After repeated calls online for the Swedish fashion retailer to “get out of the Chinese market”, the brand’s celebrity endorsers in China – Huang Xuan and Victoria Song have announced they’ve also cut ties with H&M.
Boycott
Calls to boycott the Swedish retailer surfaced earlier after a screenshot of H&M’s statement that it was discontinuing the use of cotton products from China’s Xinjiang region started circulating on Weibo. The statement, which appears to be a year old, describes H&M’s commitment to improve conditions in the garment manufacturing industry and to its supply chain, and that means no longer purchasing cotton from producers in the Xinjiang region where allegations of forced labour run rife.
Despite the statement technically being “old news”, it appears recent sanctions from the international community following the government’s crackdown on the region’s Uyghur minority once again put the spotlight on the case. And outraged netizens unhappy about the company continuing to profit from Chinese consumers despite boycotting Xinjiang cotton have called for the company to leave.
Huang Xuan and Victoria Song Cut Ties
Following the public outcry, H&M’s Chinese menswear ambassador Huang Xuan issued a statement today to confirm that he has already broken off his partnership with H&M. He also says he and his team “resolutely oppose any attempts to discredit the country‘s human rights efforts”. Likewise, women’s wear ambassador Victoria Song also issued her own statement to confirm no relationship exists between herself and the brand. She also emphasised that “national interests supersede everything else, boycott any efforts to sully China’s reputation.”
Seriously
Lmao, “sully China’s reputation” for fuck sake does she not know her country’s own history? Tiananmen Square protests And mascare ring a bell? China is systematically committing genocide, that’s China’s reputation.
Anon
Stop putting children in concentration camps please.
Seriously
Lol shouldn’t I be saying this you??!!
Anon
Stop bombing Muslim children.
Seriously
Again lol, shouldn’t I be saying this to you?
Anon
Stop genociding Native Americans.
Seriously
Yeah that would be right if we were living in the past, but China’s genocide is happening NOW as in today, so nice try.
Anon
Nice try? So you’re denying the ongoing genocide against Native Americans in North America then.
Also stop killing Black people.
Seriously
Hmm, I don’t recall seeing international outcry of the US genocide of ongoing Native Americans, but again you do not believe China is committing genocide. Yes the US has HUGE racial inequality problems. But this is where living in free democracy differs from an oppressed communistic regime. We can protest social injustice and change how our government is being run without fear of persecution and death. The same cannot be said of China.
Anon
“Genocide not real because white imperialist countries say so.” Western exceptionalism is so interesting to see, it’s like you know deep down your countries are very messed up yet cannot wrap your head around the concept that non-white countries are doing better than you so you project that on every other country thinking they’re just as degenerate as you but obviously, that’s not true.
China isn’t keeping brown kids in cages, the US is.
China isn’t killing Black people, the US is.
China isn’t bombing the Middle East, the US is.
China isn’t genociding Native Americans, the US is.
and China isn’t oppressing Uyghurs, there’s literally not a single Muslim country speaking out against China, it’s all white countries instead, isn’t that interesting.
Chino
China isn’t keeping brown kids in cages, the US is.
QUESTION: Why brown kids don’t want to come to China?
China isn’t killing Black people, the US is.
QUESTION: Why China won’t take Black people? Why Black people won’t even consider China even if White enslave them again? LMAO!
China isn’t bombing the Middle East, the US is.
ROTFL
China isn’t genociding Native Americans, the US is.
ROTFL
What is the penalty for a Chinese to speak negatively about China?
What is the penalty for ANYBODY to speak negatively about US? Oooh! LOL!
ano
stop believing American propaganda machine. They’re using genocide as a tool to in fomenting an orange revolution as done elsewhere.
anon
Bet you blindly believed the US/UK accusation against Iraq about their weapons of mass destruction.
ano
You didn’t say a thing about the Mexican children herded into crowded camps, or the pregnant Mexican mothers who were forced to abort.
Seriously
Lmao your cries of racism is quite hypocritical the non-white countries correct? China has an active concentration camp that no matter what you say cannot hide this from the world. China does not do the following yes, but because; China has no black population, China isn’t bombing the middle east because China is most likely selling the weapons to the terrorist, China isn’t committing genocide to Native Americans (neither is the US lol but okay) well because the whole Native Americans thing, BUT the native Uyghurs genocide does that count? And the “brown” kids, we refer to them as the Latin American population, so as not to be racist, are no longer in cages. They are immigrants waiting to get access to the freedom and democracy of the US. And to be honest deep deep down I know I am on the right of history and will counter everyone of your ludicrous points.
