The encyclopedia · Advertising & PR · Marketing decision · 2022
Orion denied a 'double standard' for China — but the accusations stuck anyway
In March 2022 Orion faced accusations of raising prices only in China and Russia and using cheaper substitutes there — two denials, one reputational hit.
Orion (好丽友) · 2022-03
What happened
In early March 2022, Orion, maker of the hugely popular Choco Pie, found itself at the top of Weibo's hot search. Netizens accused it of a 'double standard' toward China: that it had raised prices only in the Chinese and Russian markets, and that products sold in China used cocoa-butter substitutes while overseas versions used real cocoa powder.
Orion responded twice within days. On the evening of 1 March it posted a 'memorandum'-style statement, and on 2 March a company-stamped statement, in both cases denying any double standard. It said no product prices had changed since September 2021, that price cycles differ by country, and that the coating ingredients of Orion Choco Pie — cocoa powder, cocoa mass, milk powder and fats — were identical globally, with some suppliers even shared.
The public did not move. Consumers answered online with '好丽友不再是好朋友' (Orion is no longer a good friend) and calls to boycott, and the controversy stuck as a cautionary example of a multinational judged on how it treats the Chinese market versus others.
It was a brand-reputation matter rather than a regulatory fine: the company denied the facts, but the perception of being treated as a second-class market had already been the story from the first screenshot.
Why it happened
- The accusation traded on a specific, charged fear — that a global brand sells China a worse product for the same money
- A denial answered the facts but not the sentiment, so the 'double standard' label survived the two statements
- The price comparison across markets put Orion's China treatment on public display, where screenshots outlast corrections
The lesson
When a global brand is seen to serve one market differently, denying the facts is not enough — the perception of unequal treatment is the product the crowd bought.
Aftermath
The controversy did not end Orion's China business, but it became a standing reference point for how Chinese consumers react to suspected differential treatment by multinational food brands, and it pressured the company to keep defending its quality standards publicly.
Sources
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