Accusations of wrongdoing from Chinese state media can have a big impact on foreign companies in China. In 2014, Japanese camera maker Nikon was accused of selling defective cameras and failing to address customer complaints. The company later apologized and accepted cameras for repair and maintenance, even though the original warranty period had ended.
Volkswagen recalled nearly 400,000 vehicles after the 2013 consumer rights broadcast. State media have previously also gone after firms including British drug giant GlaxoSmithKline for price-fixing, bribery and poor quality products. GSK saw its China sales fall, and was even placed under government investigation.
Shares of Japanese firm Ryohin Keikaku, which owns the Muji brand, fell around 3 percent Thursday morning in Tokyo. Nike dropped as much as 0.9 percent in New York trading on Wednesday, before closing up 0.7 percent.
Nike and Muji didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.