Stages in the Social Media Crisis of Canada Goose in China 2021
From the secondary data available, it appears that the brand crisis unfolded in distinct stages described in the following.
Trigger Events
On October 27, 2021, A customer bought a down jacket (Fig. 3) with a model number of 9512M at the "Canada Goose" store at No. LG1-58 on the ground floor of the Shanghai International Finance Centre shopping mall at a price of 11,400 yuan.
After returning home, the customer found that the logo (Fig. 4) of "Canada Goose" was embroidered wrong: an extra arc was embroidered at the centre sun.
She claimed the stitching of the down jacket was rough (Fig. 5) and that there were many long and short thread ends; that the edges of the fabric in the pockets were not hemmed, that there was a phenomenon of detachment; and that the fabric also had a pungent smell.
The customer claimed that on October 27, before she paid, the clerk did not inform her that the purchased goods could not be refunded or returned. When she finished swiping her credit card, the clerk asked her to sign a piece of paper called ‘Exchange Policy’ (Appendix B, Figure B2). It stated: Unless otherwise stipulated by relevant laws, all goods sold by specialised stores in mainland China cannot be returned.
Local Response
On October 28, when the customer complained to the store manager of Canada Goose, they refused to accept the goods and asked the customer to get in touch with the head office. When the customer asked for the head office phone number, the store manager could not provide it and asked the customer to look for it herself.
On November 14th, the customer wrote an email and sent the detailed photos of the clothes and other vouchers to the Canada Goose Testing Centre mailbox ([email protected]) in the form of an email attachment. But then they replied that Canada Goose does not provide product certification through photos (Fig. 7).
Note. The customer stated that her claim was not big, and she only asked for a return or refund; however, it has been more than a month and still they could not provide her satisfactory solution.
Escalation Stage
The Social Media Brand Crisis (SMBC) of Canada Goose started in the morning of, November 30th, 2021, on the Chinese social media site, Sina Weibo, after an influential Weibo group called “I want to complain- thoughtful Shanghai” (Figure B1), published a news report titled, “Canada Goose logo is wrongly embroidered, and the fabric is pungent... stores in mainland China, no returns”(Fig. 8).
This report received over 6.85 million readings, and 15,228 comments (Xinmin, 2021). The report was based on a complaint the Weibo group received sometime in November 2021, from the customer of Canada Goose in Shanghai.
Canada Goose Primary Response
In response to the incident, on the morning of December 1 (China Time), Canada Goose posted a statement (Fig. 9) on their official Weibo account page (Fig. 10) saying that the meaning of Article 1 in the "Replacement Terms" of Canada Goose's specialty stores in mainland China is that, in compliance with relevant laws and regulations, all mainland China products sold in specialty stores can be returned for a refund. After the product is delivered, if there is a quality problem, in line with the Canada Goose warranty policy, you can enjoy a lifetime warranty on materials and workmanship.”
Dissemination Of Social Media Crisis
From November 30th to December 2nd the hashtag “Canada goose stores in Mainland China are not allowed to be returned” became a hot search on Sina Weibo and was further reported by Chinese media and other Sina Weibo group members with a number of different hashtags. The Table 2 below describes names of 17 chosen hashtags, along with number of times they were read and number of discussions about them.
Table 2
Sr no
|
Hash Tag (English)
|
Hash Tag (Simplified Chinese)
|
Number of times read
|
Number of discussions
|
1
|
#Canada Goose stipulates that stores in mainland China are not allowed to return #
|
#加拿大鹅规定中国大陆门店不得退货#
|
420 million
|
19000
|
2
|
#Canada goose down jacket shedding and refusing to repair#
|
#加拿大鹅羽绒服掉毛还拒修#
|
33.706 million
|
2727
|
3
|
#Canada goose can’t fly out of the website of Chinese law #
|
#加拿大鹅不能飞出中国法律之网#
|
73.571 million
|
2918
|
4
|
#Canada Goose's market value evaporated by 8.4 billion in 10 days#
|
#加拿大鹅市值10天蒸发84亿#
|
97.678 million
|
3526
|
5
|
#Canada Goose has 20 stores in the Chinese market and only 9 stores in Canada#
|
#加拿大鹅在中国市场20家店在加拿大才9家#
|
1.871 million
|
78
|
6
|
#Canada goose why Chinese consumers look differently#
|
#加拿大鹅为何对中国消费者另眼相看#
|
110 million
|
5621
|
7
|
#CanadaGoose's market value has shrunk by over 8 billion#
|
#加拿大鹅市值缩水超80亿#
|
8.182 million
|
86
|
8
|
#Canada goose can’t fly out of China Legal Network# #
|
#加拿大鹅不能飞出中国法律之网#
|
73.571 million
|
2918
|
9
|
#Canada goose return Chinese and foreign do not engage in double standard #
|
#加拿大鹅退货中外有别搞双标#
|
5.978 million
|
104
|
10
|
# Who gave Canada goose the confidence to be arrogant#
|
#谁给了加拿大鹅傲慢的底气#
|
10.239 million
|
1282
|
11
|
#Shanghai Consumer Protection Committee Three Questions Canada Goose #
|
#上海消保委三问加拿大鹅#
|
29.615 million
|
1150
|
12
|
#Shanghai Consumer Protection Committee will continue to interview Canada Goose#
|
#上海消保委将继续约谈加拿大鹅#
|
23.357 million
|
1080
|
13
|
#China Consumers Association said that any brand has no privilege in front of consumers#
|
#中消协称任何品牌在消费者面前都没特权#
|
11.698 million
|
940
|
14
|
#CanadaGoose Chinese and foreign return policies are different is double standard#
|
#加拿大鹅中外退货政策不同是双标吗#
|
9.064 million
|
1482
|
15
|
#Canada Goose denies that offline stores do not allow returns#
|
#加拿大鹅否认线下门店不允许退货#