Anon
This is one of the whitest things I’ve ever seen someone say, I wanna print it out and frame it on a wall.
Seriously
Please do I never had anything hung up for prosperity before. Freedom is colorless, but if you see white so be it.
ano
US /UK accuses China of everything they had done and still are doing to deflect their own sins. Fight on against systemic racism, BLM !
gross
celebrities are truly embarrassing the lengths they’d go to just to keep earning money that they already have a disgusting amount of. supporting police brutality, ignoring forced labour wow they really have no morals whatsoever
ano
do you support american police brutality against unarmed minorities and american fatcat corporations enriching themselves using slave labor in poor countries?
Moon Cho
So now we know Huang Xuan and Victoria Song are all about the money….
ano
what? what you’re saying makes no sense. they gave up lucrative contract when endorsements were dropped.
Anon
I think you have no right to point fingers when you don’t know the facts. If you are foreigners, look to your own country’s records of human rights first. If these 2 are all about money, they would not cut off ties with their brands – that’s a big chunk of money they are forfeiting. And no one has the right to denigrate others for being patriotic or loyal to their own country even if they don’t agree with its political system. Police brutality ? There is more police brutality on an everyday basis in the US. Forced labor? Go do your research first. People there have stable jobs & paid adequately (which are about to be destroyed by these sanctions), education is free, health care is affordable, with infant and women’s mortality hugely reduced in the last few decades. If there is forced labor, there will be no such thing as an “unemployment rate” in Xinjiang. Genocide? Uyger’s population alone in China doubled within the last 40 years.
Seriously
Hmm all this bullshit sounds like the something commie supporter would say. EVERYONE should and can have the right to denigrate patriots of a unjust oppressed government! If society turned a blind eye to such an evil government, we too could vanish in the middle of the night. Lol police brutality and for ed labor accusations from commie China, you lost what credibility you never had to begin with. You live in an illusion a mirage of freedom that could be taken away from you at any second, that is the truth and fact that is the Chinese government.
Chino
That Anon is blind and stupid as hell, believes everything the Chinese gov say.
The Wuhan Chinese doctors that went missing, I bet Anon is either gullible enough to believe that has nothing to do with the gov. Or cruel enough to agree the gov should kill without trial.
Moon
Yes, I seriously can’t stand reading the comments from anon, the brainwashed ccp troll. It’s like China can do no wrong and deflecting the topic to issues with some western countries. However, in the West, no one is going to disappear or locked up from protesting inequalities. Simple fact.
ano
why do you get all defensive when US is criticized, like they can do no wrong? Do you get bothered by BLM and Asians for protesting against the history of systemic racism in your country? How about Snowden and Assange who had to flee US for their lives after blowing the whistle on US dirty dealings?
ano
it’s stupid to blindly believe the lies of the American propaganda machine. those who don’t study history are easily manipulated.
Moon
I don’t live in the US and I’m Chinese with family in China and HK. I don’t know why you felt that I’m defensive about the States while I just really can’t stand brainwashed ccp trolls like you. I guess any other opinion is defensive to you. Maybe you should stop reading ccp cleansed history books and start being open to the fact that maybe the CCp isn’t that holier as that appears to be.
Kenji Masura
Anon, well said. No country is perfect but a glance at the comments here clearly shows how much western propaganda have succeeded in brainwashing you all into thinking China has done this and that. Its all American geopolitics at work. The Xinjiang narrative is nothing but western back and funded anti-Chinese propaganda, Like IRAG and the pretense of weapons of mass destruction, its all fake and a pretense to divide the Asians overseas from their family and friends in Asia.
Seriously
I find this comment as nonchalant ignorance, no country is perfect, that’s a dangerous sentiment. No country is utopia but to blindly sweep atrocities of genocide as “brainwashing”, clearly someone is brainwashed but you would need to have a brain to begin with.
Kenji Masura
@Seriously someone sounds butthurt in their little utopian internet. Clearly you follow CNN and get all your sources from liberal media sources that spew nothing but lies. Have you actually lived in China, or Korea, or anywhere in Asia. Stop pretending like you know the lives and culture of places you only read from your bias western media outlets.
ano
I’m sure you must be outraged by white colonialists who committed genocide on native Americans, and in solidarity with little that remains of native Americans today. Same with native Hawaiians whose queen was murdered by American military. And the Palestinians who are suffering immensely under the iron fist of Israeli zionists. The list of genocides and the oppressed is long, much of in the history of Latin America where European colonists and then the CIA struck fear. For more details, study history.
