April 15, 2023

"TIKTOK IS THE NEEDLE, SHEIN IS THE DRUG.... TikTok and Shein, controlled by the [Chinese Communist Party], are trying..."

"... to capture an entire generation of American youth. And in a way, they already have.” 

It’s not clear who is funding Shut Down Shein, but the campaign is being run by Washington lobbying and strategy firm Actum. In recent weeks, Actum’s government relations team has held meetings about Shein with Republican Senator Bill Cassidy’s office and with a prominent new U.S. House select committee on China run by a critic of Beijing, Actum managing director Chapin Fay told Semafor. Fay claims that Shut Down Shein is backed by American brands and human rights organizations, and says it is gearing up to launch a digital advertising blitz in Washington. The goal is to bring Shein “out of the darkness”.... 
Shein pioneered a unique business model that involves working with thousands of different suppliers, but it otherwise operates mostly the same way as competitors like Zara or H&M. Other online retailers, such as eBay and Amazon, also benefit from [the tariff exception used by Shein].

Unlike TikTok, Shein is vulnerable to attacks that appeal to young Americans — attacks based on labor practices and environmental impact.

19 comments:

Dave Begley said...

Now do solar panels.

Eric the Fruit Bat said...

I went to the Shein website and right away noticed there were no pictures of black models but maybe they did that for my benefit after accessing the dossier they have on me and learning all about my unconscious racism.

D.D. Driver said...

We should only be allowed to buy cheap Chinese products sold by American retailers! Banning TikTok ban has nothing to do with security and everything to do with protecting Facebook and Google. Banning Shein is nothing more than an effort to protect Amazon and Walmart.

Balfegor said...

It’s not clear who is funding Shut Down Shein, but the campaign is being run by Washington lobbying and strategy firm Actum.

Maybe it's . . . Shein? I'd literally never heard of them before, and this seems like the kind of advertising that would make them seem interesting and transgressive to young people, especially if they get Republicans to do all the criticism and link it to the campaign against Tik-tok.

Even if it's not, this doesn't seem like it's going to achieve its ostensible purpose. There's legitimate national security reasons to be concerned about an app collecting data that could be accessible to the Chinese parent company and thus to Chinese authorities. This is just cheap clothing made in a sweatshop somewhere, like most other cheap clothing retailers. Unless the Shein app is harvesting and tracking a bunch of extraneous user data the way (apparently) Tiktok does, and Facebook and Google do, a clothes shopping app just doesn't seem like it would present the same risks. Your clothes search and browsing history isn't going to give all that much useful personal information, I would think.

Eva Marie said...

“no pictures of black models”
I just went to the site to check - there were black models on my Shein. Also, my god the prices were low. Plus they had clothes for pets too! I didn’t check shipping costs though.

Old and slow said...

They serve me ads online all the time. It looks like the most boring sort of crap. I doubt they are any worse than any other Chinese company. I quite like the ability to purchase cheap goods, and will continue to do so where appropriate.

Eva Marie said...

I also went to the Shein Facebook page. There the models are all tan with tiny waists and big butts. Very cartoonish. No ethnic variety there.

Ice Nine said...

>Eric the Fruit Bat said...
I went to the Shein website and right away noticed there were no pictures of black models <

Blessed relief.

Wince said...

Biden Officials to Attend ‘Ethics Summit’ With TikTok Exec Involved In Surveillance of American Journalists

Two Biden administration officials will attend an "ethics summit" next week with a TikTok executive who reportedly took part in the social media company’s efforts to hunt down leaks about its ties to China.

The Biden administration's assistant secretary for export enforcement at the Commerce Department, Matthew Axelrod, the and Glenn Leon, the chief of the Justice Department’s fraud section, will speak at the Ethisphere Global Ethics Summit in Atlanta—alongside TikTok's head of global legal compliance, Catherine Razzano.

Razzano was involved in an internal investigation led by TikTok parent ByteDance to root out leaks of internal information about the company, according to Forbes. The investigation, known as Project Raven, ultimately led to surveillance of at least two American journalists. The Justice Department is reportedly investigating the Chinese companies over the matter.

