A section of the Chinese social media recently targeted Mercedes-Benz over an advertisement that purportedly emphasized on the slating eyes of the model. A Bloomberg report states that the advertisement was posted on the Mercedes-Benz account on Weibo but was later removed as a heated discussion on portrayal of Asian-looking features by western companies.
Many social media users on Weibo, the Chinese version of Twitter, pointed to how the said advertisement was trying to highlight the headlight of the Mercedes car by attempting to make a comparison with the model’s slanting eyes. “The makeup of the female model looked like slanted eyes and once again aroused a heated discussion from netizens with many blaming that the makeup reflects Western stereotypes about Asian people,” a report in the state-run Global Times stated.
But while the advertisement has since been taken off, many have also commented on how it is a case of making a mountain of a molehill.