Wrong to use missing kids to boost sales

File photo of these special bottled water. [Photo from web]

A COMPANY IN Qingdao in East China's Shandong province is printing the head shots of some missing children on its water bottles and promising a reward of 100,000 yuan ($15,000) to anyone who helps find the children. Beijing Times commented.

The company has not received any useful clues to the whereabouts of the missing children it has featured since it piloted the practice of printing their photos on its bottles of water in August.

Despite the public security departments' unswerving efforts, the trafficking of children has long been a heartbreaking issue in China. Some parents spend their whole lives looking for their missing children.

The company should know that its action is not sustainable if it does not help find any missing children. Instead it will be simply using people's kindness and sympathy for the missing children and their families to sell its products.

It is time the water company adjusted this marketing strategy. If it really wants to fulfill its corporate social responsibility, it needs to think of more fruitful ways to help find the missing children and assist the families, which should not directly link with its sales revenue.

The authorities must also come up with more effective ways to tackle this lingering public security threat. Lawmakers should revise the law to punish the traffickers as well as the buyers mercilessly.