SHANGHAI: Mini, a British automaker, has responded to a Chinese internet uproar accusing it of racism at the Shanghai Auto Show.
A video from the occasion showed Mini employees giving out ice cream to foreign visitors while rejecting the Chinese ones. BMW of Germany owns Mini China, and the business said that its personnel received gifts from the workers. In addition, it expressed its “deep regret for the unhappy mood the incident brought on everyone.”
Mini China claimed to have distributed 600 ice creams during the exhibition on April 18 and 19 in a statement published on the Chinese social media site Weibo. Along with providing 300 servings of ice cream daily, we also set aside a very modest amount for our devoted coworkers on-site, according to Mini China. The statement said, “The four to five foreigners you see in the video are coworkers sporting employee badges.
In the video, the corporation urged consideration for staff members and added that management and training errors were to blame for the tragedy. Mini China previously stated that the gift was “intended to give sweetness to friends big and small.” When the BBC contacted BMW on Friday for additional comment, they did not react immediately. With over 93 million views, the subject “BMW Mini” immediately rose to the top searches on Weibo. Most of the remarks were unfavourable. More than 165,000 people liked a message that read, “You should have specified that the initial purpose was to give ‘foreign’ big and small friends sweetness.”
Someone commented, “I feel embarrassed as a Mini owner.” The incident inspired one vlogger to hand free ice cream in front of the Mini stand at the auto show. He admitted to giving it to Chinese individuals out of pure rage to the Chinese media site Jimu News. Other social media users, though, urged patience. “Let’s handle this sensibly. According to a post that received a lot of unfavourable feedback, people will always disagree no matter what kind of explanation [Mini] provides.
Former editor-in-chief of the state-run newspaper Global Times Hu Xijin stated, “We shouldn’t unnecessarily exaggerate a problem to become a question of ideological issue or principle.” “Let the staff learn their lessons, and as much as possible, let their future events return to normal. Let’s prevent other vendors from being anxious due to this,” he continued. Because of the rise in nationalist feelings on the internet, Chinese internet users have been more outspoken about how Chinese people are portrayed. On Chinese social media last week, the French luxury brand Dior was also charged with racism for an advertisement that featured an Asian model pulling up the corner of her eye.
The image promoting Dior’s new beauty line was quickly removed. In China, one of its greatest markets, Dior has previously been involved in controversies. It was charged in 2022 with “culturally appropriating” a traditional Chinese pattern for one of its skirts. A Chinese snack company came under fire earlier that year for employing a woman with narrow eyes in its commercials.
