Xiaomi’s budget brand Redmi bashed by state media for ad reference to ‘five demands’ of Hong Kong protesters
- Redmi TV ran an advert for its first-ever smart TV products which portrayed the video content providers on its platform as ‘the five platforms, not one less’
Redmi, Xiaomi Corp’s budget brand, has been bashed by state-owned media for making an apparent reference to the “five demands” of Hong Kong democracy protesters in an advert for its smart TV products.
In a Weibo post on Tuesday morning, Redmi TV ran an advert for its first-ever smart TV products which portrayed the video content providers on its platform as “the five platforms, not one less”, in bold Chinese characters.
The five platforms advertised by Redmi for its smart TVs, which are set to be unveiled on August 29, include all of China’s top three online video providers – iQiyi, Tencent Video and Youku.
Huanqiu.com, a Chinese website owned by the state-backed Global Times, criticised the Redmi advert as “brainless” and “hopeless”.
Protesters in Hong Kong have made “five demands, not one less” of the government as a precursor to stopping unrest in the city, including complete withdrawal of a controversial extradition bill.
The criticism from huanqiu.com immediately pushed the Redmi advert to one of the top topics on Sina Weibo, China’s Twitter-like social media platform. It has now been pulled by Redmi with the phrase replaced with a reference to “huge content”. The new ad received a ‘thumbs up’ icon from huanqiu.com.
Xiaomi declined to comment on the Redmi advert.