The American fast-food restaurant chain, KFC is said to be facing a boycott in China after an alleged food waste issue was reported by China Consumers Association (CCA).
According to the BBC, KFC recently launched the promotion of a meal along with PopMart — a toymaker that is known for its ‘mystery boxes’ — and the Chinese consumer group (i.e CCA) alleged that it sent customers in the country into a buying spree.
My Cookery Zone gathered that the promotion was a part of the celebration of the food chain’s 35th anniversary after opening its first-ever restaurant in China. The promotion, however, allowed customers to collect limited-edition wide-eyed Dimoo toy dolls with select KFC orders.
In the statement issued by CCA, it alleges that some consumers bought “eat-for-you” services and “hired someone to buy a meal-for-you package to get a blind box” and the toy, discarding the uneaten food.
The official statement says, “The Dimoo co-branded Blind Box Package…has aroused consumers’ panic buying and widespread social concern. According to the sales rules of this blind box package, in order to collect the entire set of dolls, at least 6 packages need to be purchased, and the probability of occurrence of rare hidden items is 1:72. To this end, some consumers did not hesitate to spend 10,494 yuan [INR 1,22,453] to buy 106 sets of meals at one time.”
The Chinese consumer group noted that “KFC, as a food operator, uses the limited-edition blind box sales method to induce and condone consumers’ irrational and excessive purchase of food packages”, which is “contrary to public order, good customs and the spirit of the law”, the organisation stated.
Recall, the boycott is coming after the ‘Clean Plate Campaign’ of 2020, a major campaign against food waste (at the initial stages of the pandemic) launched and spearheaded by President Xi Jinping. The President had termed the amount of food waste “shocking and distressing”.
My Cookery Zone 