Dirty laundry and cleaned-out wallets
Consumers sometimes complain that their favorite products from childhood aren't what they used to be. They aren't as tasty, crunchy, potent or whatever. The product downgrades take place over a period of time, so the reputational risk to the manufacturer is minimized. Today's young people don't know how a product tasted or performed in the 70s, 80s or 90s. It's quite a different matter when a product sold just over the border is of higher quality and can be easily compared. A company that reformulates its flagship brands to cut their quality and boost the profit is taking a gamble but has no doubt done the math. If Henkel exposes Persil to reputational risk by selling inferior detergent to Czechs, it knows the danger, and it knows the reward. If Czech consumers don't mind being milked by multinationals and persist in buying adulterated products, they shouldn't be surprised if Henkel and others become even more brazen in their selling techniques.
Glossary of difficult words
potent - strong, powerful or effective;flagship - the best or most important thing owned or produced by a particular organization;
to do the math - to make a calculation or come to a conclusion based on the relevant facts and figures;
to milk (someone or something) - to extract short-term revenue (from someone or something), instead of placing a priority on long-term concerns;
to persist - continue in an opinion or course of action in spite of difficulty or opposition;
to adulterate - to render (something) poorer in quality by adding another substance;
brazen - bold and without shame.