Are Chinese netizens right to be angry over Zara’s photos of freckle-faced model Jing Wen?
- Spanish firm defends images of Chinese model Jing Wen’s ‘blemishes’ in make-up campaign after critics question it its aim was to ‘vilify Asians’
Gigi Hadid, Emma Watson, Lucy Liu, Kylie Minogue and Kendall Jenner – these are just some of the world’s beautiful women who have not been afraid to show the world their freckled complexions.
Yet when Chinese top model Jing Wen went au naturel for a recent Zara campaign, some netizens were not pleased.
The 25-year-old Guangdong native’s face sparked fierce debate over the past weekend when the Spanish fashion retailer posted photos of her with minimal make-up on its Weibo page.
The close-up images, released last Friday as part of a campaign promoting Zara’s make-up line, show off the freckled cheeks of the model – whose full name is Li Jingwen – in all their glory.
Chinese netizens were quick to spot the model’s freckle, but many were outraged that Zara would use a promotional photo of a Chinese model with “blemished” skin.
One Weibo user with the handle @Ymlucky said: “By photographing a model this way, are you trying to be sensational or vilify Asians?”
Another netizen with the handle @EvelynYoung_23 said Zara must have worked hard to search for “a needle in a haystack”, as it had managed to find a model whose skin was blemished at such a young age.
“Sorry, but we Asian females don’t have skin blemishes,” the netizen said. “Even if there are [such women], they are also few in number.”