Why a Swatch ad has been pulled from China

Swatch has pulled an ad from China.

The Swiss watchmaker has apologised after an image resulted in heated accusations of racism on social media.

The company, taking to China’s Weibo platform as well an Instagram, said it took into account “recent concerns regarding the portrayal of a model”. It said the material had been removed from across the world.

“We sincerely apologise for any distress or misunderstanding this may have caused,” the company wrote.

But what happened? Why was the ad pulled?

Let’s take a closer look:

What happened?

The luxury watchmaker put up an ad in featuring an Asian male model. The advert was for the firm’s for Swatch Essentials collection. The problem? The male model was pulling at his eyes – a gesture that is evocative of racist taunts against people of Asian origin.

The image caused a firestorm on social media with many accusing Swatch of being racist against Chinese people.

Swatch quickly apologised, but the netizens were having none of it.

Mei Hua Long, an influencer with over a million followers, slammed the advertisement as “racism towards Asians”.

Another influencer, Nie Hua Xiong, who also has over a million followers, claimed the ad was trying to “disgust Asians and degrade Chinese” at a time “when the watch industry is going downhill”.

Swatch is “only afraid for its profits,” a Weibo user wrote. “You can apologise, but I will not forgive.”

“They make money from us and still dare to discriminate against Chinese people. We would be spineless if we don’t boycott it out of China,” another Weibo added.

However, not everyone was quick to condemn Swatch.

On the app RedNote, a user named Dylan wrote: “Some people will say those who feel offended are fragile, but this is a different situation – slanted eyes are an insulting gesture pointing to Asians made by the whites.”

Another RedNote commenter named You Ren Ray added, “The first thing to do after feeling offended is to boycott [the brand], instead of contemplating whether the other party intentionally thought of doing something.”

“Even if I don’t see racism [in the ad], there is no way to judge how this slanted eyes gesture can add value to the product, unless the move aims at getting attention with promotional effect for free,” Wai, a third RedNote user, said.

‘Slanted eyes’ and racism

The “slanted eyes” gesture is said to be particularly racist against people of Japanese and Chinese origin. The adjective itself first appeared in the 1860s. It was seen in Western newspapers and in magazines from the 20th Century. The Chinese men and women were also portrayed with eyes having slits. For context, the US passed the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882.

The noun slant-eye comes from the 1920s. It gained currency as a slur at the beginning of World War II. It was also used to refer to the Vietnamese during the Vietnam war. It has also been used as a slur against Asians.

Swatch, which also makes Omega, Longines and Tissot watches, depends heavily on China for revenue. Nearly a third of the group’s sales last year coming from the China, Hong Kong and Macau region. Revenue for the watchmaker last year slumped 14.6 per cent to $8.4 billion in 2024.

This was due to a downturn in demand in China, where Swatch said it was seeing “persistently difficult market conditions and weak demand for consumer goods overall”.

This isn’t the first time Chinese consumers have flexed their muscles. In 2024, some tried to boycott Uniqlo, a Japanese firm, after it announced its cotton was not from Xinjiang. In 2023, Dior, the French luxury brand Dior similarly faced ire for its advert with an East Asian model pulling up the corner of her eye.

In 2021, Chinese consumers announced a mass boycott against H&M, Nike and Adidas. This came after the companies said they were worried about alleged human rights abuses in Xinjiang province. Consumers also went after Dolce & Gabbana in 2018 after it put up clips showing a model using Italian food via chopsticks. The Italian fashion firm’s goods were taken down from Chinese e-commerce sites. It also called off its Shanghai fashion show.

With inputs from agencies