Chinese brand under fire over controversial ad, self-aggrandizing apology letter

PurCotton, a Chinese mother and baby brand, is mired in a PR disaster. Its latest commercial was widely criticized online for objectifying women and victim-blaming. Its apology letter hurt the company’s reputation further for its allegedly self-aggrandizing content.

Promoting its make-up remover wipes, the controversial commercial shows a stalker at night in an alley. As the stalker catches up with an attractive woman, she uses a PurCotton wipe to remove her makeup and reveals a funny-looking male’s face, which appears to disgust the stalker.

The commercial triggered controversy online as many believe that it associated women’s safety with their appearance and objectified females.

“It touches on such a serious matter of women’s safety, and the company used excuses of ‘being creative’…Women are consumers, not consumer goods,” said a post by China Women’s News, the major national women’s newspaper of China, on its official Weibo account.

“Sorry, we’re wrong,” said PurCotton in its official “apologizing love letter” on Sunday. However, the two-page statement irked netizens even more, as the rest of the “letter” failed to show introspection but instead boasted about the company’s products and brand.

“The ad has many debatable elements, including a bias against makeup, using serious issues as entertainment, malice toward woman and the male gaze,” said Luo Ruixue, a member of Guangzhou-based women’s rights group Women Awakening Network. “This insincere apology makes the matter worse because the company has shown no concern for the incident and no remorse.”

“The fiasco reflects the reemergence of gender equality awareness among Chinese consumers, including men,” Luo noted. “PurCotton’s pitfall will also be a warning to more companies. In the future, companies will pay more attention to respect for both sexes in advertising.”

PurCotton could not be reached for comment as of press time.