Chinese lifestyle retailer Miniso Co on Thursday pledged to clear away its Japanese elements before March 2023, after promoting itself as a "Japanese designer brand," which sparked wide criticism among Chinese netizens.

Miniso apologized for its marketing strategy hurting consumers' feelings. The company explained that it was in an early phase of developing overseas from late 2015 to 2018, when it hired a Japanese designer as its chief designer and promoted itself as a "Japanese designer brand."

Miniso said it rolled out wrong brand positioning and marketing strategy during the early phases, and has "made a detour." The company has started the task of removing Japanese elements since late 2019 and has changed the shop signboards of its 3,100 domestic stores from Japanese style to its Chinese name in six months ending March this year.

It also vowed to hold related senior executives accountable and decided that its headquarters will take over management of all its overseas social media accounts.

The retailer topped the trending topic list on August 9 on Chinese social media platform Weibo, after netizens revealed that the firm's Spanish social media account posted on Instagram a picture of dolls wearing Chinese Qipao - a traditional Chinese dress - and called them Japanese geisha dolls.

After some netizens pointed this out, the Miniso Spanish account did not correct it and only replied with a smile emoji, according to domestic news site Shanghai Observer.

The company then released an apology and claimed it had asked its Spanish agent to delete the post. It also said it has ended cooperation with a local institution which managed its Spanish social media account.

Yet some netizens revealed that it was not the first time Miniso had promoted itself as a Japanese brand - its social media account in Panama introduced the company as a Japanese firm, and some said Miniso stores were not allowed to play Chinese songs.

"It is not that a Chinese brand cannot use Japanese elements, but trying to paint itself as a Japanese brand is another thing given the history of Japanese crimes in China," a Beijing resident surnamed Xu told the Global Times.

People cannot forget their history, some netizens wrote on Weibo.

In the comment section under Miniso's latest apology statement on Weibo, many still found it hard to accept the apology and asked the company to explain whether it has used the Japanese national flag at signing ceremonies with foreign partners.

Miniso should conduct self-examination and never cross the line in the future, said a commentary wrote by people.cn. This incident could also serve as a warning to other enterprises that they should never violate the bottom line and business ethics. Mistakes on matters of principle cannot be made, it said.