. Reportedly, the Chinese government regulates publishing of maps within its territory and imposes fine for ‘incorrect’ maps.
In January 2018, China fined 8 companies for using maps that did not include disputed territories as China’s land. They were heavily reprimanded by the National Administration of Surveying, Mapping and Geoinformation. Similarly, last year, a television drama titled, ‘Go Go Squid’ was fined 1,00,000 yuan (₹11,00,000) for excluding Taiwan and Hainan from the Chinese map