|
41.827 million
|
1811
|
16
|
#CanadaGoose treats Chinese consumers differently#
|
#加拿大鹅为何对中国消费者另眼相看#
|
110 million
|
5621
|
17
|
#Shanghai Consumer Protection Committee Interview with Canada Goose#
|
#上海市消保委约谈加拿大鹅#
|
51.872 million
|
2472
|
Mitigation Efforts With Government
On the morning of the same day (December 1), the Shanghai Consumer Protection Committee (SCPC) interviewed Canada Goose [Xiji (Shanghai) Trading Co., Ltd.] (Figure F2). According to the SCPC, during the interview, Canada Goose participants did not understand the specific meaning of the "replacement clause" of the specialty store. It further stated that the company's return and exchange process expressed by the participants was quite different from the actual situation reported by consumers. The SCPC required Canada Goose to submit a formal explanation of the "Replacement Terms" before noon on December 2. The SCPC also asked the participants whether the return and exchange terms of Canada Goose specialty stores outside mainland China were consistent with those in mainland China, and they said they did not know. However, Canada Goose participants confirmed the relevant provisions of the 30-day no-reason return on Canada Goose's official website and said that this clause does not apply to mainland China, and the 7-day no-reason return clause applies to mainland China.
Involvement Of State Media
On December 2, 2021, Chinese state-run newspaper, Global Times, reported that “Shanghai authorities summon Canada Goose for talks over double-standard selling policy” (Figs. 11 & 12).
On December 3, 2021, Sina Technology, which is the most influential TMT industry information and digital product service platform in China, claimed on their official Weibo account that “The arrogant "goose" finally confessed. Canada Goose seems to have "admitted". This morning, Canada Goose headquarters exclusively responded to Sina Technology, saying that if there is a problem with materials and workmanship, it can be refunded and returned within 14 days according to Chinese law. This is the first time the official promises to refund the return.” (Yadan, 2021).
One very interesting aspect of Sina Technology’s blog post on Weibo was that it stated explicitly that Canada Goose became the target of media crusades and involvement of China Central Television.
“This winter, Canada Goose has been lying on the hot search and has become the target of all media crusades. Just now, China Central Television named "Canada Goose" and said: When the products you provide are not scarce, and the quality and service are not equal to the amount paid by consumers, we can choose to vote with our feet. "Canada Goose" without actual action, there is not much time left for you! The reason for this round of public opinion turmoil came from a consumer's strange shopping experience: after spending 11,400 yuan on a Canada Goose down jacket, he was refused to return it. The store staff bluntly stated that "no return" is a general term in China.” (Yadan, 2021).
Involvement Of Global Media
Many global news media picked up this story and reported on December 2, 2021. For example, The Globe and Mail reported that, “Canada Goose comes under fire again from Chinese state media, regulators after returns policy sparks furor” (Griffiths, 2021) (Fig. 13). While New York Post (Fig. 14) reported that, “Arrogant and superior’ Canada Goose faces fresh backlash in China” (Fickenscher, 2021).
Escalation To Other Western Luxury Brands
On December 5, 2021, the Global Times reported that after Canada Goose, there are other luxury brands found to be following double standards against Chinese consumers:
“French luxury brand Louis Vuitton and Italian luxury label Gucci are among the latest international brands found to be using differentiated product exchange and return policies toward consumers in the Chinese mainland compared with other markets, sparking fresh backlash from Chinese consumers after the case of Canadian luxury parka maker Canada Goose” (More Global Brands Criticized for Discriminatory Return Policy in Chinese Mainland - Global Times, 2021).
The news report also stated that brands like Christian Dior and Burberry also follow different after sales policy in China compared to other markets, and particularly mentioned that Louis Vuitton’s different return and exchange policy triggered fresh anger among Chinese consumers on Sina Weibo.
Subsiding Social Media Crisis
On December 9, 2021, Canada Goose posted a first detailed statement (Appendix B, Figure B3) and updated return and exchange policy on their official Weibo account page (Appendix B, Figure B4). Their statement read,
Canada Goose sincerely appreciates the support of consumers, and will continue to strictly abide by Chinese laws and regulations, while providing high-quality products and customer experience. With the guidance and help of @Shanghai Consumer Protection Committee, our company has updated and optimised the "Canada Goose Return and Exchange Service Commitment in Mainland China" to provide consumers with detailed after-sales guidance. Our company will continue to expand and improve consumer experience. In addition, our company will also continue to cooperate with the Shanghai Consumer Protection Commission to explore more ways to improve consumer satisfaction under the framework of Chinese laws and regulations, combined with industry practices. Thanks again for the guidance and supervision of the Shanghai Consumer Protection Committee and the feedback from all walks of life. Canada Goose sincerely looks forward to joining hands with consumers to start more journeys together, thank you!
