Shanghai regulators fined the operator of Dove's official flagship store on Kuaishou 800,000 yuan ($119,933) over a chocolate advertisement that authorities said violated public moral standards by portraying infidelity as a "sweet experience".
Shanghai Zongzheng Food Co designed, produced and published the promotional video in August 2026 to market a Dove chocolate gift box, according to a notice posted on the Shanghai Market Regulation Administration's WeChat account on Nov 12.
The Shanghai Putuo District Market Regulation Administration imposed the penalty in October under China's Advertising Law.
The video featured a woman saying her boyfriend had repeatedly failed to buy her the gift box, while another man with whom she was having a flirtatious relationship drove two hours to deliver it while her boyfriend was away.
The advertisement drew criticism on social media during Qixi Festival, a traditional Chinese celebration of romance.
A store's customer service response describing the video as "just a storyline" and telling viewers they could scroll past if they disliked it further fueled the backlash.
Dove, the chocolate brand owned by Mars Inc, subsequently apologized, saying the video had been created and published by a third-party store operations team without going through the brand's content review process.
The brand nevertheless accepted responsibility because the material appeared on its official channel, acknowledging that it had failed to identify and stop the content before publication.
Dove said the advertisement's wording and message were inappropriate and inconsistent with its stated values of sincerity, warmth and respect. It also apologized for the customer service team's response.
The brand said it had removed the video and taken corrective measures, including additional staff training, tighter oversight of third-party operations teams and stricter enforcement of content review procedures.
