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Dior in China social media storm over 'pulled eye' make-up ad

French fashion house Dior, part of the LVMH luxury goods group, has been accused of racism on Chinese social media and in the country's press for posting a photo on its Instagram account, which it subsequently removed, of an East Asian model pulling up a corner of her eye, captioned 'Channel your feline fierceness'.

La rédaction de Mediapart

This article is freely available.

Luxury brand Dior has been accused of racism on Chinese social media over an advertisement showing an Asian model pulling up the corner of her eye, reports BBC News.

The French label posted the picture on its Instagram account earlier this week, before swiftly taking it down.

Dior has not made any public comment. The BBC has asked them for a response.

Chinese netizens have become increasingly sensitive to the depiction of Chinese people amid rising nationalist sentiment online.

The controversial picture was posted six days ago to promote Dior's new makeup collection. It shows the model pulling up her eye with the caption "Channel your feline fierceness".

It was later reposted by netizens on Chinese social media platforms, where it received criticism and sparked the viral hashtag "Dior makeup advertisement accused of discriminating against Asians" on Weibo.

Angry comments have also flooded the label's Instagram account. "It's racial discrimination," a top-liked comment reads.

"Are you trying to make money and play racism at the same time?" a Chinese user posted.

State-owned newspaper Global Times published an editorial calling on the brand to apologise.

Read more of this report from BBC News.