Chow Luk Fook Jewelry (Photo : Facebook)
Demand for gold and other jewelry is down in China. In the near future, prospects for the country’s gold market and outlook for jewelry demand are expected to be dampened, said analysts, because of fears of a near-term interest rate increase in the U.S.
The weak outlook is apparently a good explanation why some jewelers in China and Hong Kong are using all sorts of marketing gimmicks to boost sales. One jeweler, Chow Luk Fook, has required its salesladies to be topless. Nextshark reported that the only thing covering the nipples of the female employees are pasties designed like precious stones.
A customer filmed the half-naked women and uploaded the video to ku6.com. For the lower garment, the salesladies are wearing what looks like an improvised skirt. Most of them felt and looked embarrassed when the customer took videos of them.
When Chinese netizens saw the clip and photos which had gone viral, they commented it is a cheap stunt by the jewelry shop. One netizen said the shop owner should be ashamed for forcing female employees to disrobe for the sake of increasing sales.
Another commenter wrote, “So pathetic. Its [shop] sales are so poor it can’t even afford buying uniforms for staff.”
It is not the first time that Chow Luk Fook resorted to such a gimmick. Big Apple reported that the shop’s One Shenzhen outlet which opened in November 2013 had the bodies of half-naked models painted.
According to Investingnews, investors had already seen the 2016 peak for gold, so expect the salesladies of Chow Luk Fook to remain in that state of undress until prices recover and sales improve.
