China's annual TV smear segment drags Nikon's name through the mud Nikon is braced for weeks of fun after it was targeted by Chinese state broadcaster CCTV in an annual consumer complaints show which last year forced a grovelling apology from Apple. The investigative program “3.15” broadcast a special edition last Saturday to coincide with World Consumer Rights Day, however it’s often used to …
I'm shocked by this outrageously accurate statement.
Also, the black spot problem with Nikon cameras has been well known for years, so I'd say our Middle Kingdom friends are spot-on there too.
The strange thing about smearing is that it's only a false accusation if the accusation is actually, erm, false.
Is the US or EU doing anything about it, or is it "buyer beware" in our hemisphere? China may be behind in some regards as far as freedom to browse the web unfettered, criticize their leadership, or keeping the environment clean, but looks like they're in front in at least some ways as far as consumer protection.
Funny how that works.
Not even close, alas. China doesn't do consumer protection - this is just another tool to stoke up nationalist fervour. If you have a strong stomach, look up "gutter oil". Or read up on the baby milk melamine scandal, which caused a global shortage of baby milk powder as every parent in China rushed to buy stocks overseas.
Strange isn't it. You wouldn't expect it, but China's use of aggressive rabble-rousing techniques really highlight the similarities between them and Western governments. There's just so much more to gain if China and the West would consolidate their population distraction efforts.
The sheer numbers of people in China would more than offset the costs of collaborative disinformation campaigns for all involved. We'd be well into the sub-$20 annual costs per person! That would be, without a doubt, the best deal in the history of occulted bureaucracy.
Now that I'm thinking about it, we could segue off of such a collaborative effort and really cement our respective positions. I think the big money would be in employment swaps inside something like a free trade zone and everybody wins big. We can have the Daily Mail and Fox News identify and manage the export of our undesirables to China and China could do the same by sending their undesirable people to the West.
The key is going to be getting large Chinese contract manufacturers onboard. Their not going to want to pay European or US taxes, but the free trade zone should take care of that. If not, we can always subsidize effective taxation avoidance strategies by paying Apple, Google and other big names in IT to show the Chinese how to just steer clear of the tax minefields in the West.
I can't think of a single country with global trade reach that doesn't annually, or permanently, bash the output of other countries. Doing so is an indicator you're actually a recognized player on the world stage.
Like so many forms of shitty behavior, it's only 'bad' when someone else is doing it. But if the same behavior is coming from an internal source on 'your side' it's always 'wholly different and completely justified.
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