Chinese manufacturers flood Tiktok and other social media applications with direct appeal to American shoppers and urge people to buy luxury items directly from their factories. And in the middle of the threats of tariffs with a high sky for Chinese exports, Americans seem to be all.
The playground in the videos is that people can buy leggings and handbags just like those of brands like Lululemon, Hermes and Birkenstock, but for a fraction of the price. They often say that products are produced in the same factories that produce objects for these brands.
The American Worms received videos, promoted factories, and managed to download Chinese shopping apps such as DHGATE and TAOBAO, as a way to save money if the price of skyrockets under President Trump’s tariffs on Chinese imports. Last week, DHGATE was one of the 10 most downloaded apps in Apple and Google.
Videos grow sharply in popularity on tiktoku and Instagram and increase millions of views and thousands of likes. Many posts seem to have also evoked the sympathy of Americans with China in comments, such as “Trump bullied the wrong country” and “China won this war”.
Videos offer rare sales for the Chinese factory and workers to talk directly to American consumers through applications on social media that are technically banned in China. And their popularity in America emphasizes increasingly louder support for China on social media, as well as outrage compared to the potential ban of the federal government.
“He politically activates people in a similar way you have seen when we wanted to cancel Tiktok, but this time in connection with tariffs and overall relationship with both countries,” said Matt Pearl, director who focuses on technological problems at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “It shows their ability to communicate with American consumers to manage a report on our dependence on Chinese goods.”
Mr. Pearl suggested that the Chinese government could allow videos to spread, because otherwise it tends to discourage its citizens from the publication of videos that violate products from western countries.
The Chinese Embassy in Washington and the Chinese Consulate in New York did not return requests for comment.
Video Video Videos urgently urgently on users to keep products from Chinese factories during the week of 13th April. According to Margot Hardy, Graphika analysts, analytical companies in the field of social networks. On Tiktoku he had a hashtag #chinesefactory 23. April 29 500 posts; He had 27,300 posts on Instagram.
Retail experts – and sellers in China – say it is unlikely that the most viral videos claim to be brands like Lululemon and Hermes, sell authentic products from these labels. These factories often sign strict confidentiality agreements and are unlikely to destroy their long -term relations with the main brands exchange for Hawking several goods by direct sale, she said that Sakirata Kodali, retail analyst in Forrester.
It seems that the Chinese government allows you to spread videos, she said.
“The interests of Lululemon or Chanel right now in China are probably on the list of things worried about the Chinese Minister of Trade and Officials,” Mrs. Kodali said. Manufacturers can also rush to close the sale before the new tariffs 2.
However, questions about the truth of the goods do not stop demand.
Elizabeth Henzie23 years old in Mooresville, NC, said it found production costs and retail prices described in opening videos. She produced a table of factories that claims to sell dups of sneakers, luxury bags and others, and combined it in her Tiktok profile. This post attracted more than a million views.
Mrs. Henzie is now working as an affiliate partner for DHGATE, where she receives free products from the company for video review and commission if people make purchases through their links. She said she believed that people in China eventually try to help Americans.
“When I saw other countries gather to try to help US consumers, it increased my morality,” said Mrs. Henzie. “Although it is a negative thing that is happening in America, I think it also makes us join us.”
Tiktok, who is owned by the Chinese Society, has removed some videos and pointed out a policy that prohibits the promotion of counterfeit goods. However, many of them persisted through reposts. Even older videos about Chinese production are spreading in personalized news sources in the middle of the main interest in tariffs. Tiktok refused to comment on and refused to comment on the videos.
Sellers in China claim to have started to publish videos when the sale dropped. Yu Qiule, a 36 -year -old co -owner of the Shandong province in Eastern China, which produces fitness equipment, said he began to publish Tiktok in mid -March to find more customers after the tariffs caused the wave of canceled orders.
Louis LV, CEO of export in Hongy Jewelry Factory in Yiwu in Zhejiang province, said his company began to publish at the end of 2024 on Tiktoku, led by a slowdown of domestic sales.
However, he watched the audience in his videos Tiktok has increased since Trump’s administration announced tariffs. “The philosophy of Chinese entrepreneurs is that we go wherever the business is,” he said in an interview.
IN One of the most popular Tiktok videosThe man holds what he says is the Hermes Birkin bag while claiming to share his production costs from the factory. ) The man claimed to use the same skin and the same hardware to replicate handbags without a logo and offered them for $ 1,000.
Spokesman Hermes said that his bags “were 100 percent made in France” and refused to comment on. Birkenstock spokesman said the videos showed “Knockoffs” and that his shoes were created and made in the European Union. The company said it contacted Tiktok and that the initial videos were deleted on April 15.
Lululemon, who was also the goal of tiktok viral videos from manufacturers who claim to sell their leggings for only $ 5, said he was in contact with Tiktok to remove the false claim. Lululemon in -mail statement said he was not working with manufacturers in videos and warned consumers to be aware of potentially counterfeit products and misinformation.
Vanessa Friedman and Isabelle Qian contributed from New York.
