By Reuters Staff
3 Min Read
BEIJING (Reuters) - The annual World Consumer Rights Day, on March 15, has become a major television and social media event in China, with domestic as well as foreign brands singled out for high-profile and sometimes damaging criticism.
World Consumer Rights Day began in 1983, and China began observing it three years later, shortly after the establishment of the China Consumers Association.
WHAT HAPPENS ON CHINA’S CONSUMER RIGHTS DAY?
In recent years, the run-up to March 15 is marked by various consumer education campaigns, with both government-backed groups and brands dispensing consumer rights information.
The highlight is a two-hour prime-time show broadcast by state-run China Central Television (CCTV). Known as the “315 Show”, the programme names and shames brands for issues ranging from poor-quality products, robocalls and illegal collection of personal information to aggressive sales of beauty salon memberships.