Stars, luxury brands and China’s perilous patriotic tightrope

A few words on a T-shirt or misjudged meme in heightened political times can be enough to stir up the outrage of internet users and attract unwanted official attention

Celebrities and brands are increasingly nailing their one-China colours to the mast to guard against a backlash

5-MIN READ5-MIN

Laurie Chenin Hong KongandPhoebe Zhangin Shenzhen

Published: 7:00am, 3 Sep 2019Updated: 1:55pm, 3 Sep 2019

When protesters in Hong Kong threw the Chinese national flag into the city’s harbour, it set off an online celebrity wave in mainland China.

The “attack” on the national symbol soon became the top trending topic on Weibo, China’s Twitter-like social media platform, and high-profile mainland Chinese models and entertainers were quick to declare themselves bearers of the Chinese flag.

National pride was also on show a few weeks later when Chinese internet users set off a storm of protest over a T-shirt by Italian brand Versace that appeared to list Hong Kong and Macau as countries.

Other brands were soon caught up in the outrage for similar apparent denials of Chinese sovereignty, prompting supermodel Liu Wen, actress Yang Mi, boy band singer Lay Zhang Yixing and actress Jelly Lin Yun to pull out of lucrative deals with global luxury brands including Coach and Givenchy.

On one Tuesday alone, five brands apologised on Chinese social media and stated support for “one China” in what some internet users jokingly referring to as “Apology Day”.

As the online debate over the Hong Kong anti-government protests has heated up on both sides of the border, celebrities across Greater China have scrambled to choose a side.