Chinese budget retailer Miniso Group Holding Ltd. apologized for styling itself as a Japanese designer brand and said it would change its logo, amid a wave of local nationalism fueled by geopolitical tension over Taiwan.
The Guangzhou-based company has long promoted itself as Japanese-influenced, with a Japanese chief designer and Japanese characters on its shopping bags and marketing language. This, it said in a statement on Miniso’s official Weibo account Thursday, was "wrong.”
"We used wrong brand positioning and marketing campaigns during the early days,” the statement said. "We feel regret and guilt.”