Puffed Up Advertising

Would drinking this coconut milk make your chest look like theirs?

On the eve of International Women's Day, many Chinese companies still don't get how sexist they are in 2019 when it comes to their marketing slogans. But at least consumers are speaking up and shaming these companies into correcting their puffed up claims.

Wahaha said the "testimonial" was taken off the packaging

Case in point -- Chinese beverage giant Wahaha removed a "consumer quote" that claimed drinking a package of milk regularly would increase a woman's breast cup size from A to D.

The drink, called Vitamin A&D Calcium Milk, which is a popular drink for children, has a so-called testimony that reads: "When I was in high school, someone in my class said drinking Vitamin A&D Calcium Milk can help [your cup size] grow from A to D. That started a craze in our class and all the girls started drinking it."

Maybe it did increase their chest sizes from all the hormones injected into the dairy cows, but I digress...

Consumers complained, saying the so-called testimony was misleading and inappropriate for a product targeting children to carry a message about breast enhancement.

This milk product is actually geared towards children

Wahaha apologized on Tuesday and said it had stopped producing the packaging. It tried to explain that the testimonial was from actual consumers and got their permission to use the quotes.

But really? A story claiming apparent breast enhancement printed on a drink for kids?

Meanwhile another drinks company, Hainan Coconut Palm Group was also criticized for claiming that if women drank its coconut milk, then their breasts would get bigger.

The ads featured women frolicking on the beach with large chests with slogans like: "drink one can ever day, [your] curves will excite people, whiter and more plump", or "I drink from small to big", or "drinking more coconut milk every day can make [your] breasts fuller".

That's not the first time Hainan Coconut Palm Group got into trouble about unverified claims about its drinks. In 2017, it released an advertisement for its papaya juice, with large-chested women in bikinis on the beach with the slogan: "when I'm full of papaya, I'm ample-chested".

Claims of big chests after drinking coconut milk are false

It's quite obvious these companies don't have women in senior positions otherwise they would never have gotten into trouble with these silly marketing slogans in the first place. Do they really think women are gullible enough to consume these products to get a bigger chest?

How about just focusing on promoting how good it tastes instead of making such puffed up claims...

Sweet Enough? White Rabbit Candy Ice Cream

White Rabbit candy ice cream anyone? Apparently it's a hit in Los Angeles

I remember eating White Rabbit candy when I was a kid. The candy had a retro red, white, black and blue wrapper and then inside a thin edible rice paper wrapped around the milk-flavoured nougat.

Whenever I gave the candy to my non-Chinese friends, they would always ask about the rice paper. It just seemed normal to eat it! I also remember the candy being stuck in my teeth. You couldn't eat too many of them because they just got sickly sweet.

The chewy milk-based nougat is an iconic candy in China

Fast forward decades later and now an ice cream maker in Los Angeles has taken the iconic Chinese candy and made it into an ice cream that people there can't get enough of!

Wanderlust Creamery makes the ice cream by dissolving the milk-based sweets -- including the rice paper -- and originally served it as a promotional treat during Chinese New Year. It is also served in a cone wrapped in paper similar to the candy wrapper.

However the ice cream was so popular that the promotion, originally only nine days, was extended until the end of March.

Jon-Patrick Lopez, Wanderlust's co-founder, was quoted by foodandwine.com last week as saying are 1.3 pieces of White Rabbit candy in every scoop of ice cream.

Wanderlust sold 50 gallons of White Rabbit ice cream from February 1-20, then 50 more gallons from February 21-22 as word spread. On February 24 alone, Wanderlust sold its remaining 39 gallons -- nearly 1,000 scoops -- within eight hours.

This place couldn't enough candy to make the ice cream

The ice cream maker even had trouble sourcing enough White Rabbit candy to make the ice cream, and it was created without the knowledge of the candy manufacturer Guan Sheng Yuan in Shanghai.

When Guan Sheng Yuan found out about the White Rabbit-flavoured ice cream it was reported to be "pleased"... and probably wondering, why didn't we think of that?

China's Campaign Against Lawyers

Zhou Shifeng at his trial in No. 2 Tianjin Intermediate People's Court

Rule of law is when the prosecution and defense each have access to legal representation and the judge is impartial until he or she hears the arguments for both sides.

But in China, or apparently in President Xi Jinping's version of rule of law, lawyers who try to launch class action lawsuits, particularly against the state are considered subversive.

That was the case of Zhou Shifeng, the former director of a Beijing law firm who was convicted of subversion and sentenced to seven years in jail. He pleaded guilty and even pledged not to appeal after a hearing that lasted less than three hours in Tianjin No. 2 Intermediate People's Court yesterday.

Fengrui law firm represented Chen Guangcheng

Fengrui law firm was headed by Zhou and employed nearly 100 lawyers at its peak, handling mostly sensitive cases.

It represented victims of the melamine-contaminated milk formula scandal in 2008, dissident artist Ai Weiwei, blind legal rights activist Chen Guangcheng, rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng, and Uygur academic Ilham Tohti.

It's an impressive line-up of clients from a western point of view, but in China it's only a matter of time before the state goes after you for representing these "troublemakers".

But every defendant needs legal representation, so who will give them a fighting chance? And for the melamine milk scandal, surely those families are entitled to fight for compensation and jail for those who sickened or killed their babies?