Anonymous
It’s just bussiness, totally not surprised. These celebrities’ income and careers depend on the Chinese audience/ consumer. They have to be pro-China to have a career in the country. Besides, “cancel culture” and mob mentality is huge amongst Chinese netizens so celebrities have to make a pleasing stance. No worries though, this whole thing will blow over once the next scandal comes along. The big brands will wait until public opinion dies down and rehire new celebrities for endorsements. Seen it happen several times before.
Pixie
I agree, this seems like it’s just the story of the moment that will blow over eventually. Didn’t this happen not too long ago with a couple of luxury brands? C-netz “cancelled” them and there was a boycott movement. I don’t think people ever stopped buying from them though. A lot of this is just performative to keep their own careers intact.
Anon
Yup, all these big brands will continue to sell in China they just won’t have any celebrity endorsers for awhile. If Chinese netizens, most of whom skews young, really boycott all these brands 80% of them will be walking around naked, lol. All the brands who were cancelled during the last big boycott have since rehired celebrity endorsers so the same will happen after the scandal blows over. As for celebrities terminating their contracts, like I said they are just protecting their bottom line.
ano
you seem to forget that China can manufacture anything under their own labels. even without foreign brands, they’ll have many domestics labels available. Maybe they’ll start wearing their own beautiful native hanfu regularly.
Anon
This is not my argument. Chinese netizens value these foreign brands for lifestyle images they portray. This is the power of branding, marketing and PR. I know Chinese manufacturers can produce the goods but if they don’t have that foreign brand logo on the products it just won’t sell. Chinese domestic brands still have a long ways to go before they reach the mass world wide appeal of companies such as Nike or Adidas. That’s just the simple truth. As of now the Chinese government hasn’t actually shut down or stopped any of these brands from selling in China. They just won’t have celebrities endorsers for awhile. In fact, the newest Nike shoe releases have all sold out in China. The Chinese government hasn’t actually shut down or stopped any of these brands from selling in China they just won’t have any celebrity endorsers for awhile. These celebrities have to make a politically correct stance to protect their bottom line. Once this news blows over it will be bussiness as usual.
XZF
@ Seriously
It’s ok to make comments’, but is it necessary to use the “f” word and other terms? I think it’s much nicer to keep the debate friendly. Thank you very much.
Seriously
I could but I do not want to or feel the need to, I am mature enough to express my thoughts as I want. Thank you for your condescending thoughts, much appreciated. Was that nice enough?
Anon
It’s disgusting to see all these foreigners in the comment section spouting racist propaganda while hiding behind hypocritical self-righteous morality. It’s like they hate seeing Chinese people stand up against racism.
Seriously
I know it’s disgusting to see commies condoning the oppression and genocide of a whole ethnic group. But your attempt to change the topic and distract is commie propaganda at it’s BEST, long live Winnie the Pooh, lol. And who are the foreigners exactly? As this site is primarily utilizing English who might you be targeting as the foreigners, just need to know so we hate on the same individuals, right?
Anon
I love how China lives rent free in your head, it’s hilarious to see.
ano
Winnie is more alive than senile Biden. Doubt he’ll last much longer before Harris takes his place. and in four years, orange hair wlll be back for re-election. God help the broken US!
Seriously
No China lives in my mind as the country who has killed THOUSANDS and is attempting to steal Hong Kong’s voice of democracy. And I love that my voice will not be silenced like MANY others who cannot speak against the Chinese government. It is not rent free but my voice is free to speak out against their oppression.
Anon
Hong Kong’s “voice of democracy” was CIA-backed and filled with white supremacists, guess you must be one of them.
Imagine thinking you’re some kind of good guy when you regurgitate racist propaganda that have no basis in reality and thinking it’s speaking out against oppression. It’s like you keep wanting to be racist to Chinese people but don’t really wanna admit that out loud so you hide behind some disingenuous moral high ground.
Seriously
Again your claims of racism is confusing, I have not disparaged the Chinese people or ethnicity, I do condemn the Chinese government and those who support it. White supremacy filled Hong Kong’s opposition to democracy, WOW that’s a stretch and only shows how far your imagination or delusion is. I seriously do hope the CIA and the US is backing and supporting any Hong Kong citizens fight for democracy.
Anon
Condemning the Chinese government is condemning the people, the Chinese government is the greatest contributor to the welfare of their people, has conducted the human rights miracle of lifting more than 850 million people out of poverty, as well as eliminating absolute poverty last year, the sheer inhumanity of you not acknowledging that but instead wanting to condemn them for supporting such a government, is racist.
