A Chinese woman's demand for returning a hoodie printed with "Die" has triggered off divided points of view on Chinese social media after the woman asserted that she, together with her family, suffered emotional hurt from wearing this top.
The woman, identified as Mrs. Mao, bought the black hoodie with a red English word of "Die" printed on the back at a shopping mall in Qingdao, Shandong Province, earlier this March and wore the hoodie to take part in a parent-teacher meeting for her child later.
However, she had never thought that she could be questioned by teachers not because of her child's academic performance but for what is printed on her hoodie.
"When I turned up at school, the teacher [in charge of my child's class] asked me where I bought this clothing and who bought me this. I also felt other parents staring at me," Mrs. Mao said, adding that it was the teacher who told her the meaning of the word.
Mrs. Mao rushed to the shopping mall and asked for a return. The staff at the customer service counter explained that the word has some other meanings, like eagerness, and the English word was designed by the brand. But Mao fought back, saying most Chinese people understood the word as demise, according to a video footage filmed by Peninsula Metropolis Daily's hidden cameras.
The shopping mall reportedly decided to refund Mao and compensated another 400 yuan (64 US Dollars) to her but Mao did not think this could make up for emotional stress she had been through. The local marketing supervisor has intervened in the case, according to the Daily.
With the clip spreading widely online, netizens have had their own thinking on Mao's embarrassing experience.
"You don't understand [the word], you shouldn't buy the clothing with the word," @Dadadadalalidada commented on Sina Weibo.
"I think there should be a warning or reminder for this kind of merchandise. If you [the shopping mall] made this, you would not take responsibility [of such incident]. There are a lot of middle-aged people and elders that care about this kind of thing," @Xiaoxiaolin posted and added that sellers have to warn buyers prior to purchasing products with words that could have a negative meaning.
Li Yunsheng, a lawyer with Qingdao Office of Jointide Law Firm explained that a lot of people don't speak English so merchants have a duty to warn consumers.
