Tsingtao Brewery Investigates Viral Video of Employee Misconduct; Shares See Volatility

Tsingtao Brewery Co. Ltd. responded after a displeasing video involving its brewery worker went viral on social media. It was so repulsive that the authorities were contacted to check on the matter.

The Chinese beer maker confirmed it is now aware of the video showing an employee urinating in one of the tanks in the factory. Tsingtao Brewery said that an investigation into this incident is ongoing.

Tsingtao Brewery's Response to the Viral Video

As per CNBC, millions of people have viewed the controversial clip since it was first posted on the popular Chinese social media site, Weibo, last week. It shows a man in uniform climbing a high wall to get into the container and then urinating there.

Tsingtao Brewery said it reported the incident as soon as it became aware. The beer maker is the country's second-largest brewer, and it assured the consumers that the batch of affected malt was already sealed off and would not be used. The displeasing act of the factory worker was said to have taken place at the

Tsingtao Beer Plant 3 in China.

"The company places high importance on the media reports and has reported the matter to the public security authorities at the first opportunity," the firm said in a statement. "The public security authorities are presently involved in the investigation."

Consumers Expressed Disgust on the Incident

Due to the controversial video, Tsingtao Beer was heavily criticized on social media. Although some people supported the brand, many said they saw a huge turn-off and asked the firm to investigate thoroughly.

"Now that he is being filmed and posted online, has he ever had this behavior of urinating into raw ingredients before?" Reuters quoted one commenter on Weibo as saying. The publication mentioned that another one wrote, "The problem is how to assure the public that the existing beer raw materials are not contaminated."

Meanwhile, it was reported that Tsingtao Beer's shares dropped as much as 7.5% in early trading this week but recovered and closed at 0.37%.

Photo by: Oliver Marcus Kaptein/Pixabay