SK-II China, Managing Public Relations

SK-II was Procter & Gamble’s (P&G) only high-end skincare brand in China and sales accounted for an estimated 7 percent of SK-II global revenue in 2005. China was also P&G’s fastest-growing market for skincare products and among the top markets in value worldwide. For many years, P&G China enjoyed high revenue and margin growth from SK-II and it was clear that this product could be a star. However, two consecutive public relations (PR) debacles in China in 2005-2006 resulted in a dip in SK-II’s performance. As of 2007, P&G China was still trying to rebuild SK-II’s prestigious brand image and to regain consumers’ trust. This case examines the details of these two PR incidents and how P&G SK-II had handled these two events.