Chinese brand faces backlash over anti-India images on its clothes

THE BRAND JNBY APOLOGISED AND PULLED THE CLOTHING LINE IN QUESTION AFTER THE COMPLAINT OF A MOTHER WENT VIRAL ON CHINESE SOCIAL MEDIA

BEIJING: A top Chinese clothing brand is facing backlash in China after one of its clothing lines produced children’s clothes with images of people identified as Indians being shot at and phrases like “welcome to hell” and “let me touch you” embossed on them.

The brand JNBY apologised and pulled the clothing line in question after the complaint of a mother went viral on Chinese social media this week.

A report in the state-run tabloid Global Times called the prints “inappropriate” and “horrific” but avoided mentioning the anti-India images that were found on clothes made and sold by JNBY.

The woman, identified as Mogu Mogu on Chinese social media, wrote that her family bought one of the shirts for her 4-year-old son.

She shared photos of a white shirt with the images and remarks in black, the meaning of which she realised only recently as it was bought by her son’s grandparents who don’t speak English.

“Welcome to hell. Excuse me? Who are you welcoming? And all these images of purgatory … a child aged four wearing such a shirt. Just the thought of it disturbs me,” she was quoted as saying by the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post (SCMP). Soon after her post went viral, another user shared the photo of anti-India imagery.

“The whole place is full of Indians. I will take this gun and blow them to pieces,” the SCMP report said, quoting a message on a shirt.

The company has since apologised on the lifestyle-sharing app Xiaohongshu.

“We apologise for the concern caused to customers caused by the design and will tighten regulation,” the company’s customer service said on the official T-mall store of the brand, the Global Times report reported.