Stable State After Social Media Crisis
After Canada Goose made their official detailed statement on December 9, 2021, the social media crisis came to an end in the days following the statement.
The events most responsible for triggering the social media crisis started with an unsatisfied customer of Canada Goose in Shanghai, China, and continued until the escalation stage, where a Weibo group, ‘I want to complain-thoughtful Shanghai’ published a morning news report on Sina Weibo based on the customer complaint. After the publication of this report, which generated 450 million views and 19,000 discussions, the crisis became viral on Chinese social media.
The following two sections take a netnographic look at consumer emotions and their related association which amplified the Social Media Crisis (particularly in the "escalation stage") and analyse the consequences of the crisis for Canada Goose, based on secondary data.
Netnographic Data Collection & Analysis
When the Canada Goose news story broke out on Sina Weibo, millions of Weibo users read the story and thousands took part in the discussion, which was then picked up by the Chinese and world media and reported widely. The sites for the netnographic study; Sina Weibo, Baidu, and South China Morning Post were selected based on the six criteria outlined by Kozinets (2010, p. 89), which are, (1) relevant to the research questions; (2) active, with recent and regular communications; (3) interactive (4) substantial, in terms of numbers of users; (5) diverse, involving different participants; and (6) data rich.
Adopting from the steps & outcomes of the human-driven netnography research process outlined in Netnography Unlimited (Kozinets & Gambetti, 2020, p.185), first relevant keywords were identified around the topic of Canada Goose for searching content online. In stage 1, relevant content was identified using search engines and sources were listed and prioritised for further research. In stage 2, 3,000 user generated posts were read and identified, and 350 of those were scraped manually for analysis, after translating them from Simplified Chinese to English using Google Translate. In stage 3, after thoroughly reading all the stored content and using an inductive analysis approach, 23 initial codes (Figure F1) were generated, resulting in 350 coded comments. In stage 4, to generate topic clusters, 350 coded comments were further grouped according to patterns of like meaning. In the final stage, themes were identified, and cross-checking was performed to generate in-depth insight. The coding scheme (Appendix F) was used, with names of the 23 codes (Figure F1), sample of code definitions (Figure F2), coded sample (Figure F3), an example of excluded material (Figure F4), a few examples of included material (Figure F5), and how to identify a theme using direct interpretation research materials and using pattern matching and time-series analytical techniques for the analysis (Figure F6). Comments with only symbols like, , were excluded from the chosen sample and comments with content were included. As majority of comments were of highly nationalistic tone, special care has been taken to ensure that choice of blog posts to which user generated content was posted did not have a sample of posts which is biased into the direction of purely nationalistic in nature.
After identifying user generated content in Stage 1 and selecting user generated content in Stage 2; in Stage 3, content analysis was conducted using an inductive approach, which allowed the researcher to create own coding classifications based directly on user posts observed. Content analysis helped identify the presence of certain words, themes, and theoretical concepts within user generated comments and helped analyse the presence, meanings, and relationships of such certain words, themes, and theoretical concepts (Content Analysis Method and Examples | Columbia Public Health, n.d.).
The data set was first copied on an excel file and after thoroughly reading each user comment, 23 initial codes were generated which resulted in 350 coded comments. To test for reliability of coding, a 2nd Coder was employed to code a subset of posts. A total of 101 posts out of 350 were randomly selected and coded independently by the 1st Coder (the author) and the 2nd Coder. Comparing those 101 coded comments, inter-coder reliability scores were generated for each code. Table 3 shows the name of the codes, their definitions, a few samples of user generated posts related to each code, and inter-coder reliability score. Finally, in those cases where 1st and 2nd coders disagreed, they both re-visited the comments and code definitions and came to a common understanding and agreement. Based on this exercise, the 1st coder re-coded 1.125% of the total coded comments in the master file.
Table 3
Code Name
|
Code Definition
|
Operationa-lization
|
User Comment Examples
|
Inter-Coder Reliability Score
|
Sentiment
|
Sentiment towards Canada Goose
|
1 = Very negative, 2 = Negative, 3 = Neutral, 4 = Positive. 5 = Very positive
|
1 = A market that relies on us to continue, eats the dividends of the Chinese market, but dares to treat our consumers with such a "double standard", and now I change my mouth and refuse to accept returns. Who gave Canada Goose such arrogance?
2 = Reject this brand
3 = Support domestic products[yeah]
4= Quality and Service Take the Throne! It's hard not to support!
|
Pearson's correlation between the two sets of sentiment = 0.5927
|
Using Abusive/Hate language and/or Presenting false Information
|
Undesired and unsubstantiated user-generated content on social media, against CG or Canada or foreign brands/foreigners (except against the Chinese population), which may include spreading false information and using abusive/hate language
|
1 = yes there is evidence 0 = no evidence.
