The Rui Chi Group (which also trades as Rich Seafood) has been taking advantage of the controversy over “fake” salmon by running a marketing campaign trumpeting its record of “12 years supplying only real salmon” in the Chinese market.
The Dalian-based firm also uses other idiomatic slogans on its posters, commending consumers to have “permanent faith” in the firm “for 100 years.”
This is a reference to a row on Chinese social media and conventional media over the past fortnight over the naming of locally farmed rainbow trout as salmon. The controversy was sparked unintentionally by national broadcaster CCTV when it aired a congratulatory report on an aquaculture firm in western China farming “salmon,” which was later revealed to be rainbow trout. Chinese consumers then took to social media wondering if they’d been duped into paying premium imported salmon prices for a local product.
The Chinese Fisheries Association recently waded into the conversation with the goal of reassuring consumers, stating that “salmon” is a mere marketing term that also applies to rainbow trout.
