South African bottled water company It's not made in China is feeling the wrath of Chinese consumers who have labelled it "racist" and have threatened to boycott its products.

Key points: Companies are using not made in China as a marketing strategy to differentiate themselves

Companies are using not made in China as a marketing strategy to differentiate themselves The phrase has historically been associated with cheap wares and low quality

The phrase has historically been associated with cheap wares and low quality China is using Made in China 2025 as a tagline for its ambitious 10-year industrial development plan

While the company has been in operation since 2014, it only came to the attention of Chinese netizens last week in a post on the social media site Weibo.

"This bottled water is asking to be told off," the post from an everyday user read in Chinese.

"I'm going to strongly boycott it.

"[It] looks like the business owner has vowed to the world they won't have any relationship with China."

The original post — including a picture of the water bottle and its label, "Still Water. It's not made in China" — only attracted two comments, but it quickly gained attention after it was shared and quoted by the official accounts of media outlets Global Times and Guancha.cn.

Within days, posts containing the hashtag #ThisWaterIsNotMadeinChina racked up more than 264,000 views on Weibo while the South African firm also received backlash on its Instagram account.

"You created a [brand] name with no quality, and yet you still can't make it popular," one user wrote on the company's Instagram page on March 19.

"Chinese people are all working hard to improve their country and their lives, and they're ignoring you.

"There have always been racists, but so what?"

Another user commented on Weibo: "If it's not made in China, I won't drink it."

'We don't want to start a war'

The South African bottled water company was founded in 2014. ( ABC News: Jarrod Fankhauser/Facebook )

A representative from the Durban-based company, who declined to disclose his name, told the South China Morning Post the firm was surprised by the reaction from Chinese netizens.

"We never planned to create a controversy," he said.

While the label made in China is often associated with cheap wares and low quality, the bottled water company said on its website that its use of the phrase was meant to differentiate the company from others.

The company said they hoped people would see the humour in their name. ( Facebook )

The company also said it suspected that people would see the humour in their name.

"We had an idea to do things a little differently, and locally and because everyone is so used to reading 'made in China' on just about everything," the website said.

"We knew that by saying the opposite and calling ourselves, 'It's not made in China', we would signal that we wanted to do things a little differently.

"If most goods had labels stating: 'Made in Yugoslavia', we would've called ourselves: 'Not Made in Yugoslavia'.

However according to the Post, the company is now feeling pressure to change its name after seeing the reaction from the netizens.

"We don't want to start a war. We were thinking of the name 'Made in Madiba-land'," the representative told the Post, adding that company executives feel almost bullied into doing so.

Madiba is former South African president and freedom fighter Nelson Mandela's Xhosa clan name.

The representative cited a potential trademark issue as the reason why the company didn't use the name previously.

Not made in China label used to differentiate brands

A Canadian ceramics and pottery line also carries the not made in China label. ( Facebook )

It appears the South African firm is not the only company that has used the phrase as a marketing strategy.

A Canadian ceramics and pottery line by Hugo Didier also carries the message "Not made in China" on some of its cups ands bowls.

The owner explained on their website that they wanted to "promote the idea of producing and consuming locally made goods".

In Australia, a business called Not Made in China Sewing, has also used the phrase to highlight the bespoke nature of their work.

The business' Facebook page said it sold gifts, personalised embroidery and other "quirky" items.

China itself is using Made in China 2025 as a marketing tagline for its ambitious 10-year industrial development plan.

Announced in October 2015, the plan is a roadmap for the future of the country's manufacturing sector.

The plan looks to target emerging industries like robotics, the manufacturing of autonomous and electric cars, artificial intelligence, biotech and aviation.