(Keywords examples: kill them, kick them out, pigs, scammers, scumbags, shameless, grilled and eaten, duck down etc.)
|
1. Punish it to death 2. Canada goose grilled and eaten 3. Canadian poor, wait for China to give you something to eat.
|
97%
|
Blaming Canada Goose
|
Blames Canada Goose based on either service, policy, quality, or combination of those
|
1 = there is evidence & 0 = no evidence
|
1. This has nothing to do with a "nationalist" backlash and everything to do with customer service. Returns are expected for a high-end brand. 2. Is this store selling fakes as real, otherwise how could this happen?
|
89%
|
Blaming Chinese Customer(s)
|
Blames the customer directly or indirectly and implies that they used the fake product to return/exchange in the Canada Goose store)
|
1 = there is evidence & 0 = no evidence
|
1. foreigners don't know that someone will buy fakes for real ones, which is to fill the loopholes[good] 2. Aren't you afraid to return the fake goose? 3. I really don't mean to be malicious to my compatriots. It's true that most of them are not bad for money. They are very good at exploiting and taking advantage. This really has nothing to do with having money or not. Upbringing issues.
|
96%
|
Blaming Government
|
Blames the local government saying either they are lenient towards foreign brands like CG, or ither they are asking the government to take action against CG or implying that consumer laws should be stricter)
|
1 = there is evidence & 0 = no evidence
|
1. Is this dishonourable? This is a violation of Chinese law. If it were a democratic beacon country, it would have been punished by hundreds of billions of dollars earlier. 2. Has the person in charge of the competent department died?
|
97%
|
Canada Goose has Bad Quality
|
Blames the quality of CG products
|
1 = there is evidence & 0 = no evidence
|
1. Just expensive enough, nothing else matters... It doesn't matter if you break a hole and don't keep warm, the most important thing is expensive enough! ! Poor quality! 2.Who gave Canada Goose such arrogant confidence when he changed his mind and refused to accept the return? When there is a quality problem in the product, consumers have the right to request repairs, replacements, returns, etc.
|
95%
|
Criticises Price
|
Blames price saying either CG is too expensive, rich Chinese buy CG, or something in their comments indicate that they made a direct or indirect reference to high price of CG products
|
1 = there is evidence & 0 = no evidence
|
1. More expensive but different policy compared to other countries 2. Just expensive enough, nothing else matters... It doesn't matter if you break a hole and don't keep warm, the most important thing is expensive enough! ! Poor quality!
|
90%
|
Blames Chinese Population overall
|
Blames the Chinese population (E.g., Criticizing others for buying a foreign brand like CG and/or attacking other Chinese because of extreme nationalistic view)
|
1 = there is evidence & 0 = no evidence (Key words example, rich people, too much money, licking foreigners, people are stupid, rich, without skin, etc.)
|
1. Really speechless, another foreign brand that comes to China to make money and arrogant, do you really think we are this big money? People are stupid and have a good temper.[sweat][sweat][sweat] 2. Chinese people who worship foreigners, people look down on people like you! !
|
94%
|
Poor Customer Service
|
Blames or criticises customer service of CG)
|
1 = there is evidence & 0 = no evidence
|
1. This has nothing to do with a "nationalist" backlash and everything to do with customer service. Returns are expected for a high end brand. 2. I don't know why the domestic store is like this. The goose I bought in the United States can be returned within a month as long as the tag is not picked. I had to wear it for 20 days and then return it. The clerk didn't ask a word and returned it to me quickly and with a good attitude. It was very natural and smooth, and it was obviously a routine operation.
|
93%
|
Blaming Bloggers
|
Blames other commenters/users (Thinks argument presented by other commenters is incorrect or not valid, or criticises them for spreading negative publicity)
|
1 = there is evidence & 0 = no evidence
|
1. Please check, 7 days goods exchange is the Chinese government's own policy. Please don't use this single case of consumer complaint to stir up a nationalistic emotion, it would harm Chinese people 's mind and its intolerance society. 2. Right, build the wall higher. No need for anything to impact the hearts and minds from outside the border. The Middle Kingdom is the world. Sounds a bit like NK
|
96%
|
CG follows Double Standard (Discrimination)
|
Thinks CG follows double standards, or thinks CG has different rules for the Chinese consumers than consumers in Canada, or CG discriminates against the Chinese)
|
1 = there is evidence & 0 = no evidence (Key words: Double standard, discrimination, different policy compared to Canada, racist etc.)
|
1. More expensive but different policy compared to other countries 2. Obviously it is discrimination against Chinese consumers! There is no need for such a company to exist in China! 3. Don’t think about it, Canada Goose’s sales in China account for a large proportion, but even this can’t stop people from double-standarding the Chinese market.
|
97%
|
CG Violated Chinese Law/s
|
Thinks CG violated or didn't abide by the local Chinese laws/consumer laws
|
1 = there is evidence & 0 = no evidence (Key words: Consumer rights/protection, legal, law, rights, clause etc.)
|
1. does not meet the legal requirements of China's seven-day unreasonable return and return of goods and quality problems 2. This unilateral clause conflicts with the Consumer Protection Law, but the Consumer Protection Law is the first clause, so this is invalid
|
97%
|
Calls for Boycott CG
|
Asking for or suggesting boycotting Canada Goose products
|
1 = there is evidence & 0 = no evidence (Key words: Boycott, don't buy, won't buy, abandon etc.)
