Mbappé Loses Chinese Sponsors Over Mao Meme as Dongpeng, Mengniu End Deals
Dongpeng, Mengniu and Milkground have cut ties with the Real Madrid striker in China. He had praised a meme showing him as Mao Zedong.
By Marcel
Automatically translated from German · may contain errors · Read the original
Several Chinese companies ended their partnerships with Kylian Mbappé with immediate effect on Tuesday, October 27. The trigger was a video clip in which the French soccer star called a meme his funniest. It shows his face superimposed on the body of Mao Zedong, the founder of the People's Republic of China.
Beverage maker Dongpeng and dairy group Mengniu announced the split on the platform Weibo. Cheese maker Milkground, a Mengniu subsidiary, also ended its cooperation. The statements are almost identically worded: "Our company strictly rejects any behavior that hurts national feelings and has a zero-tolerance policy on this."
Mbappé is hugely popular in China, and his advertising deals there were highly visible. Dongpeng signed him in April, and his face appeared on bottles and in advertising. According to the portal Huxiu, the partnership with Mengniu had run since 2021.
Remarks made on online talk show
The clip comes from the French online talk show "The Bridge," with Mbappé's Real Madrid teammate Aurélien Tchouaméni. Asked about the funniest meme about himself, Mbappé named one in which his face had been superimposed on "a guy – I think he's a Chinese dictator." The image with Mao's body is then shown. Mbappé said he often uses the meme with friends, especially while gaming.
Mbappé did not name Mao. The show has apparently removed the original video. The fact-checking team of the news agency AFP was initially unable to independently verify the video's authenticity.
In September, Mbappé had spoken in an interview with the sports newspaper L'Équipe about memes that put his face on politicians and military figures. Some were funny, others less so, he said, because such figures had historically caused harm.
Foreign Ministry cites hurt feelings
Mao Zedong (1893–1976) founded the People's Republic of China and led the Communist Party. Jokes about him are taboo in China. The hashtag about Dongpeng's split topped the trending list on Weibo on Tuesday. Many users demanded an apology or called for a boycott.
The sports platform Dongqiudi condemned the remarks as insulting to China and Chinese fans and said it would not translate them. China's Foreign Ministry said that words and actions that hurt the feelings of the Chinese people meet with natural resistance from all parts of society.
More companies remove content
Swiss sports brand On deleted content featuring Mbappé from its Weibo channel but did not issue an official termination. On had announced a global partnership with the striker only on September 18.
State broadcaster CCTV, the platform RedNote, as well as Dior and Hublot also removed some content. According to the portal Sina Finance, the sports platform Hupu deleted Mbappé's placement in the Ballon d'Or vote. He missed out on the award on Monday, October 26, finishing second behind Harry Kane. Neither Mbappé nor Real Madrid had commented on the incident as of Tuesday.
