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Kotex, a tampon brand which belongs to US personal care corporation Kimberly-Clark was reported to have quality problem shortly after the brand has sparked controversy over its marketing strategy.

A large number of Chinese netizens complained on Chinese social media that they found worm eggs in Kotex sanitary napkins on Wednesday, arousing heated discussion. 

The topic of #Kotex exposed as having worm eggs hit China's Twitter-like social media Sina Weibo on Wednesday, and had since gained 21 million views.

Kotex said that it has contacted the affected costumers and will conduct an investigation with third party agencies.  The results of the probe will be released to the public as soon as possible.  

"The production of Kotex strictly follows sanitation requirement of the national standards and we have a special anti-worm design in the plant," the company said in a statement on Wednesday.

The brand apologized earlier on Tuesday after an advertisement for one of its pad products was caught up in controversy on Chinese social media for using a male figure to promote the brand.

An advertising video on Douyin showed a man carrying a pad everywhere he goes, using it as an eye mask, foot pad, or a rag to wipe down objects. 

"If it is too bright to fall asleep you can use it as eye masks. It is so soft," said a man in a laid-back way in the video and drew out a pad from a box of Kotex to cover his eyes.

In another scene, the man put a pad in his shoes to dry sweat and used the pad to wipe down a desk after he accidentally spilled a glass of water.

In the face of controversy, Kotex China said on its official Weibo account on Tuesday that it was sorry for the uncomfortable experience created by the video.

"The video is made and released by our marketing agencies without approval by the brand. It is seriously contrary to the values of the brand," Kotex said in an apology letter, which has since received 3,700 responses and 2,777 comments. 

Kotex said it has removed the content and rectified the error as soon as they became aware of it, and pledged to optimize its internal management process to prevent similar situations from happening again.

Some Chinese netizens say they don't buy the apology and many were still outraged by the brand for using a man to advertise female hygiene care products in such a ridiculous way.

"I don't care about the brands for pads but from now on I won't buy Kotex," commented one netizen on Weibo. 

"The video is so disgusting with no respect for women at all," commented another individual using the handle "nanababe."

"Sanitary napkins never need men for promotion  or endorsement," a user named "songruanfengtangtusi" added

"Now it's time to expand the male market?" commented another netizen.

Other netizens showed understanding, saying that the brand should be more responsible when it comes to promotional content.