|
1. Chinese people stand up, if you don't buy it, can you still die? 2. Resolutely resist, anyway, it is imported, there are no foundries and production lines in China, and it has no impact on China's employment and exports.
|
96%
|
CG is Arrogant
|
Thinks Canada Goose or its response is arrogant
|
1 = there is evidence, 0 = no evidence (Arrogant/Bully/Proud/Confident/Shameless/Insincere)
|
1. Why are you so bold, because it is too difficult for ordinary people to defend their rights, and even if they are fined, they will not make more profit for one day[doge] 2. Who gave Canada Goose such arrogant confidence when he changed his mind and refused to accept the return? When there is a quality problem in the product, consumers have the right to request repairs, replacements, returns, etc.
|
96%
|
Calls to Close Canada Goose
|
Asking to shut down Canada Goose stores in China
|
1 = there is evidence & 0 = no evidence (Key words: Get out, etc.)
|
1. Such products, such terms, why let him sell in China? ? ? 2. Obviously it is discrimination against Chinese consumers! There is no need for such a company to exist in China!
|
97%
|
Supports Domestic
|
Supports Domestic (Chinese Brands/Products)
|
1 = there is evidence & 0 = no evidence (Except "Bosideng" because "Bosideng" has a separate code)
|
1. Support domestic products[yeah] 2. it is everyone's responsibility to support domestic products 3. Can I not buy it? Regardless of whether it's a Canada goose or a chicken, I don't follow the trend, I just wear domestic products that cost about 100 yuan and still spend the winter!
|
92%
|
Anti Foreign
|
Criticises foreign brands/products by saying not to buy foreign brands, or blaming foreign brands, or showing dislike towards foreigners
|
1 = there is evidence & 0 = no evidence (Key words: Foreign, foreigners, etc.)
|
1. When buying down jackets, look at the amount of down and what kind of down, and then look at the style and fabric workmanship. The brand is not important. You have to sort out these foreign ones. 2. This is not a time when a foreign brand treats Chinese customers differently! Countless foreign companies are like this, including Disney! why? Just because there are too many brainless supporters in China buying their products!
|
94%
|
Pro Foreign
|
Talks about foreign Policies/culture/customer service etc. or uses foreign best practices as an example)
|
1 = there is evidence & 0 = no evidence (Key words: United States, etc.)
|
1. foreigners don't know that someone will buy fakes for real ones, which is to fill the loopholes[good] 2. It is possible that what I say will be insulting, but we cannot ignore why they support unconditional returns for almost all products because their customers will not deliberately cheat, will not borrow and use it and return it, will not use money laundering, etc., so People's shopping malls are not afraid to say more[laugh cry]
|
99%
|
Bosideng
|
Supports or praises local brand "Bosideng"
|
1 = there is evidence & 0 = no evidence (Key word: Bosideng)
|
1. To tell the truth, it is not as good as Bosideng, just because it is an imported brand, it can sell tens of thousands, and my brain is flooded! ! 2. I choose Bosideng for down, it is very comfortable, no problem at minus 35 degrees in the northeast
|
100%
|
Seeks Justice
|
Thinks CG should be punished (as per the laws) because it is in violation of local Chinese laws
|
1 = there is evidence & 0 = no evidence
|
1. This kind of enterprise needs punitive education, and it must be corrected. 2. deal with according to law 3. Such arrogant companies should be punished. Instead of queuing at the door to limit the flow of entry
|
100%
|
Anti Canada
|
The comment indicates some sort of dislike/animosity towards Canada
|
1 = there is evidence & 0 = no evidence (Key word: Law, Punitive, Punish, etc.)
|
1. It is their own business whether Ms. Jia who is Canadian or who is planning to become a Canadian citizen buys Canadian goods without refund. The media consumer protection association is nosy, and the real Chinese will not buy it. 2. There are still people buying Canadian products
|
98%
|
Anti China
|
Indicates that Chinese use fake products to return/exchange or fake products are available in the Chinese market or Chinese people are not trustworthy or criticises the Chinese government policies directly or indirectly or criticises local brand Bosideng or uses objective and factual tone, which may be considered anti-popular or anti-national
|
1 = there is evidence & 0 = no evidence
|
1. To be honest, it is very necessary to rectify the imitation factories, so as to protect the rights and interests of consumers. - In a market flooded with fakes, merchants dare not accept returns. Big goose is so similar[Yun sad][Yun sad]
2. It was also possible to return and exchange it normally before, but there was a period when many Chinese bought fake products and returned them, but they did not return them later.
