Chinese Firm 'Qiaobi' Apologizes for the 'Racist' Detergent Ad

By Zubera - 30 May '16 08:55AM
Close

China must know the art of making good ads! The 'racist' detergent ad was just not good.

The ad firm apologizes after the ad went viral with the racism act in it.

The ad is quite funny as well as depicting a situation of racism. It is a laundry detergent advertisement that depicts a light-skinned Chinese woman who flirts with a black man covered in paint.

She pushes him into a washing machine for a wash. After a wash, the man emerges as a light-skinned, clean Chinese man.

Qiaobi, the company behind the ad, issued an apology -- but said the international media is exaggerating the reaction, reported CNN News.

"[Due to] the harm that has been caused to members of the ethnic African communities as a result of the advertisement's circulation and the over-dramatization by the public opinion, we hereby express our apology and sincerely hope that the internet users as well as media will not over-analyze," the company said in a statement. "We strongly oppose and condemn racial discrimination."

The company also said it has removed traces of the ad online and hopes "that internet users and media will not continue to circulate it."

Since being posted on YouTube by an independent person Thursday, the ad has nearly 7 million views.

A similar ad was made by Italian advert, in which a slim Italian man is washed with "color" detergent and emerges a muscular black man with the slogan "Color is better."

However, China must know how to make ads as this is not the first time such an ad is made that is accused of racial insensitivity.

The Chinese posters for "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" seemed to downplay black actor -- and co-lead -- John Boyega had criticism too.

Fun Stuff

Join the Conversation

The Next Read

Real Time Analytics