New Delhi: A ‘gun-shot’ telephonic survey, conducted by the Indian Institute of Human Brands (IIHB), revealed that only 21 per cent affirmed to uninstall TikTok due to its Chinese origin, while 62 per cent were doubtful and opted ‘maybe’.
The survey sought answers from 408 individuals on June 17 and 18 to understand consumer sentiment on the usage of China-based applications after 20 Indian soldiers were killed in a clash with Chinese troops in Galwan Valley on June 15, reported The Indian Express.
About 56 per cent knew that Bytedance-owned brief video app TikTok is Chinese, while 32 per cent wasn’t aware.
The survey also sought to find out what consumers felt about Chinese brands being endorsed by Indian celebs. As many as 82 per cent of the respondents were against celebs supporting Chinese brands.
The report stated that 42 per cent mentioned Oppo to be Chinese and 40 per cent of respondents knew Vivo was a Chinese brand.
As for OnePlus, around 30 per cent knew it to be a Chinese brand; 27 per cent were aware of Realme being a Chinese smartphone; 26 per cent knew Redmi’s origin was in China.
On the matter of Vivo’s close association with the Indian Premier League (IPL), 72 per cent affirmed that a Chinese brand shouldn’t be the title sponsor of IPL, while 14 per cent saw no problem with that.
“This has two implications: 1) the Chinese brands have done a good job in masking their Sino identity and many consumers actually believe they are local brands, perhaps because of their ubiquitous presence in media and on retail shelves; 2) Consumers actually don’t care about the country of origin,” the IIHB report stated.