|
99%
|
Makes General Comment
|
Makes General Comment (Which has nothing do with the issue) For example: I don't have money, never heard of CG
|
1 = there is evidence & 0 = no evidence
|
1. I'm not boycotting it, I just can't afford it. Not only can't afford the big goose, but most clothes in the mall can't afford it now. 2. I just don't count
|
97%
|
The Sentiment Analysis of a chosen sample of user posts by two independent coders, using 5-point Likert scale, showed negative sentiment towards Canada Goose, which was quite expected. The individual code count (Fig. 15) showed that Blaming Canada Goose topped the list, with presence in 118 posts out of 350. It was then followed by ‘Using abusive/hate language’ with 62 counts, ‘Calls for boycott CG’ with 58 counts, ‘Blames Chinese Population Overall’ with 54 counts, ‘Criticises Price’ with 32 counts etc. Many of those who blamed the Chinese population used the expensive price of Canada Goose as a reference to criticise their fellow citizens as stated in this post,
“Jia, Goose [note: Jia is the customer, whose name (or a nick name) appeared in all the published media] tells the Chinese people with facts that the expensive ones are not necessarily good ones! Be careful! The cheapest price is five or six thousand [note, Chinese Renmimbi, approximately CAD 1050], and at this price, you can buy several pieces from other brands! This kind of rubbish, you should not buy it, just let it go out of business”
In stage 4, to generate topic clusters, 350 coded comments were further grouped according to patterns of similar meaning. The constant comparison of data and previous development of initial codes were used to create a higher-level understanding and classifications. The process of constant comparison began with comparing 350 coded comments with each other and revisiting the original data. The comparison provided the ability to find and link commonalities and develop topics. The codes with similar meaning were grouped together under the emerging topics (Table 4).
Table 4
Sr No
|
Topic Name
|
Codes under the topic
|
User Comment Examples
|
1
|
Thinks Canada Goose is arrogant, or uses discriminatory/double standard policy against Chinese and should be punished or closed
|
1.CG follows Double Standard (Discrimination)
2.CG is Arrogant
3.Close Canada Goose
4.Calls for Boycott CG
|
1. Obviously it is discrimination against Chinese consumers! There is no need for such a company to exist in China!
2. "Since you are ""arrogant and double standard"", I will let you ""goose feathers all over the place""![weak]"
|
2
|
Thinks Canada Goose is in violation of local laws and/or should be punished
|
5.CG Violated Chinese Law/s
6. Seeks Justice
7. Blaming Government
|
1. " Isn't the word ""proud"" too soft? Violating the legitimate rights and interests of consumers"
2. The Market Supervision Bureau will take action when it should
|
3
|
Expresses clear anger or frustration against those who buys foreign brand products
|
8. Blames Chinese Population Overall
9. Criticizes Price
|
1. I don't know what the person who bought it is looking for? Does it fail the inspection? Is it worth that much for one logo?
2.Too many people with money are stupid
|
4
|
Supports domestic Chinese brands
|
10. Supports Domestic
11. Bosideng
|
1. Anta down jacket is the first choice for keeping warm and cheap!
2. "Bosideng is not fragrant, buy this broken brand" [note: Since the customer accused CG jacket had a pungent smell, the blogger refers to local competitor brand, Bosideng, and asks sarcastically, “Don’t you think Bosideng is better than CG?” ]
|
5
|
Undesired and unsubstantiated user-generated content on social media; including creation and spreading of false information and using abusive language
|
12.Using Abusive/Hate language and/or Presenting false Information
13. Anti Canada
14. Anti Foreign
|
1. Don't kill the poor
2. "Don't call it Canada Goose, just call it Canada scumbag"
|
6
|
Makes General Comment
|
N/A
|
1. Today a colleague wore it and was teased for a long time[not easy][note: This comment was made on a day when CG was one of the hottest trending topics on Sina Weibo. The blogger talks about how their colleague was mocked when came to work wearing CG brand ]
2. Poverty keeps me away from this brand
|
7
|
Uses objective and factual tone, which may be considered anti-popular or anti-nationalistic
|
15. Blaming Chinese Customer(S)
16. Blaming Bloggers
17. Pro Foreign
18. Anti China
|
There can be no legal issues here on the grounds of discrimination. Because there is no national law in the world that can stipulate that enterprise products must have a unified sales policy. Chinese companies can't do it either. If you go to the United States, it is much cheaper to make in China than to buy it in China. China also provides fuel to Vietnam and North Korea cheaper than domestically. […]. The economic law is irresistible.
|
8
|
Blames Canada Goose based on either service, policy, quality, or combination of those
|
19. Blaming Canada Goose
20. Canada Goose has Bad Quality
21. Poor Customer Service
|
1. "To be fair though, if you google what the incorrect logo stitching looked like, you'd probably want to return it too. It wasn't off by just a bit, something you don't expect from a luxury brand. "
2. In fact, the store is still unable to return or exchange for no reason within 7 days. The reply from the Shanghai IFC store today. really shameless
|
In the final coding stage, after identifying nuances of meaning (topics) in groups and determining theme names based on those meaning and organization, five clearly defined themes were identified from the topic clusters: Grassroots Nationalism, Consumer Fairness Seeking, Anti-Nationalistic Voice, Consumer Animosity, and Spreading of False Information and/or Using Abusive/Hate Language. Table 5 below shows the relationship between the themes and topics, while Table 6 provides theme definitions, operationalization, user comment examples and 2nd Coder reliability score.
