Mercedes removes ad after backlash over 'Asian' features
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BEIJING • Mercedes-Benz has removed a video advertisement from a Chinese social media website, said the state media, after the clip got swept up in a charged national debate over depictions of Asian-looking features by foreign firms.
The video, posted on Mercedes-Benz's official Weibo account last Saturday, was later removed due to public backlash, said the Global Times newspaper on Tuesday.
"The make-up of the female model looked like slanted eyes and once again aroused a heated discussion from netizens, with many blaming that the make-up reflects Western stereotypes about Asian people," the paper said.
The report included a screenshot of the video showing a woman who is apparently Chinese, though Bloomberg News has not seen the full version of the ad.
E-mail messages and phone calls to the China press representatives for Daimler, which owns Mercedes-Benz, were not immediately returned.
The episode makes Mercedes-Benz the latest target of consumer nationalism in China that has in the past dealt a blow to Dolce & Gabbana, H&M and others.
Christian Dior stopped using a photo of a model last month that Chinese state media said was "smearing Asian women".
Last week, Chinese social media platforms erupted over allegations that Walmart had stopped selling items from Xinjiang at its Sam's Club grocery stores in China.
Netizens in China have recently been debating the way that models' eyes are shown in advertising.
Chinese company Three Squirrels recently apologised for ads featuring model Cai Niang Niang wearing make-up that accentuated the slant of her eyes, the South China Morning Post reported. The model hit back on the Twitter-like Weibo service, saying: "With small eyes, am I not Chinese? I totally agree with patriotism. But creating big problems out of normal matters has become a morbid obsession."
Meanwhile, Daimler last week said it would slash its stake in the Denza electric-car joint venture with China's BYD Auto Industry following years of weak sales. BYD will own 90 per cent of the business and Daimler 10 per cent after an equity transfer that the companies plan to complete in mid-2022 Daimler said.
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