China’s leading superstore chain RT-Mart apologized for describing larger clothing sizes as ‘rotten’

Source: Global Times Published: 2020/11/12 19:02:00

A shopper at an RT-Mart in Shanghai in March 2017 Photo: IC


China’s leading superstore chain RT-Mart on Thursday released a response to inappropriate words used in a women’s clothing size chart which described larger clothing sizes as “rotten” at one of its superstores. The response said the retailer will strengthen its internal management and make sure such incidents will never happen again.

A photo posted online showed that on a poster of women’s clothing size hanging in one of RT-Mart supermarkets, small sizes such as S and M were described as “skinny” and “beautiful,” while large sizes such as X, XL, and XXL are described as “rotten” and “rotten bad.” 

The photo caused uproar among many netizens. “I only see malice in this poster,” commented by a user named Yangyangshaiyangyang on China’s Twitter-like platform Sina Weibo.

RT-Mart’s official account later released a response to this photo. In the statement, RT-Mart said it “deeply regrets for causing discomfort to the public due to inappropriate words used in some of its promotional materials and we will remove the poster at once.” 

It pledged to strengthen its internal management in the future to ensure that such incidents do not happen again, said the statement.

RT-Mart was founded by Ruentex Group in Taiwan in 1996. It opened its first supermarket in the Chinese mainland in Shanghai in 1998. As of January 2020, it has opened 416 supermarkets in the Chinese mainland with more than 100,000 employees. 


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