Table 5
Sr No
|
Themes and Topics Relation
|
1
|
Chinese Grassroots Nationalism
|
|
Expresses clear anger or frustration against those who buys foreign brand products
|
|
Thinks Canada Goose is arrogant, or uses discriminatory/double standard policy against Chinese and should be punished or closed
|
|
Supports domestic Chinese brands
|
2
|
Consumer Fairness Seeking
|
|
Blames Canada Goose based on either service, policy, quality, or combination of those
|
|
Thinks Canada Goose is in violation of local laws and/or should be punished
|
3
|
Anti-Nationalistic Voice
|
|
Anti China
|
|
Makes General Comment
|
4
|
Spreading of false information and/or using abusive/hate language
|
|
Anti Foreign
|
5
|
Consumer Animosity
|
|
Anti Canada
|
Table 6
Theme Name
|
Theme Definition
|
Operationalization
|
User Comment Example
|
2nd Coder Reliability Score
|
Anti-Nationalistic Voice
|
Opposed to one's own nation; unpatriotic or making logical/factual argument with opposing views
|
1 = there is evidence & 0 = no evidence
|
1. foreigners don't know that someone will buy fakes for real ones, which is to fill the loopholes[good] 2. You may not believe it, but all managers and decision-makers in Big Goose China are Chinese. In fact, Chinese people discriminate against Chinese people. Because my aunt's son upstairs belongs to this company. He came back from studying in the United States and is now working as a big goose. He just told me about it at night.[Yun sad]
|
91%
|
Spreading of false information and/or using abusive/hate language
|
Undesired and unsubstantiated user-generated content on social media, against CG or Canada or foreign brands/foreigners (except against the Chinese population), which may include spreading false information and using abusive/hate language
|
1 = there is evidence & 0 = no evidence
|
1. Goose eating is too ugly
2. kill him
3. eat goose
|
94%
|
Consumer Animosity
|
Consumer Animosity represents either discomfort towards foreign goods, services and brands originating in countries with which there is some kind of conflict, or rejection of products or services from those conflict countries. Here, "Animosity" denotes hatred specifically towards ‘Canada’ due to historical, economic, political, or cultural factors and name ‘Canada’ would explicitly appear in data
|
1 = there is evidence & 0 = no evidence
|
1. Canada is about to capsize
2. Canada is too shameless
3. Canada is the younger brother of the mould country, and is as obedient as a dog.
|
98%
|
Grassroots Nationalism
|
Using social media to protest against a foreign brand. Historical memories, and current events, can be driving factors for grassroots nationalism and its influence on the foreign brands. Chinese grassroots nationalism contains a strong antiforeign sentiment and a victim complex.
|
1 = there is evidence & 0 = no evidence
|
1. you are right, you must support domestic products and starve foreign powers to death.
2. Exit the Chinese market! As long as the Chinese people with a little face will not be buying your stuff!
3. If "Canada Goose" is still lost in self-delusion and doesn't want to make progress, then the rest can only be "one place goose feathers"
|
86%
|
Consumer Fairness Seeking
|
Consumers express that they want to be treated equally and fairly, in terms of: domestic fairness- where they have certain service/quality expectation from a local luxury brand; and international fairness- where they expect to be treated equally like other foreign customers.
|
1 = there is evidence & 0 = no evidence
|
1. Making money in China does not comply with Chinese laws, what the heck
2. More expensive but different policy compared to other countries
|
86%
|
Table 7
October 27, 2021
|
A customer bought a down jacket from Canada Goose (CG) store in Shanghai, China and asked to sign ‘no return’ clause
|
Trigger Events
|
October 28, 2021
|
The customer went back to the CG store to return the jacket, but CG refused
|
Trigger Events/ Local Response
|
November 14, 2021
|
The customer complained to CG by an email
|
Local Response
|
November 15, 2021
|
CG responded to customer by an email
|
Local Response
|
November 30, 2021
|
A Weibo group, ‘I want to complain-thoughtful Shanghai’ published a report about this issue and CG SMBC started/ Going Viral
|
Escalation Stage/ Dissemination of Social Media Crisis
|
December 1, 2021
|
CG posted a copy of return/exchange policy on its official Weibo page
|
Canada Goose Primary Response
|
December 1, 2021
|
Shanghai Consumer Protection Committee interviewed CG
|
Mitigation Efforts with Government
|
December 2 & 3, 2021
|
Sina Technology on Weibo claimed CG exclusively responded to them
|
Involvement of State & Global Media
|
December 5, 2021
|
Global Times reported some other luxury brands following double standard policy against Chinese consumers
|
Escalation to other Western luxury brands
|
December 9, 2021
|
CG on its Weibo page officially responded and posted updated policy
|
Subsiding Social Media Crisis/ Stable State
|
The final stage theme count (Fig. 16) showed ‘Grassroots Nationalism’ emerged as the dominant theme with 46% presence in 350 chosen posts, followed by ‘Anti- Nationalist Voice’ with 17.14% of presence, ‘Consumer Fairness Seeking’ with 15.43% of presence, ‘Spreading of false information and/or using abusive/hate language’ with 14.6% of presence, and ‘Consumer Animosity’ with 6.86% presence.
The research findings show the strong presence of modern form of Chinese Nationalism, called Grassroots Nationalism, where 46% of Chinese netizens used social media platforms to show support of domestic Chinese brands, to express their anger and frustration against Canada Goose customers for buying their expensive products, to express their strong anti-foreign sentiments because of the perceived double standard/discriminatory policy of Canada Goose against Chinese, and demanding punishment for and closure of Canada Goose. 17% of user posts in this finding was anti-nationalistic voice. Majority of those posters spoke truth voicing their unbiased opinion.
