Controversies
Controversies tied to this brand in public sources. A listing is not a finding of fault.
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2021
Chanel holiday calendar draws online criticism
Public backlash
In November 2021, a blogger posted an unboxing video of a Chanel holiday calendar. According to the blogger, 16 of the calendar's items were stickers, bookmarks, a crystal glass ball, and other products with a total value of at most about 1,000 yuan. The video surpassed 7 million views, and the topic trended on Weibo, drawing online criticism toward Chanel over the calendar's contents.
After a blogger posted an unboxing video of a Chanel holiday calendar and said 16 of its items were stickers, bookmarks, a crystal glass ball, and other products with a total value of at most about 1,000 yuan, the video surpassed 7 million views and the topic trended on Weibo.
Source excerpt
有博主在收到货后录制开箱视频时发现，她所买到的圣诞日历内有16样为贴纸、书签、水晶玻璃球等产品，所有产品总值最多在1000元左右。目前该视频观看量已超过700万，相关话题登上微博热搜，并仍在继续发酵。
2021
Chanel Korea discloses customer data breach
Issue disclosure
Chanel Korea said that a cyberattack had breached personal information belonging to some customers in its Fragrance and Beauty membership database. It said payment information, IDs and passwords were not leaked. The company apologized, blocked the IP address behind the hacking, and engaged an independent cybersecurity firm to investigate.
Company response
Apology — Chanel Korea
“We sincerely apologize to our customers for the matter and the inconvenience it caused.”
Remediation — Chanel Korea
Following the incident, Chanel Korea said it had identified the cause and blocked the IP address behind the hacking.
Investigation — Chanel Korea
”We have engaged a leading independent cybersecurity firm to conduct an investigation and identified no evidence of further impact on other systems and data.
Source excerpt
In a statement on the website on Sunday, the company said it had learned that the personal information of some customers from its membership database for the Fragrance and Beauty division-- including names, birth dates, phone numbers and shopping histories -- had been breached last week.
Their payment information, IDs and passwords were not leaked, however, it added.
The South Korean unit of French luxury brand Chanel has apologized after a recent cyberattack in which hackers leaked customers’ personal data.
2020
Chanel China fined for false advertising
Fine or penalty
In December 2020, the Jing'an District Market Supervision Administration in Shanghai determined that advertisements published by Chanel (China) Trading Co., Ltd. constituted false advertising. The authority fined the company RMB 200,000 and ordered it to stop publishing the advertisements. The regulatory action was reported by China Economic Net, which identified the company as Chanel's China trading entity and described the penalty as a response to the false advertising finding. The event concerns the administrative penalty and the order to cease publication of the advertisements; no further details on the advertisements' content or any subsequent developments were included in the available information.
Shanghai's Jing'an District Market Supervision Administration fined Chanel (China) Trading Co., Ltd. RMB 200,000 and ordered it to stop publishing advertisements after determining that product advertisements constituted false advertising.
Source excerpt
上述行为违反《中华人民共和国广告法》第二十八条规定，上海市静安区市场监督管理局依法对其罚款20万元，责令其停止发布。
依据《化妆品卫生监督条例》以及《中华人民共和国广告法》，香奈儿(中国)贸易有限公司构成了发布虚假广告的违法行为。
1943
Wartime relationships and Operation Modellhut controversy
Historical accounts describe Coco Chanel’s relationship with German intelligence officer Hans Günther von Dincklage and allege that she participated in or was connected to Operation Modellhut. The extent of her intelligence role, motivations and degree of collaboration remain disputed among historians and biographers. She was questioned after the liberation of France but was released without prosecution.