China isn’t too thrilled with Samsung at the moment. When the Galaxy Note 7 was being recalled, the state media said that the way the company handled the recall in China felt “arrogant”, and now it seems that Samsung’s attempt at appeasing their Chinese customers has backfired again.It seems that in China, a group of Samsung executives gathered on stage and knelt in apology for the trouble over the Galaxy Note 7. Now depending on where you are from, prostrating yourself on the ground can be viewed in different ways, such as to show respect, to ask for forgiveness, and so on. Over in China, it seems that kneeling on the ground is usually reserved when praying or as a mark of respect to one’s elders during special occasions, such as weddings, birthdays, the New Year, and so on.
So for Samsung executives to kneel in apology doesn’t make much sense. Granted it was a noble gesture on their part, but it seems to have rubbed many Chinese customers the wrong way who felt that it was cultural misappropriation, and that for such a global company as Samsung, the fact that they did not know this was surprising.
Samsung has since issued a statement claiming that the executives in the photo were not told to do so, but rather initiated it on their own. “As we understand it, despite the influence of the Galaxy Note 7 explosions, distributors continued to support Samsung, and booked many orders at the event. This was extremely touching for Samsung’s top executives, and in accordance their customs they kneeled to express gratitude towards these distributors. Samsung’s China executives were also moved, and they kneeled too.”
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