According to an extensive investigation into blog responses to product defects conducted by Umbria (a blog analyst of consumer insights), negative sentiment toward Chinese products has created a spillover of mistrust of other foreign products, as well as American-manufactured goods.
Here are some other key insights from the study:
- Blog conversations about where products are manufactured jumped from 241 to 865 a week after the Mattel toy recall;
- Males blog more about product origins than females (63% to 37%), and tend to form quality judgments based on origin;
- Awareness that even domestically made products contain foreign components contributes to distrust;
- Consumer packaged goods that related to ingestion (toy parts, for example) caused greater concern than other types of products;
- Consumers hold the government most accountable for the quality of imported goods, with manufacturers coming second; and,
- Toys, food and beverage, and apparel were the top industries referenced.
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