MadLabs denies wrongdoing in Maggi QR code fiasco

A number of reports have recently emerged which stated that the QR code printed on Maggi Hot Cup labels didn’t bring users to Maggi’s official website. Instead, it would lead users to a website with unsafe contents.

Located at madlabs.com.my which apparently belonged to a company in Damansara Perdana, there is nothing harmful regarding the general contents within the website. Unfortunately, the site would then redirect users to the external malicious website a few seconds after the site is loaded.

MARKETING Magazine reached out to Ron Chow, Managing Director of Mad Labs who stated that “Nestle had their hands on the code since 2014. When Mad Labs first created the code, it was for a trial test run for one of Nestle’s campaigns which would run for six months. The agreement was that if Nestle was interested, they could come back and set a discussion. However, there was no response so the project was canned. Fast forward four years, at the end of October 2018, Nestle told me that they have accidentally printed the QR code on 170,000 tonnes of packages across 38 of their products.”

He also added that his servers were hacked on multiple occasions in 2018 and that police reports were made on the 29th of November.

“The question at hand now is not really about the technicality of the QR code. Instead, the legal liabilities that come with operating the QR code which is linked to an estimated 2.6 billion packets of noodles,” concluded Ron.

MARKETING Magazine has reached out to a spokesperson from Nestlé Malaysia who stated that Nestle has lodged reports with the Royal Malaysia Police and relevant Government authorities due to a lack of cooperation from the third party involved in this incident. She also added that attempts were made to reach out to the third party involved in this incident to divert the link back to the correct website, however it has not been successful.