After a lipstick emerged online boasting the same color as Peking University's (PKU) badge, the prestigious university has issued a statement saying it never authorized, nor does it have anything to do with the product, reported Beijing Youth Daily, a Beijing-based newspaper.
The newspaper cited PKU’s preparatory committee for its 120th anniversary as saying the university had never authorized any enterprise or individual to produce or sell lipsticks. The university also said that its offices for legal counselling and badge management had noticed the sale and were investigating the matter.
Earlier this week, an article written by a PKU graduate was momentarily popular on Chinese social media. In it, the author, Wang Zi, narrated her successful career, and seemed to foreshadow the lipstick at the end of the article. Claiming the lipstick was a gift marking PKU's 120th anniversary, Wang wrote that it used the same ingredient as the popular lipstick by Dior, suggesting it was of high quality. In the article, Wang claimed to be a graduate of PKU and narrated her successful career as a girl who ever studies in the university.
The lipstick was priced at 120 yuan (19 US dollars) each on Weidian, an online retailing platform of WeChat.
According to the newspaper, the PKU red lipstick had already sold over 2,000 units by Tuesday, but has been removed from the platform. The article has also been deleted from WeChat.
Following the incident and questions from users, Wang published a statement through the WeChat account “Hard core girls” on Thursday, saying that her product was qualified and an explanation will be delivered to her customers along with the lipstick. She also promised to donate the income to PKU in the statement.
However, WeChat has shut down the feature that allows people to follow the account. The product is also no longer available on the popular retailing platform, Taobao.
