Amazon faces online backlash in China for T-shirts with Hong Kong democracy slogans

SHANGHAI (Reuters) – Chinese social media customers directed their fury at online retailer Amazon.com on Thursday, after discovering T-shirts on its web site sporting slogans that help anti-government protesters in Hong Kong.

The hashtag “Amazon T-Shirts” grew to become the fourth-top trending subject on China’s Twitter-like Weibo on Wednesday in the newest backlash for an abroad firm that broached issues relating to Hong Kong’s territorial standing.

The widely-read Global Times tabloid, printed by China’s state-owned People’s Daily, stated many Chinese web customers discovered the T-shirts for sale carrying slogans reminiscent of “Free Hong Kong Democracy Now” and “Hong Kong is Not China”, amongst others.

Legions of web customers accused the positioning of being insensitive towards the Chinese folks, with one Weibo commenter writing, “Amazon has already left China, right? We need to teach this company a lesson.”

The e-commerce large shut its home buying service in July, however continues to ship abroad items to the nation.

A consultant for Amazon didn’t reply to Reuters’ emailed request for remark.

Protests in Hong Kong are attracting media consideration throughout the area, as activists have occupied public areas throughout the worldwide monetary hub for greater than 10 weeks, to attract consideration to a perceived erosion of civil liberties in Hong Kong.

At the beginning of the protests, home media from mainland China gave them solely restricted protection however they now dominate headlines in each state-owned newspapers and online publications.

Several celebrities from mainland China severed ties with quite a few style labels this week, after online customers identified that they had launched attire that referred to Hong Kong and Taiwan as separate from the People’s Republic of China.

Versace, Calvin Klein, and different manufacturers every issued public apologies online, both on Chinese social media accounts or abroad ones.

Coach, which drew fireplace for a T-shirt that implied Taiwan was a definite entity from China, stated that in May 2018 it found a “serious inaccuracy” in one in all its clothes gadgets and pulled it from retailer cabinets.