It is no secret that Chinese people are very sensitive about their country’s image in the rest of the world. The 2008 Olympic Games were supposed to make everybody forget about the 2007 product recalls. They had plans for an ad campaign to promote Mode-in-China goods, but it was delayed by the tainted milk scandal.

Last week they finally launched an ad campaign (h/t 2point6billion):

The 30 second ad was initially launched in CNN Asia with the theme ‘Made in China. Made with the world.’ In it, a series of goods with the ‘Made in China’ label are shown to be manufactured in partnership with the best foreign firms to produce high-quality products.

One of the featured products is an MP3 player described as ‘Made in China with software from Silicon Valley’ another is a fashion shoot that shows clothes with the label ‘Made in China with French designers.’ A refrigerator is also shown with the label ‘Made in China with European styling.’

The add can be viewed here. It shows that some great consumer products are made in China. There is no denying it. But it does not address the large proportion of poor-quality goods that are also imported from China.

I like the ad, though, because of its “Made with the World” argument. Yes, some poor quality products have been sent to Western countries, but there was an importer who didn’t do his job. Yes, some Chinese products are unsafe, but sometimes it comes from a mistake by the designer (e.g. the small parts on some Mattel toys that could be ingested by a kid).

To double this campaign’s effectiveness, Beijing should invite foreign journalists to visit what we call “5-star factories”. Some manufacturers have truly reached a world-class level in their organization, and I can imagine some nice newspaper articles.