A P&G stand in a supermarket in Nantong, East China's Jiangsu Province. File photo: CFP

Procter & Gamble Company (P&G) was fined 700,000 yuan ($104,595) for violating the advertising law by local market regulator in Guangzhou, South China's Guangdong Province, the city's official credit platform showed on Monday.  

The penalty came after the company released an advertisement article in March on its WeChat account alleging that women's feet smell worse than men's.

According to the Guangzhou official website, P&G's advertisement has caused agitation in the public resulting in a negative social impact. Since the company has taken the initiative to delete the advertisement and actively cooperate with the authorities in the investigation, the local market regulator decided to issue an administrative penalty, ordering it to stop publishing illegal advertisement, in addition to a fine of 700,000 yuan.

In March, P&G released an advertisement article titled "women's foot odor is five times worse than men's. You can smell it if you don't believe it," which sparked criticism and controversy on China's social media platforms, with many social media users accusing the company of disrespecting women.

Later, P&G deleted the WeChat article and published an apology on its official Weibo account, saying that it has seriously rectified the operation of the account. It also said it has deeply reflected on the event to prevent similar situations from happening again.

Global Times