Versace apologized on August 11 over a furore that emerged on China’s Sina Weibo social media network — just a day later, Coach and Givenchy are following suit. The new controversy is almost identical to the previous one, in which a faux tour shirt ignited a firestorm due to what users cited as misattributed territorial ownership under the “One-China”policy.
Weibo users called out a particular Versace tee as the cause of consternation, which sported a graphic on the rear that designated Macau and Hong Kong as independent countries, neglecting to acknowledge the cities as part of China. Images of Coach and Givenchy T-shirts with similar notations began to circulate on Weibo shortly after the Versace photo made the rounds. Each brand’s T-shirt referred to Hong Kong as an independent country, and Coach’s tee made the same implication for Taiwan.
CNN reports that a hashtag related to the Coach T-shirt had been read over a billion times on Weibo, with users calling for a boycott of both companies. Furthermore, Givenchy ambassador Jackson Yee, member of popular Chinese boy band TFBoys joined supermodel and Coach ambassador Liu Wen in severing ties with the respective fashion brands they worked with.
“At any time, China’s sovereignty and territory integrity are inviolable!” wrote Wen on her Weibo page. “My carelessness in choosing which brand to work with has brought harm to everyone; I apologize to everyone here! I love my motherland and resolutely safeguard China’s sovereignty.” A letter from her lawyer accompanied her post, affirming that the tees had “severely hurt the feelings of Chinese people.” The brands both maintain several ambassadors in China who currently remain with the labels through the controversy (including Fan Chengcheng, pictured above).
Both Coach and Givenchy have posted apologies on their own social media pages, attempting to placate the backlash. Givenchy’s post insinuated an immediate recall of the offending tee, adding that “this mistake … does not reflect the deep respect [Givenchy] has for its Chinese audiences throughout the world.” Meanwhile, Coach acknowledged that its shirt was from an older collection and was no longer being produced, adding that “Coach respects and supports China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. … We are fully aware of the severity of this error and deeply regret it.”
By Robert Marshall
Source CNN
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