Mbappe's Mao words created a crisis in China: Two giant companies severed ties

Chinese beverage producer Dongpeng and the country's largest dairy products producer Mengniu announced on Tuesday, October 27, that they have terminated all their cooperation with French football player Kylian Mbappe.

The decisions came after a video of the French national team captain talking about an internet image thought to have his face superimposed on a photograph of former Chinese leader Mao Zedong went viral on social media.

WORDS THAT DRAW A REACTION

In the video, Mbappe says that the image that made him laugh the most on the internet was a montage in which his face was placed on another person's face. The football player describes this person with the words: "Someone... I think it was a Chinese dictator."

It is thought that Mbappe was referring to an image in which his face was superimposed on a photo of Mao. The work in question is one of the internet images in which the football player's face is placed on photographs of various historical figures.

Mao, the founder of the People's Republic of China, died in 1976. Making fun of Mao is considered disrespectful and a social taboo in China.

"MAO OUR RED LINE"

Dongpeng stated in his statement that he is against behavior that hurts national feelings and that he has implemented a 'zero tolerance' policy on this issue, and said, "We are immediately ending all cooperation with Kylian Mbappe."

With a similar statement, Mengniu announced that he had ended all cooperation with Real Madrid's star player. The company emphasized that it is strictly against words and actions that hurt the feelings of the Chinese people.

Advertisements created with artificial intelligence, showing 27-year-old Mbappe drinking one of Dongpeng's sports drinks, were frequently broadcast in China during this year's World Cup.

IT CREATED A DIPLOMATIC CRISIS

Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Guo Jiakun stated that they saw the news on the subject at the daily press conference and made the following statement:

“Words and actions that hurt the feelings of the Chinese people will naturally encounter a common reaction from all segments of Chinese society.”

The tag "Dongpeng ended his cooperation with Mbappe" became one of the most talked about topics on China's social media platform Weibo.

IT HAS A LARGE AUDIENCE IN THE COUNTRY

Mbappe had a large fan base in China and millions of followers on social media before the incident. The football player is also known by the nickname "Guigui", meaning "turtle" in China, due to internet images associated with Ninja Turtles characters.