中国のメーク落としＣＭ、「被害者たたき」と炎上・取り下げ

【北京ＡＦＰ＝時事】中国でメーク落としのCMが、女性のメークと性被害を関連付ける「被害者たたき」だと非難を受け、メーカーはCMの取り下げと謝罪に追い込まれた。（写真は資料写真）
　中国の綿製品メーカー「全綿時代」が先週放送開始したＣＭは、夜に帰宅中の女性が男性のストーカーにつけられ、追いつかれると同社製品でメークを落として男性に変身し、ストーカーを追い払う内容だった。
　しかし中国のソーシャルメディアではこの広告に対する批判が広がった。中国版ツイッターの「微博（ウェイボー）」では、深刻な問題を軽視するＣＭだと非難され、同社製品の不買運動も起きた。
　「これは女性を侮辱しているだけじゃないの？ ストーカーされる女性をテーマにＣＭを作る？ これは犯罪だ」というコメントには、「いいね」が５万件付いた。
　全綿時代は２回謝罪したが、当初は「クリエーティブなコンセプト」と釈明していたため、さらなる反発を招いた。
　これに対する「女性にとって最悪の恐怖と痛みをＣＭのテーマに使い、声高に正当化するなんて……脳みそついてる？」というコメントへの「いいね」は、３万件を超えた。
　ネット炎上が広がる中、全綿時代は８日、ウェイボーへの投稿でこの問題を「重要視」していると述べ、「ＣＭの内容でみなさんに不快な思いをさせてしまったことを深くおわびし、ＣＭを直ちに取り下げる」と発表した。
　それでも炎上が収まらなかったため、全綿時代は１１日、さらに長い謝罪コメントを発表した。１２日朝の時点でウェイボーのハッシュタグ「全綿時代謝罪」の閲覧数は、５億回を記録している。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2021/01/15-12:21）

A Chinese advert for make-up wipes which linked a woman's appearance to the likelihood of assault has been taken down, and the company forced to apologise, after a backlash over victim-blaming.
The advert, released last week by Chinese cotton products manufacturer Purcotton, showed a woman walking home at night followed by a male stalker.
As he gains on her, she removes her make-up using the wipes and transforms into a man, scaring off the would-be attacker.
It was widely panned on Chinese social media, as users on the Twitter-like service Weibo complained it made light of a serious issue and vowed to boycott the brand's products.
Isn't this simply insulting the female sex? Making an advert out of a woman being stalked? This is a crime, wrote one user, in a comment that amassed more than 50,000 likes.
Although the company has since apologised twice, it initially defended the advert as a creative concept, prompting further outrage.
To use women's worst fears and pain as the subject of an advert, and then defend it loudly -- do you even have a brain? read one comment which gained over 30,000 likes.
Faced with a deepening PR disaster, Purcotton wrote on Weibo on Friday that it attached high importance to the affair, and added as for the discomfort the video's content caused to everyone, we deeply apologise and will immediately take down the video.
But the internet furore did not abate and Purcotton issued a longer apology on Monday.
The Weibo hashtag Purcotton apology had gained 500 million views as of Tuesday morning.
Even state media weighed in on the controversy.
It beautifies the criminal and smears the victim, and is full of prejudice, malice and ignorance, the official newspaper of the state-run women's rights group All-China Women's Federation wrote in a Friday commentary.
The Purcotton brand, owned by Winner Medical Group, operates over 240 stores across China, selling products such as clothing, tissues, sanitary pads and diapers.
It is the latest company to be ensnared as more and more Chinese social media users have called out adverts deemed sexist in recent years, a trend that major international brands such as Ikea and Audi have also fallen foul of.
Last November, the Taiwanese supermarket chain RT-Mart apologised after internet commentators accused it of fat-shaming customers.
Plus-sized women's clothes in its Chinese stores were labelled rotten and extra rotten, while sizes small and medium were labelled skinny and beautiful.
A Chinese Audi advert in 2017 was heavily criticised for showing a bride being physically inspected at the aisle by her future mother-in-law, which drew comparisons to inspecting livestock or used cars.