China brands drop Mbappe for 'offending national sentiments'

BEIJING: Kylian Mbappe was dropped on Tuesday (Oct 27) by major Chinese brands after a video circulated of the Real Madrid and France superstar apparently joking about Mao Zedong.

There were also signs of broader repercussions, with state-run The Paper reporting that public television was suspending broadcasts of matches from Spain's La Liga.

The offending video shows Mbappe saying that the funniest internet meme he had seen involving him was of his face photo-shopped onto that of "some guy - I think he's a Chinese dictator".

This was an apparent reference to a meme of Mbappe superimposed on an image of Mao, one of several using the footballer's face and other historical figures.

The authenticity of the video could not immediately be verified by AFP Fact Check.

In China jokes about Mao, the country's founding leader who died in 1976 - and whose drastic policies are also blamed by historians for mass starvation and millions of deaths - remain taboo.

Beverage giant Dongpeng, which during this year's World Cup ran adverts with AI-generated images of Mbappe consuming its sports drink, said it was terminating all cooperation with the France captain.

"Our company firmly opposes and has a zero-tolerance policy towards any behaviour that offends national sentiments," Dongpeng said in a statement.

Mengniu, China's largest dairy producer, and cheesemaker Milkground also said that they were cutting ties with Mbappe, who until now was hugely popular among Chinese fans with millions of followers on social media.

Mbappe is fondly nicknamed "Guigui", the Chinese translation of "Turtle", due to his popularity as a character in a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles meme.

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