VietNamNet Bridge - Competing unhealthily by spreading false rumors has become a trick favored by many businesses in Vietnam. 


In 2015, a rumor was spread that Masan’s Kokomi instant noodle contained ‘strange creatures’, which stirred up the public as Kokomi is familiar to many housewives. The rumor originated from a village in Tinh Gia district of Thanh Hoa province. 

The Thanh Hoa provincial Department Food Hygiene and Safety then collected the instant noodle in the same carton box and prepared noodles in a normal way, but it could not find the strange creature as rumored.

The noodle sample which was brought to the provincial cosmetics & drug testing center for examined also showed the same testing result.

Competing unhealthily by spreading false rumors has become a trick favored by many businesses in Vietnam.

Meanwhile, according to the Ministry of Health, the instant noodle is processed at the temperature of over 100oC during production, and no creature can survive the process.

In mid-2014, people whispered in each others’ ears that Huda, a well-known beer brand in the central region, was sold to China. Those, who spread the rumor, even delivered leaflets in large quantity to ‘popularize’ the information.

Only after Huda asked for the help from state management agencies, were the instigators arrested. According to the company which owns Huda brand, the false rumor caused the loss of VND64 million within three years. This does not include the negative impact on the brand.

Food products suffer the most from false rumors.  A rumor was spread some months ago in Singapore that sweet potato from Vietnam turned blue when it was put into refrigerator because it was grown in Agent Orange-stricken areas.

The Singaporean watchdog agency has recently helped vindicate Vietnam’s potato, stating that the potato got blue because it was exposed to air. 

False rumors have been not only targeting food companies, but also have relations to many aspects of the society’s life.

There was a rumor that a crack on the Phu My Bridge in HCMC and the bridge nearly got collapsed in August 2015. 

The rumor which came from a picture on social networks then stirred up the public and forced state management agencies to conduct a probe.

The agencies finally came to a conclusion this was a gap between the bridge’s spans which did not affect the bridge.

According to Chau Huy Quang, a lawyer from the HCMC Bar Association, a lot of businesses have brought cases to the court and successfully protected their brands. 

Pham Gia Automobile Engineering Company in HCMC, for example, successfully sued an individual who spoke ill of Pham Gia’s services on an online forum and caused the company’s revenue to decrease by 65 percent.


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