China's State Media Now Decides Which Brand Crises Explode

Lululemon's apology for using Japanese Taiko drums at a Great Wall yoga event shows how corporate risk in China has shifted. Whether a misstep becomes a crisis depends less on how a brand responds than on whether state media and nationalist accounts amplify it. A careful apology no longer guarantees the damage stops. For Western companies, reputational outcomes increasingly hinge on factors beyond their control.