‘Use me’: outcry after scantily-clad women brave cold on streets of Beijing to promote phone app

A publicity stunt has been strongly criticised on the internet in China after a group of  women in their underwear braved the cold on the streets of Beijing to advertise a smartphone social media app.

About 20 women wearing black underwear and high heels walked around the city’s business district promoting the product until they were stopped by security guards, the Beijing Times reported.

The women all had the Chinese characters “use me” stamped on their back and computer scanning product codes on their buttocks.

 The publicity stunt quickly attracted a big crowd of curious onlookers, before it was halted by security staff, the report said.

Photographs of the stunt went viral on social media and many criticised the promotional campaign.

“A group of women were pinched with cold. This is vulgar and without any sense of beauty. Is it an insult to the level of creativity in China’s marketing ideas?” one person wrote.