Swiss watchmaker Swatch apologized and pulled an advertisement on Saturday that Chinese audiences called offensive.
In both an Instagram post and a post on Weibo, the Chinese social media site, the watch company announced it had removed an ad featuring an Asian model making an allegedly racist gesture and apologized to consumers it had offended.
“We have taken note of the recent concerns regarding the portrayal of a model in images for the Swatch ESSENTIALS Collection. We treat this matter with the utmost importance and have immediately removed all related materials worldwide,” the post read.
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“We sincerely apologize for any distress or misunderstanding this may have caused,” Swatch added.
U.K. outlet The Guardian published a screenshot of the controversial ad, which featured an Asian model wearing an orange watch from Swatch’s “ESSENTIALS” collection. In the photo, the model is depicted pulling his eyelids towards the back of his head with his fingers.
Social media users in China – one of the watchmaker’s biggest markets – ripped the company, accusing it of displaying the “slanted eyes” gesture that has been used to mock people of Asian descent.
Social media users also rejected Swatch’s apology.
“I can’t believe that such a large watch company could make such a careless mistake. You should not bring discrimination against Asians into your product posters. This will only cause you to lose more Asian customers and bring no benefit. This cannot be forgiven,” one user wrote in the comments sections of the company’s apology on Instagram.
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Another wrote, “You purposely use an Asian doing the slanted eye pose for your latest collection and calling it misunderstanding? I mean if only I was born yesterday.”
Yet another user indicated they didn’t buy the apology as stated.
“Calling it a ‘misunderstanding’ is just wild. You really should fire everyone in your marketing team,” they said.
Other users also called for a boycott of other watch brands owned by Swatch Group, including Omega, Longines, Breguet, and Tissot.
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Offending Chinese audiences could further imperil Swatch’s already-declining sales in the region.
The watch company suffered a 7.1 percent decline in sales for the first half of 2025.
“The decline in sales is exclusively attributable to China,” the company said in a statement in July.
The watch company did not immediately reply to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
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