You’re racist.
Seriously
Again how am I a racist? Your argument is beyond laughable, but your absolute support for the communistic regime is astounding. You should reevaluate your own beliefs as no government is infallible not the US, China, UK, Japan, no one. I pity you because you believe you live in perfection and cannot recognize the pain and suffering of others within your own country. I assume you live in China.
Anon
Nah westerners like you don’t get the right to be condescending lmao. You are not qualified enough for it.
Laila
Just out of curiosity but just how popular is xianjiang that the country will go all out to boycott these big brand names? Just curious.
I don’t think what the companies did would be considered “racist”. That’s quite a reach. It’s more of an assumption made on their side. I don’t have a clue on what’s going on or fully understand why they’re super against h&m and these companies opinion regarding xianjiang but whatever floats their boat. I think a company has the right to terminate contracts with other companies if they deem fit. That’s their problem but I guess the fact that modern slavery became a topic, xiangjiang’s reputation was affected. At the end of the day, that’s China’s problem to deal with on how they want to handle and go about all this issue and boycott.
Anon
China produces 22% of the world’s cotton, of which 84% is produced in Xinjiang, 95% of all cotton production in Xinjiang is mechanized. Westerners are trying to smear and destabilize China with all these propaganda with baseless accusations and no proof, like how they changed their wording from “genocide” to “forced labour” which is such a vague and empty phrase because almost every job can be considered forced labour, and even then, in Nike’s own statement they said they have found no evidence of forced labour but still went and posted their dumb statement anyway. (It’s real, their statement literally says they found no evidence, but are still banning it.)
Western companies are banning the use of cotton produced in Xinjiang, based on literally zero evidence of forced labour, as well as disregarding the affect this will have on very real lives in China, is pretty racist. Not to mention it’s so incredibly hypocritical that countries that have bombed and invaded Muslim countries, have done things like the Muslim ban, as well as shooting up mosques are suddenly criticizing China and pretending to care about Muslims.
It’s also not just about Xinjiang, these companies want Chinese money while smearing Chinese people at the same time and think they can get away with it, which is why all these boycotts are happening right now because Chinese people are fed up with their attitude. This is why it’s so annoying seeing people say that the celebs that are cancelling deals with these companies are “doing it for the money”(how does that even make any sense), they’re cancelling deals because they don’t want to be associated with racist companies lmao.
Ugh
Oh boy. It’s not racists. A lot of these companies actually came under pressure from outside sources to do this. There are people who legit believe this is happening and there are groups that want this to stop because they don’t want to see human atrocities to happen to anyone no matter their ethnicity, which is the very opposite of racism. And I’m not saying it is or isn’t happening because unless there is proof to show yes or no I will keep a neutral stance. And yes, I’m sure there are some of these outside sources that are racists and spreading this to make others believe it, but believing it out of ignorance doesn’t make it racist. Also I have a group of friends who are ethnically Chinese (who don’t live in China but are ethnically Chinese or were born there and moved to other countries) who also believe this. It’s not just white westerners so please stop making prejudiced assumptions that it is. If it is happening I definitely want it to stop and my wish for it to stop has nothing to do with racism but the desire that everyone should live a happy and beautiful life no matter where they are from.
So please stop making sweeping generalizations that if people believe this or take a stance against it, they are automatically racist.
Anon
“It’s not racists. A lot of these companies actually came under pressure from outside sources to do this.” Let’s not be coy, it’s from the US which is an imperial racist regime.
“There are people who legit believe this is happening and there are groups that want this to stop because they don’t want to see human atrocities to happen to anyone no matter their ethnicity – ” And that’s commendable, but are you forgetting that such people also exist in China? And they are actually quite a lot of them? As in the the vast majority of people? They don’t need white saviours to come and virtue signal about their goodness. There are no atrocities happening there, they would know, they live there. You’re really looking down on Chinese people if you think atrocities are happening in front of their eyes and they’re not doing anything about it.
” – which is the very opposite of racism.” Uhh, you do realize that blanket banning all cotton from Xinjiang, without proof that any of them use forced labour, but just simply because they’re from Xinjiang, is the very literal definition of racism right? I can’t believe I have to explain this.
“Also I have a group of friends who are ethnically Chinese (who don’t live in China but are ethnically Chinese or were born there and moved to other countries) who also believe this.” Did you really just whip out the minority friends card, wow. I can’t believe I’m explaining this too but it doesn’t matter what ethnicity they are, or what they believe, it doesn’t change the reality that what westerners are accusing China of doing simply isn’t happening and you would know this if you’ve actually been to China.