For example, one of the Weibo posts coded earlier as Anti China and emerged as anti-nationalistic voice read,
“To be honest, it is very necessary to rectify the imitation factories, so as to protect the rights and interests of consumers. - In a market flooded with fakes, merchants dare not accept returns. Big goose is so similar.”
It is important to recognize here that counterfeiting has grown from a small industry to $1.7 trillion in value.
“Counterfeiting has gone from a small industry to a $1.7 trillion problem this year,” said Craig Crosby, publisher of the Counterfeit Report, in an interview. “What product isn’t counterfeit? That’s the question. This holiday return scam has permeated the retail business as well as the online ecommerce industry” (Takahashi, 2015).
To deal with the counterfeit scam, the Counterfeit Report, an independent publication that publishes counterfeit information from 250 global manufacturers stated that consumers should avoid making online purchases from China.
Consequences Of Social Media Crisis
It is evident from the literature review that negative brand information can damage Brand Image, and Canada Goose also acknowledged that any negative publicity related to the perceived quality and safety of their products could harm their brand image (Figure D1). Findings of this research paper uncovered that Canada Goose did experience substantial amount of negative publicity during the crisis. Therefore, based on all these factors, it seems likely that the 2021 Social Media Brand Crisis of Canada Goose did harm its perceived Brand Image, at least for the time of the crisis and among certain consumer groups in China.
If so, though, this did not translate in an apparent loss in sales in China, actually, sales rose inspite or maybe even because of the Social Media Crisis. Canada Goose’s reported revenue showed (Appendix C, Figure C1) that DTC revenue in mainland China increasing 35.1% (Canada Goose Reports Results for Third Quarter Fiscal 2022 and Revised Fiscal 2022 Outlook | Canada Goose Inc., n.d.) in the third quarter of the fiscal year 2022 (for the quarter ended January 2, 2022). This is an important finding considering the social media brand crisis of Canada Goose was reported as one of the biggest trending topics of 2021 on Sina Weibo (Koetse, 2021) and one would have expected loss in sales after experiencing so much negative publicity. However, there are number of reasons based on which it is possible to conclude that DTC revenue increase of 35.1% in China is justified.
First, the data findings reported in Table 2 shows that only 17 popular hashtags on Sina Weibo created over 1.1Billiion views about Canada Goose, Canada Goose was one of the hottest trending topics on Sina Weibo in 2021, and Canada Goose was reported widely in the Chinese print and television media. Therefore, it is safe to conclude that Canada Goose brand awareness increased substantially in China in 2021 resulting in increased revenue.
Second, literature review of consumer nationalism showed that in 2003, Ogilvy & Mather, reported in their research an interesting finding dubbed “Patriot’s Paradox” that desire for Western brands among China’s youth is sufficiently strong to override patriotic sentiments unlike older consumers. Moreover, analysis of Sina Weibo and their user profile revealed that majority of Weibo users are young, within age group of 18–29, compared to total online population. Because Canada Goose is considered a well-known western brand in China and around the world with majority of young customer base, it can be concluded that Chinese youth, including Weibo users, continued buying Canada Goose products regardless of SMBC.
Number of Chinese social media sources and financial websites reported that Canada Goose’s stock prices dropped because of the customer return controversy (Figure C2, C3, C4).
On December 3, the financial world reported that Canada Goose's stock price fell sharply again. Yingwei Finance showed that the company's shares fell 4.53% on Thursday to $39.41. With the fermentation of the return turmoil, Canada Goose's stock price has fallen by 26.53% from its high of $53.64 on November 16, and its market value has evaporated by more than $1.5 billion (Lu, 2021)
One of the trending hashtags on Sina Weibo was #CanadaGoose's market value has shrunk by over 8 billion# (In simplified Chinese #加拿大鹅市值缩水超80亿#). It stated,
Canada Goose's stock price began to decline, especially after the recent negative events fermented, Canada Goose continued to plummet, and on December 1 (Wednesday), it fell by 7.42%, and finally closed at $41.28. The last 10 days cumulative decline has reached 22.23%, and the market value has shrunk by a maximum of 1.32 billion US dollars (equivalent to about 8.4 billion yuan) (Source: Sina Weibo)
To verify the drop in stock price, using stockanalysis.com, it was found that there was a sharp decline in the Canada Goose’s stock price during the period of November 30th, 2021-December 3, 2021, as shown in Fig. 17. However, this decline already started around November 15, 2020 and continued all the way until end of March, 2022.
Incidentally, in December 2018, CBC news reported (Appendix E, Figure E1) similar stock market impact on the Canada Goose shares, when Meng Wanzhou, the CFO of Chinese technology giant Huawei inc. was detained in Canada. The news stated, “Canada Goose shares have fallen for five days in a row after the outdoor apparel maker has become a target of Chinese consumers upset by the arrest of a high-ranking technology executive in Canada” (Evans, 2018).
While the stocks of Canada Goose did drop during the peak of the crisis period, it cannot be concluded with certainty that this decline was due to the social media crisis in China.
There could have been several other external factors responsible for this decline, and it would require more in-depth analysis to reach any conclusion. Such an indepth analysis of the reactions and assumptions of investors and other capital-market participants goes beyond the scope of this research paper.