Recent advertising copy from the globally recognized disinfectant brand Dettol, featuring lines such as "Do you know how to tell if a girlfriend has lived with someone before?", "It's okay if I'm not the first time, but my future wife absolutely cannot be", and "Luckily I met my current her, clean and unpolluted by other men", has been accused of objectifying and discriminating against women, sparking widespread online discussion.
Today, Dettol's official Weibo account issued a statement, saying: "Upon investigation, this video was created for the Dettol brand by a third-party content creator and was first published on May 24. Dettol stated that although the video's intended design was a storyline critiquing gender bias, it made many people, especially female friends, feel offended. "The flaws in its content expression and the failure in its review are responsibilities we cannot shirk, and we offer our sincere apologies."
However, this is not Dettol's first instance of "review failure" in its marketing. Earlier this month, another Dettol advertisement for toilet disinfectant was also accused of insulting men. The line in that ad, "Those with grown men at home, and those sharing a toilet with a father-in-law, you'd best know about this, I'm afraid you'll be thinking about scrubbing the toilet every day," was criticized for portraying all men as "mobile petri dishes of bacteria," sparking public anger. The copy generalized negatively, creating emotional division to drive traffic by applying a dirty label to all men.
In 2025, a Dettol advertisement also featured vulgar copy stating, "I just used it to wash my underwear, and my husband kept sniffing at it like a dog," deliberately creating suggestive "edgy" associations to grab attention.
It is understood that Dettol is part of the British fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) giant Reckitt Benckiser Group PLC, which also owns brands like Durex and Veet. Durex has similarly experienced major controversies in its advertising due to vulgar and suggestive content.
In December 2019, a marketing campaign by Durex in collaboration with brands like Heytea and Taopiaopiao for April 19th (a date whose numbers in Chinese can be read as "for one night") sparked significant controversy. The copy, featuring explicit sexual innuendos like "Not a single drop left tonight" and "Feed every mouth," objectified and commodified the female body, ultimately resulting in an 800,000 yuan fine from the Shanghai Market Supervision Bureau.
In the era of short-video e-commerce, numerous household cleaning and daily chemical brands have fallen into the trap of "offensive marketing," attempting to quickly gain traction by manufacturing gender conflict and using vulgar double entendres.
From a commercial perspective, however, repeated marketing failures only bring irreparable damage to a brand. When a brand internally lacks content review standards based on gender equality and countering stereotypes, and repeatedly lowers its content boundaries deliberately for traffic, it ultimately invites collective public condemnation and consumer boycotts, a loss that outweighs the gain.
Reckitt's Financial Performance Shows Strong Momentum in China Market
Reckitt Benckiser Group PLC is a global FMCG company founded in 1823 and headquartered in London, UK. Its products entered the Chinese market as early as 1916. Currently, in China, Reckitt has introduced over 20 brands, with well-known names like Dettol, Durex, and Veet all under its umbrella.
Reckitt's CEO, Kris Licht, has stated, "China is one of Reckitt's largest markets globally, with strong growth momentum. 'Designing in China for China' is at the core of our long-term strategy to meet the growing needs of Chinese consumers."
In 2024, Reckitt announced the creation of a Global Centre of Excellence for R&D in Shanghai, China. This R&D center will be one of Reckitt's nine global Centers of Excellence and is expected to be operational by 2026, with a total investment exceeding 300 million yuan. It is reported that the center will support the development of all Reckitt brands in China, including Durex, Dettol, Air Wick, and Finish, by providing locally developed innovative technologies.
In April of this year, Reckitt released its Q1 2026 financial results. The report showed that, impacted by a weak flu season and geopolitical factors, the group's comparable net revenue grew only 1.3%. However, emerging markets performed strongly, with both China and India achieving double-digit growth. Management maintained its full-year 2026 guidance for 4% to 5% core revenue growth.
The financial report also disclosed that the China market has recorded double-digit growth for 11 consecutive quarters. For an international consumer goods giant like Reckitt, the size and potential of the Chinese market are substantial, making it an extremely attractive "prize." However, with its brands now frequently sparking negative controversies in China, it remains to be seen how Reckitt will safeguard its reputation in the Chinese market and achieve long-term development.
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