Amazon has come under fire online in China over its Hong Kong pro-protest T-shirts. Photo: Screenshot of amazon.com
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https://scmp.com/lifestyle/fashion-beauty/article/3023030/amazon-causes-online-outrage-china-hong-kong-protest-t Fashion & Beauty
Amazon causes online outrage in China with Hong Kong protest T-shirts
- The internet giant has angered Chinese netizens with T-shirts that read ‘Free Hong Kong, democracy now’ and ‘Make Hong Kong free again’
- Amazon joins Coach, Versace, Swarovski and Givenchy, which have drawn ire in China
Amazon has come under fire online in China over its Hong Kong pro-protest T-shirts. Photo: Screenshot of amazon.com
Online retail giant Amazon is the latest company to come under fire in China. After discovering a series of T-shirts on amazon.com printed with slogans supporting the Hong Kong anti-government protests, Chinese netizens expressed their ire at the Seattle-based company.
According to Chinese state media outlet Global Times, a comment on social media platform Weibo read: “Amazon has already left China, right? We need to teach this company a lesson.”
The T-shirts behind the outcry featured slogans such as “Free Hong Kong Democracy Now” and “Hong Kong is Not China”.
Last week, Chinese social media users called for boycotts of fashion labels Versace, Coach, Givenchy and Swarovski after they realised that some of the brands’ websites and products listed Hong Kong and Taiwan as separate to China.
Celebrities such as actress Yang Mi, a Versace ambassador, and model Liu Wen, who has appeared in campaigns for Coach, distanced themselves from those brands, which swiftly apologised and updated their websites.
But not all brands are kowtowing to China. According to fashion trade publication WWD, Rem D. Koolhaas, the founder of shoe label United Nude and the nephew of ‘starchitect’ Rem Koolhaas, called China a “crybaby” for the backlash against companies that list Taiwan and Hong Kong as separate countries.