Wuhan car show under fire for bikini-clad child models
Show denies exploiting children, after images of models in seductive poses emerge online
Images depicting very young girls in swimwear attempting to strike seductive poses with cars at a vehicle show have sparked fierce criticism online.
Three girls, all about five years old, were photographed at the Chutian Auto Culture Festival, which began on Friday and ended yesterday in Wuhan, Hubei. In the images distributed online, they wore swimsuits, boots and glasses, similar to those used by adult models at the show. In recent years, mainland car shows have increasingly featured scantily-clad models, resulting in the shows being blasted as "breast exhibitions with many famous cars".
However, the Wuhan show's organisers denied the child models were used to get people's attention, noting that they were on stage for only a few minutes.
"Their performance was not an advertisement, since we don't pay them and they don't pay us," said a man with the marketing department of the Wuhan Shangge Exhibition and Trade Company, which was in charge of the vehicle fair.
The man, who refused to give his name, said the modelling show featuring the girls was just a "small rehearsal" for part of a talent competition; other sections included children singing and dancing with their parents.
He conceded, however, that the backlash was far more than the organisers had expected.