House Republicans are crying foul over Axelrod’s participation in the summit. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rogers (R., Wash.), the chair of the House Energy & Commerce Committee, said in a letter to Axelrod on Friday he has "an ethical responsibility" to use the ethics forum to raise awareness about TikTok’s "threats to our national security and privacy."

The Biden officials are attending the summit amid TikTok’s aggressive lobbying campaign to beat back a ban on the app in the United States. Support has grown for a ban because of concerns that the Chinese government could surveil Americans through the app, and use it to spread pro-Beijing propaganda.

TikTok has hired a cavalry of lobbyists and PR firms, including the Democratic consulting firm SKDK, to fight the ban. There are some indications that the onslaught is working, as the Washington Free Beacon reported. A growing number of Democrats have accused Republicans of racism for promoting the TikTok ban. Others in the party oppose a ban because of TikTok’s popularity with young and liberal voters.

Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo, whose agency will oversee any regulation of TikTok, has expressed reservations about banning the app because it would hurt the Democratic party by alienating TikTok’s user base, which skews young and liberal.

"The politician in me thinks you’re gonna literally lose every voter under 35, forever," Raimondo said last month.


TikTok has bolstered its image through partnerships with a variety of trade groups and advocacy groups, such as the National PTA and Ad Council. It does the same through Ethisphere Institute, which touts its ethics summit as "a place for companies and delegates to learn, develop and share ideas that elevate our field and lead to greater business integrity."

Etisphere oversees the Business Ethics Leadership Alliance, which counts TikTok as a member. Razzano serves on the alliance’s executive steering committee.

Razzano is perhaps a peculiar choice to discuss business ethics. According to Forbes, she had knowledge of ByteDance and TikTok’s efforts to find a source behind leaks about the company’s links to China. ByteDance employees ultimately obtained user data on at least two journalists, including a Forbes reporter who covers TikTok.

Ampersand said...

While we're doing unconstitutional bans, let's ban young earth creationists from all positions of serious responsibility. They'll tell you that ignorance of the law is no excuse. Maybe so, but ignorance of the reasons why we know what we know about the universe and our place in it makes you dangerous.

Sebastian said...

"capture an entire generation of American youth. And in a way, they already have.”

Not just youth, also old people. See Joe.

It's easy. And that's the message Xi has learned. Americans are soft, a nation of malleable snowflakes. Half of them want their American version of the CCP, and are working on it.

But they are not as flaky as he thinks or Joe's stumbling leads him to believe.

rcocean said...

If a corrupt scumbag like Senator Bill Cassidy is involved, you can be sure he's been bought off by Shein's competition.

Mountain Maven said...

I'd like to see a boycott of all Chinese products. Why give influence and cash to our opponents? I am in favor of banning Shein and TikTok.

Mountain Maven said...

I'd like to see a boycott of all Chinese products. Why give influence and cash to our opponents? I am in favor of banning Shein and TikTok.

natatomic said...

I’m nearly 37 and my favorite dress is from Shein. While the idea of my dress being made by slaves doesn’t sit well with me, isn’t most stuff from China made by slaves? Are the devices on which most of us are reading this made by slaves? Nearly everything in Wal-Mart says “Made in China.” I don’t LIKE it at all, but it’s nearly impossible to buy strictly American-made. Even American cars are loaded with parts made in other countries. I agree this is a problem, but how do we actually fix it?

All that to say, why is Shein getting the bad rap? Companies like Apple and Nike seem worse to me.

Joe Smith said...

"I went to the Shein website and right away noticed there were no pictures of black models..."

No worries. Once they start advertising on TV it will be all black models and/or interracial couples.

It's a law or something, at least in my part of the country...

The real reason they don't have black models is because the Chinese don't like black people very much.

madAsHell said...

I hate the fact that people are parking their cars on the street so they can fill their garage with cheap shit from China!!!

Brian said...

Unlike TikTok, Shein is vulnerable to attacks that appeal to young Americans — attacks based on labor practices and environmental impact

Not if my teen daughter is any guide. Cost and style is paramount to her. And Shein is CHEAP.

Cheaply made to. Things don't last, but kids don't care, they want new things.

Brian said...

Once they start advertising on TV it will be all black models and/or interracial couples.

They don't need to advertise on TV. It's all over TikTok.