You don’t seem like you have a very good grasp on what racism is, fun fact, if your issue is with me calling out the racism shown by these commenters, and not their racism itself, you’re racist too.
Ugh
I had a whole thing written out but then decided I wont bother to argue with you anymore, I don’t even know why I bothered in the first place. You have clearly very very strong prejudice against anyone from the west and seem to have come to assumptions about me, so there is no point to continue on. Think what you will and have a wonderful day 🙂
Kenji Masura
This just goes to show that the billions of money western countries have invested into this fake Xinjiang genocide narrative is producing results. Too bad for them though, China isn’t South America or Iraq.
Ugh
This whole argument is ridiculous. But I just want to say that condemning a government is NOT AT ALL related to condemning the people or racist. I hate my government so does that now mean I am now condemning everyone in my country including me? Absolutely not. People are subject to their governments wether they like it or not.
And no government is perfect and China most definitely isn’t perfect either. They have MANY MANY issues and you are starting to sound like you have eaten up their propaganda just like others here have eaten up the western propaganda, And please don’t just throw out the term racist just because someone doesn’t support a government. You are really reaching there.
Anon
Not sure why you brought up a false equivalence with your own government, when the only things they have in common is that they’re both governments. No country on Earth is the same as another one, and in this case, is it really that hard to understand that condemning China’s government is the same as condemning the people? What does that have to do with your government?
I’ve literally never said China was perfect in any of my comments, no need to put words in my mouth. And I don’t care that it makes you uncomfortable but saying things like “I hate the government and not the people” seemingly without realizing that the government is literally the single greatest force of good for the Chinese people, is racist. They aren’t perfect, no one has ever said they were, but you’d have to be a very unempathetic person to ignore the reasons why the Chinese people would support so much.
Ugh
Since when has having an opinion on a government became an opinion about the whole populace? I can’t wrap my head around where this crazy idea came from. A government is not the people, it guides and oversees the people in their country but they aren’t the whole populace of the people. And even in China there are many dissenting voices against their government. China has done many good things for their people, I am not arguing that at all, but there are things they do I don’t agree with. Just because I don’t 100% agree with them I am somehow against their whole population and am racist? Governments come and go, but the people don’t.
Anon
Every government is different. You can’t transplant your understanding of the relationship between the people and government in your own country unto other countries.
In China the interests of the people align with the government closely most of the time. You already mentioned that, while they aren’t perfect, they’ve done a lot of good things for the people, and I’m asking you to consider the idea that because of the numerous good things they’ve done it’s not too far fetched to say that most of the population see themselves as inseparable from the government, not just figuratively but also literally, the CPC has 93 million members currently. The government IS the people. Now when people say that they hate the Chinese government and not the people, it just sounds like they don’t understand the dynamic with the people and the government there. Of course there are people who dislike the government too, but in this case I don’t think it’s that hard to understand that saying you condemn the government is saying you condemn the people too.
Kenji Masura
That’s how its suppose to work, but sadly in America it only fuels hate crimes against Asian Americans. Do you really think all the anti-Chinese rhetoric spewed by that idiot Trump has done Asians across the globe any good. Most westerns cant tell Asians apart, and the recent spike in hate crimes can all be attributed to the anti-Chinese propaganda fueled by a bias western narrative.
Ugh
You’re preaching to the choir my friend. I think Trump is one of the worst humans on the planet for what he has done.
Moon
Saying the HK democracy was CIA and white supremacy is CCP propaganda at it’s finest. I think you’re beyond repair and your mind has become only input receiving and not capable of processing fact from fiction.
Moon
Was a reply specifically for Anon
PC
For more information/fact based investigative journalism and not your typical western media trash, go to http://www.thegrayzone.com. You’ll find some fascinating facts that will open your eyes about the “bad” countries of China, Venezuela, Russia, etc.
PC
Your comment is awaiting moderation. <—- wow!!! the fifth times now!
For more information/fact based investigative journalism and not your typical western media trash, go to http://www.thegrayzone.com. You’ll find some fascinating facts that will open your eyes about the “bad” countries of China, Venezuela, Russia, etc.
PC
Your comment is awaiting moderation. <—- wow!!! the sixth times now!
For more information/fact based investigative journalism and not your typical western media trash, go to www(dot)thegrayzone(dot)com. You’ll find some fascinating facts that will open your eyes about the “bad” countries of China, Venezuela, Russia, etc.
Moon
Hey PC, stop linking to the grayzone as this site is obviously biased and hates the US. Just do some research before you share trash propaganda.