Chinese netizens have been mocking Quanjian, a health products company accused of exaggerating drug claims, for objecting to a critical story published by Xiakedao, a verified WeChat account operated by China's biggest newspaper, the People's Daily.
Pushed to WeChat users on December 27, 2018, the article reveals how some healthcare product businesses, including the Tianjin-based Quanjian, deceived investors into making large investments in physical stores and how they expanded their sales networks by recruiting customers to help with direct marketing.
In the article, it specifically mentions Quanjian's business model and compares it to Tianshi, another Tianjin-based company which has been accused of pyramid schemes and has been involved in more than 2,700 criminal cases since 2009.
The screenshot of a confirmation notice from Quanjian claiming that the Xiakedao story violates its reputation. /Photo via Xiakedao's Weibo account
The Xiakedao account posted a screenshot of the complaint from Quanjian, which shows Quanjian thought the article violated its reputation.
The screenshot immediately made the company a trending topic with thousands of Weibo users ridiculing the company for its complaint.
“Quanjian is provoking the official media. Nice,” @Suannihen sarcastically commented.
Others made fun of the company for not knowing that the account was run by the People's Daily. Because the word "Xiakedao" could literally be translated as "the island of swordsmen," a user said the company probably thought it was just an account for martial arts fans.
Quanjian's production base in Tianjin. /VCG Photo
Netizens had ridiculed Quanjian's tactics before. On December 25 another WeChat account, Dingxiang Doctor, which specializes in health knowledge wrote a story accusing Quanjian of lying about its anti-cancer medicine and said the company was to blame for the death of a young cancer patient in 2015.
A WeChat account which was believed to be operated by Quanjian created a poll about the Dingxiang Doctor story, asking users if they believed it was true.
The poll results were not made public as the account has been deleted. An ad hoc investigation group has been dispatched to the company for an overall investigation into its health claims.