A baby receiving hospital care after drinking melamine milk

However this is China, and during the hearing, two witnesses claimed Zhou tried to use sensitive cases to foster public resentment of the Party and the government.

Prosecutors accused Zhou of "being influenced for a long time by the infiltration of anti-China forces and gradually developing the idea of overturning the country's current political system".

A prosecutor read out a written statement by Zhou in court that apparently said: "I have attracted the interest of foreign consulates and NGOs... Their ultimate goal is to overturn the leadership of the Communist Party."

Amnesty International said Zhou's conviction and that of rights advocate Zhai Yanmin an attempt by the central government to "silence anyone who raises legitimate questions about human rights and uses the legal system to seek redress".

Fengrui has also represented dissident artist Ai Weiwei

"This wave of trials against lawyers and activists is a political charade. Their fate was sealed before they stepped into the courtroom," said Roseann Rife, East Asia Research Director for Amnesty International.

Civil society is crumbling, making it harder for anyone to have any kind of disagreement or ability to question what the government does.

Zhou has accepted his fate, but others cannot. How can China realize its dream of having a harmonious society when lawyers can't defend rule of law?

A Horrific Escalator Ride

Do you dare to take an escalator in China these days?

It was shocking to read last week about a woman in Jingzhou, Hubei province who died after being swallowed up by an escalator in a shopping mall. It turns out the metal panel was loose and so the 30-year-old mother fell in, but she was able to push her two-year-old son to safety.

Two female employees caught on video got on the escalator before Xiang Liujian and they felt the panel was loose and managed to escape. They were discussing the problem at the top of the escalator, but did nothing to warn Xiang about the metal plate, watching her fall in.

There are reports the video footage is gruesome, and it took workers several hours to recover her body, or parts of it...

And now a cleaner in a Shanghai mall has had part of his leg amputated after it got caught in an escalator yesterday.

Xiang falls into the escalator as she pushes her son to safety

The 35-year-old was cleaning the escalator when his leg got stuck in the section where the stairs meet the metal plate. Although the escalator stopped immediately, his calf was so severely injured that doctors had no choice but to amputate the leg.

An investigation is underway.

In the case of Xiang, investigators have found the three floor plates were poorly designed, and so they got loose and tilted easily. They also found the size of the plates did not match the original designs and were loosely fitted.

The manufacturer, Suzhou Shenlong Elevator Company, was accused of poor quality control and officials have ordered all of its machines that are used across the province to stop service and have safety checks carried out.

The mall was also found not to have taken proper emergency measures after its staff discovered the escalator was faulty.

Escalators are common place in Chinese cities -- now everyone must be worried about getting on and off one. Are they all safe? Is Suzhou Shenlong Elevator Company the only firm in the whole of China that may have cut corners?

This brings back memories of the scandal of melamine-laced powder milk in 2008, where at least six babies died and tens of thousands of babies and toddlers had serious health problems.

Adding melamine to the thin milk helped boost the protein levels of the powdered milk on paper, but what did it do in the end? Why are people still chasing profits instead of aiming for the goal of quality products?

The horrific elevator death drags China back to the stereotypical belief that things made in the Middle Kingdom are shoddily made, without caring for people's safety and well-being.

Will we see a full transparent investigation? Will the culprits be punished? It's not just those who installed the escalator, but also the company's executives who allowed shoddy workmanship to go ahead, and the mall's management for not having emergency plans in place for escalators malfunctioning.

In the meantime what about the husband and son? What kind of legal recourse will they have?

Time will tell if justice will be served.

Trying to Milk Political Points

New Zealand Prime Minister John Key with Chinese President Xi Jinping

Chinese President Xi Jinping is at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Nusa Dua, Indonesia along with many other top leaders in the region. Most notably absent is American President Barack Obama due to the government shut down. Secretary of State John Kerry came in his place instead, but was relegated to the back in the photo call.

It's pretty telling how the US shutdown is perceived elsewhere...

Meanwhile, Xi hasn't been let off the hook easily by the citizens of his own country when he took the opportunity to berate New Zealand Prime Minister John Key about food safety.

According to Xinhua, Xi reminded Key that food safety mattered to people's health and "urged New Zealand to take tough measures to ensure food quality and thus maintain the sound momentum of economic and trade cooperation between the two countries".

People back in China are inundated with monthly reports on domestic food scandals and so for Xi to say this resulted in a collective face-palm.

"The entire country is laughing," wrote a Sina Weibo user.

Xi said this after New Zealand's largest dairy exporter Fonterra had some of its products banned in China earlier this year because of concerns over bacterial contamination. This resulted in extensive recalls, that impacted the New Zealand dollar and caused Fonterra chief executive Theo Spierings to issue an apology.

But can we point out the Chinese domestic dairy industry is in an even worse situation?

Five years after melamine was found in baby milk powder after the Beijing Olympics where at least six children died, China still hasn't sorted out the industry, streamlining how raw milk is collected to pasteurized and then distributed. It also hasn't enforced inspections and established an effective system of checks and balances.

More importantly the lack of trust in the government has meant parents continue to go outside of China to buy milk powder, creating havoc in their demand for above board food for their babies.

So why does Xi even dare to castigate New Zealand?

It's a political ploy everyone can see right through.