Subject:
Are ‘slit eyes’ an insult to China? (Nov 16, 2023)
Prayer Request:
Are ‘slit eyes’ an insult to China?Overnight, Chinese social media was flooded with the term “slit-eyed”, thanks to which popular Chinese online snack brand Three Squirrels was berated and this became the second hottest story on the list of hot searches.To get more news about chinky eyes, you can visit shine news official website.It all started when netizens shared a series of Three Squirrels publicity posters for food products such as hot and sour rice noodles and luosifen . In the end, no one was interested in the products; instead, the focus was on the advertisement model’s “slit eyes”, which some netizens thought smacked of ugly Chinese people, and huge outrage ensued on Weibo.Critics said Three Squirrels did uglify the Chinese, and “such advertisements that intentionally pander to the Western aesthetics of uglifying the Chinese should be firmly rejected”, adding that “the advertisement for Three Squirrels Hot and Sour Rice Noodles was a disaster, along with the model with her arrogant slit eyes and super-thick lips”, and that “rejecting Three Squirrels starts from you and me”
The other camp, on the other hand, defended the advertisements, saying aesthetics covered a wide spectrum and there was no need to make a big deal of it. They declared that “the so-called patriots have gone mad”, and should not have such fragile egos. A great country should have confidence in its own culture, but “why is it that the bigger and more powerful, the stronger the feeling of inferiority?”On 26 December, Three Squirrels issued a statement apologising for the incident, saying that the product went online in October 2019, and the makeup for the model — who is Chinese — was done based on her unique personal features, and was “not meant to intentionally uglify" her, adding that the webpage was changed to avoid creating discomfort.Slit-eyed, so what?
This case shares almost identical circumstances to a previous incident involving Dior; both have been accused of insulting slit-eyed Chinese, and both involved old works that were dug up and criticised. The difference is that in the previous case it was a Western brand and Dior photographer Chen Man was the one who apologised, while this time it is a Chinese brand, and it was the company Three Squirrels itself that apologised.
Coincidentally, the new Chinese animated movie I Am What I Am was also criticised by netizens on similar grounds.In a rare move, the model in the Three Squirrels posters spoke out against the big fuss kicked up by netizens which generated more heat.On the night of 26 December, a Weibo user “Cai Niangniang” posted that she was the model in the controversial Three Squirrels image. Addressing the comments people have been making, she explained she was born with small eyes and that it was her personality and style that landed her the assignment, and it was not her intention to insult the Chinese.She said she felt helpless about the online comments. "I don't know what I did wrong, to invite such online violence." She stressed that she was just an ordinary working person doing her job.
Cai asked: "Am I not fit to be Chinese just because my eyes are small? Was I an insult to Chinese people the day I was born? Can I sue you for discrimination?"
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