(LI SHIGONG) 

A company in Qingdao, east China's Shandong Province, is marketing bottled water in packaging displaying the photos and personal information of missing children. The water company has launched the campaign together with Baobeihuijia.com, China's best-known online platform devoted to the search for kids who have gone missing. The website has helped more than 1,700 children find their parents, while over 31,000 families with missing children have registered on it. The water company hopes that such advertising will raise public awareness about human trafficking and help missing children return home.

The specially packaged water has been on the market for several months. Besides Qingdao, the 500,000 bottles produced will also be available in Beijing, Shanghai and elsewhere.

Some people think the strategy could help the search for the missing children to some extent and therefore, the company should be praised for its charitable practice. Opponents, however, believe it's just another way for the company to promote itself and increase sales. So far, not a single piece of information about the children featured has been received as a result of the campaign, which leads people to see it as more of a marketing ploy than a determined effort to find missing children.

Social responsibility

Wang Ying (www.xinhuanet.com): Possibly affected by some negative cases involving businesses' marketing campaigns, the public tends to doubt the motive behind this specially designed water bottle. Still, it's hoped that the public can view this practice in good faith. Businesses need to make profit, and this is a justifiable pursuit. If they can take some social responsibility while making money, isn't that a good thing?

Although relevant authorities spare no efforts in searching for missing children, frankly speaking, solely depending on the government's power is not enough to win the battle against human trafficking. Thus, getting businesses involved is helpful. If more businesses are willing to get involved in the effort, the possibility of finding these children will be boosted.

Some people may complain that the specially packaged water is more expensive than ordinary bottled water, with a difference of about 3 yuan ($0.4). However, there are some bottled water brands that are much more expensive, but they are not part of the campaign. The price is not the key, and the business has also promised to award 100,000 yuan ($1,450) to consumers who provide information which helps to locate the missing children.

A tragedy may be avoided if any such information is collected, and a family may reunite. Therefore, this kind of involvement of businesses in public welfare deserves more support.

He Yong (Shandong Business Daily): Even if the water company is trying to achieve its own objective of making profit by putting missing children's information on the packages of its products, this practice is still objectively helpful.

These water bottles are helping to spread information about the missing children across the nation. The strategy supplements the conventional channels through which information about missing people is typically spread: TV, radio, and posters posted online and around town.

Although this campaign has yet to result in any useful leads, it remains an important conduit for publicizing the plight of the families involved. As sales of the water rise, so too does the hope of finding the missing children. In particular, the chances of finding the missing children will greatly increase if the water is sold across China's vast rural areas. We should acknowledge the positive effect of the campaign instead of simply doubting its motives.

The parents involved reportedly have already authorized the business to display their children's images on the bottles, so violating minors' rights is not an issue. Besides, giving details about the children on the bottles will harm neither the children nor their parents. Even if, as some people suspect, the business has taken this step solely for the purpose of generating profit, the pursuit of profit here does not run contrary to social morality.

Skepticism remaining

Dai Xianren (pinglun.eastday.com): It seems inappropriate for the company to raise the price of the water with the special packaging. Apparently, the company is transferring the cost of printing the missing children's information to consumers. It's all right for businesses to make profit, but they are not supposed to profiteer from the public's kindness.

Every year, only a very small fraction of the missing children are found. Given the severity of the situation, it's necessary to encourage the whole of society, including businesses, to help in the search. Putting missing children's information on water bottles is an innovative move. More importantly, an efficient coordination mechanism should be put into place, and harsh penalties should be imposed on child traffickers.

Jing Yishan (Beijing Times): As long as they abide by relevant laws, businesses are free to choose how to sell their products. Actually, quite a few enterprises are trying to improve their reputation and promote sales by engaging in charitable activities. Printing missing children's information on water bottles is just an example of this, albeit a more direct one. If people feel affronted by such a "stunt," they need not pay it any attention.

The biggest problem with this kind of bottled water, however, is its blurring of business and charity. The bottles that feature missing children's information have certainly attracted huge attention, but whether this can help boost sales is questionable. The water company's intention to help find missing children is great, but will sufficient numbers of consumers choose to buy this overpriced bottled water, knowing that doing so cannot actually help track the children? Besieged by controversy and generating little profit, how far can this business strategy go?

Meanwhile, the specially designed water bottles have done little to help. Several months after reaching supermarket shelves, these bottles have yet to generate a single lead related to the featured children. To recover missing children is a difficult undertaking. The first 24 hours after a child goes missing are said to be the most opportune time, after which the chances of finding the child dwindle considerably.

The campaign may trigger more discussion about human trafficking and raise parents' awareness of and society's attention to this heinous crime. In terms of actually retrieving missing children, though, I see it just as a kind-hearted attempt.

Besides, while dejected parents will not oppose any means that might help to retrieve their missing children, people with bad intentions may misuse the publicized information, which may bring the desperate parents yet more trouble and harm.

First and foremost, the police's capability of locating and taking missing children back home should be enhanced to prevent more tragedies. In addition, an effective mechanism is needed to enable more people to participate in the search for abducted children.

Businesses, of course, should be encouraged to get involved in these efforts, and the public should tolerate their intention to profit and to improve their reputation along the way. Nevertheless, they are expected to play only a supportive role. Moreover, if businesses simply jump on the bandwagon in order to attract public attention but fail to actually improve the situation, this will not only waste resources, but also increase public skepticism.

Copyedited by Chris Surtees

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