It takes a lot these days to genuinely shock people.
But this new ad for a Chinese detergent is in such jaw-droppingly bad taste that it’s hard to fathom how anyone could have ever commissioned it.
The ad, which was uploaded to YouTube this week, is for a brand of washing powder called Qiaobi.
It opens with Chinese woman doing her washing. A black workman covered in paint leans around the corner and wolf-whistles at her (which, in itself, isn’t great).
The woman suggestively beckons him over.
But instead of turning into a romantic rendezvous, the woman stuffs a detergent capsule in his mouth and shoves him in the washing machine.
After a washing cycle, the black workman comes out as a pristine, fair-skinned Asian man.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xq-I0JRhvt4
No, really. That just happened.
Reassuringly, nobody seems to be seeing a funny side to the ad:
https://twitter.com/Pete_Thom/status/735930143638704128
https://twitter.com/kazarazat/status/735926407252082688
@Qiaobi having a hard time selling detergent? Racist much????? https://t.co/S452uembHP
— Coach Jeffery: Collaborate. Communicate. Educate (@CoachJeffery) May 26, 2016
https://twitter.com/styleologiecc/status/735926347516678146
Apparently, the Chinese ad is, erm, inspired by this Italian advert from the early ’00s. As the Shanghaiist news outlet reports:
“…the video is actually a blatant ripoff (even using the exact same music and sound effects) of a series of Italian laundry detergent ads that were aired about 9 years ago. Containing similar racist overtones, the original ads argue that in fact ‘Coloured Is Better’.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tz3UiDM5dPU
The Shanghaiist also explains that traditional beauty standards in China value white skin over dark skin, which has led to some troublingly racist attitudes prevailing in the country.
For example, last year a Chinese poster for Star Wars: The Force Awakens was widely attacked as racist when star John Boyega’s character was dramatically miniaturised.
Via Shanghaiist
Furthermore, Guatemalan-American actor Oscar Isaac (Poe Dameron), Maz Kanata (voiced and performed by Lupita Nyong’o) and the wookiee Chewbacca were airbrushed out of the Chinese poster entirely, with their spots taken by the white Stormtrooper army.
