An advertisement for the cosmetics survey has been withdrawn in China after a backlash over allegations of victim blame
Screenshot from the video
An advertisement for Weibo makeup wipes was pulled after outrage and complaints.
An advertisement for makeup-removing wipes was withdrawn after outrage and allegations of victim blame.
The advertisement was released by Chinese product brand Purcotton, and it aims to promote women’s cosmetic wipes.
The controversial clip shows a woman in makeup walking down the street at night, followed by a masked man. When the guy approaches, she pulls out a wipe-clean makeup remover from her handbag and cleans her face.
Then she turns as soon as her attacker reaches her, scaring him with her bare makeup face.
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The ad was pulled from social media and Purcotton apologized after outraged Chinese social media users, who condemned it and claimed the ad contained a message of blaming the victim.
“How can you make fun of tracking a woman late at night?” An angry user wrote on the Chinese platform Weibo.
Another said on Weibo: “The woman is not guilty here, the perpetrator is the one who wants to commit a crime”, South China Morning Newspaper mentioned.
Purcotton has apologized by writing two separate letters about the advertisement on its Weibo account. It said it would review measures to prevent similar incidents from happening again.
“We have set up a team to hold people accountable for the problem, and in the meantime, we will improve content production and review process to prevent similar incidents from happening again,” CNN quoted the post as saying.
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