Backlash is brewing over a Chinese-owned company spending an estimated $21 million to advertise during the recent Super Bowl.
Temu, an online Chinese-owned marketplace with heavily discounted goods, “paid for three ads during the game and two after the game,” according to CNN.
“With a tagline urging consumers to ‘shop like a billionaire,’ Temu’s ad features an animated shopper dancing her way through bargains ranging from 99 cents to $9.99 in price,” CNN notes.
“The commercial marks the highlight of a Super Bowl campaign that featured more than $15 million in coupons and giveaways,” Temu reportedly said in a statement.
Temu’s Super Bowl ad and decided it’s pronounced NOT Tee-moo anymore. pic.twitter.com/VQs8S8GZlj
— Ivy Yang 杨方曦 (@ivylala) February 12, 2024
Critics, including several U.S. lawmakers, say Temu’s products are allegedly made through forced labor.
“It’s Super Bowl Sunday! While you’re watching this game, keep an eye out for ads from Temu, a company profiting from CCP slave labor. This company should not be allowed to profit by manipulating American consumers,” Rep. Michelle Steel, a Republican, tweeted Sunday.
Look:
It’s Super Bowl Sunday!
While you’re watching the game, keep an eye out for ads from Temu, a company profiting from CCP slave labor.
This company should not be allowed to profit by manipulating American consumers.https://t.co/KXEhiVUyJy
— Rep. Michelle Steel (@RepSteel) February 11, 2024
Meanwhile, earlier this month Rep. Carol Miller, also a Republican, penned a letter to the NFL rebuking them for selling ad spots to Temu, which is a subsidiary of the Chinese Communist company Pindouduo.
“Congress, through the House Select Committee on the Chinese Community Party, has uncovered alarming findings that indicate Temu has a pattern of noncompliance towards illicit products entering the United States market,” she wrote. “Specifically, Temu ‘does not have any system to ensure compliance with the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA).'”
“This all but guarantees that shipments from Temu containing products made with forced labor are entering the United States on a regular basis,” she added.
.@CBS – airing FOUR Temu ads is embarrassing and frankly, unamerican. There shouldn’t be CCP propaganda during #SuperBowlLVIII.
Do better.
— Rep. Carol Miller (@RepCarolMiller) February 12, 2024
The CCP is now using American athletes for their propaganda. @CBS must take Temu ads off the air immediately. https://t.co/qBDkWA93ac
— Rep. Carol Miller (@RepCarolMiller) February 10, 2024
The Chicago Council on Global Affairs reported last year that companies like Temu bypass U.S. labor laws by exploiting what’s known as the de minimis provision.
“[The provision] waives duty fees for any packages with a retail value of less than $800. … Temu packages rarely reach the de minimis maximum. … [T]he average Temu order size is $25,” according to the Council.
The issue is that “without paying duty fees there is no ‘formal entry documentation – a major impediment to collection of data necessary to enforce import bans,'” the Council notes, quoting from congressional testimony delivered last year by Anasuya Syam.
Syam is the human rights and trade policy director at the Human Trafficking Legal Center.
Another problem with Temu is its data-sharing policies.
“Just like TikTok, Temu or any Chinese tech company must allow the Communist Party unfettered access to its data,” Sen. Tom Cotton, also a Republican, explained in a tweet. “This should be a non-starter for doing business in the United States.”
Just like TikTok, Temu or any Chinese tech company must allow the Communist Party unfettered access to its data. This should be a non-starter for doing business in the United States.
— Tom Cotton (@SenTomCotton) February 12, 2024
But there’s more.
According to Rep. Kat Cammack, also a Republican (Democrats don’t seem to care about this issue), “Temu is being sued for stealing customer financial info and having spyware embedded in their app.”
Fact-check: TRUE.
The @SuperBowl having a CCP owned @temu commercial air SHOULD be a wake up call to all Americans. Temu is being sued for stealing customer financial info and having spyware embedded in their app. All that data is owned and controlled by the CCP. Don’t download this app!
— Kat Cammack (Text KAT to 50138) (@Kat_Cammack) February 12, 2024
“The complaint was filed in Illinois in November by the Hagens Berman law firm on behalf of seven named plaintiffs from Illinois, California, Massachusetts, and Virginia — as well as unnamed others similarly situated,” CBS News reported this week.
“The lawsuit alleges Temu violates its customer’s privacy rights by collecting private data and using ‘deceptive” and ‘unscrupulous” practices to access that data,” according to CBS News.
The plaintiffs’ lawyers reportedly complained in the suit that Temu “is purposefully and intentionally loaded with tools to execute virulent and dangerous malware and spyware activities on user devices” and that “Temu misled people about how it uses their data.”
Writers and editors can be contacted at [email protected] with feedback, tips, or corrections.
V. Saxena is a staff writer with a decade of experience as a professional writer, and a lifetime of experience as an avid news junkie. He holds a degree in computer technology from Purdue University. Saxena also contributes to BizPac Review.
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