China's Top Billionaire Bottled Water Company Faces Controversy Over "Fukushima Peach Flavor" Promotion

Absurd Claim on Nongpusanchuan Controversy: "Not Added, Just Restored the Flavor"

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwon Jae-hee] Nongfu Spring, China's largest bottled water company, faced backlash from Chinese consumers after promoting its carbonated beverage as containing peaches from Fukushima, Japan, where a nuclear power plant accident occurred during the Great East Japan Earthquake.

On Chinese social media platforms, including Weibo, China's version of Twitter, controversy erupted over Nongfu Spring's peach-flavored sparkling water product.

Photos posted by netizens showed that Nongfu Spring had set up promotional displays in some supermarkets with large advertisements stating "Fukushima peaches" during a fruit-flavored sparkling water sales event.

Nongfu Spring also actively promoted the product as "Fukushima peach flavor" in some online advertisements.

However, since China has banned imports of agricultural products and food from the Fukushima area since 2011, Nongfu Spring's promotion sparked controversy.

In response to inquiries from some consumers online amid the controversy, Nongfu Spring claimed, "The raw materials of the product are not from Fukushima; the flavor was simply recreated through the manufacturing process."

They argued that although there were no Fukushima peaches in the product, they used the phrase "Fukushima peaches" in marketing because the taste was similar.

Chinese consumers are greatly angered by Nongfu Spring's absurd claim.

One netizen wrote on Nongfu Spring's Weibo account, "You yourselves wrote 'Fukushima peaches' and now blame the consumers," adding, "You might as well advertise that you wash your hair with nuclear-contaminated water."

Nongfu Spring is a bottled water company that uses water from the nationally protected source Qian Dao Lake in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, and besides its main bottled water business, it also sells various other beverages such as tea, juice, and coffee.

Nongfu Spring is especially famous in China for its advertising slogan, "We do not make water. We are merely nature's deliverymen."

According to the 2021 Global Rich List compiled by China's Hurun Report as of January, Nongfu Spring founder Zhong Shanshan has a personal fortune of $85 billion (approximately 95 trillion KRW), ranking first in China and seventh in the world.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.