Swiss watch brand Swatch has pulled an advertisement that has sparked huge backlash in China, one of its biggest markets.
The picture featured an Asian model pulling up the corners of his eyes to give them a slanted appearance.
The portrayal has infuriated consumers in China, who slammed it as blatant racism and called for a boycott of Swatch and its subsidiaries.
The gesture is considered to be a Western way of mocking Asian features.
Swatch posted an apology in English and Chinese to its social media platforms, as hashtags slamming the ad racked up tens of millions of views.
“We have taken note of the recent concerns regarding the portrayal of a model in images for the Swatch ESSENTIALS collection,” the company said.
“We sincerely apologise for any distress or misunderstanding this may have caused.
“We treat this matter with the utmost importance and have immediately removed all related materials worldwide.”
Comments on Swatch’s Instagram page were scathing as people questioned the inexplicable connection between the slanted eyes pose and watches.
Social media user kinokardashian said the gesture had been used to discriminate against “all Asians” for decades — not just Chinese.
“It is common knowledge that this is a boundary that should not be crossed. If this happened to any other racial minority group this would definitely not be tolerated,” they wrote.
Others could not understand how a major company could make such a mistake.
“You purposely use an Asian doing the slanted eye pose for your latest collection and calling it misunderstanding? I mean if only I was born yesterday,” commented spiritual_tmickeymouse.
astraleonbass wrote: “Who from corporate leadership approved this ad? Campaigns take months to develop and you’re telling me NO ONE said something in that timeframe in the entire pipeline and chain of command? Truely incompetent. Fire your marketing lead.”
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