China detergent company apologizes for racist ad, blames media

Remember the Qiaobi laundry detergent drops advert which shows a black man walk into a room trying to flirt with an Asian woman which went viral and drew world wide criticism . The Chinese laundry detergent producer has apologized for the advert.

Shanghai Leishang Cosmetics Ltd Co said it condemns racial discrimination but blamed foreign media for magnifying the ad, which drew protests this week after media reports.

"We express regret that the ad should have caused a controversy," the statement issued late on Saturday read.

"But we will not shun responsibility for controversial content."

"We express our apology for the harm caused to the African people because of the spread of the ad and the over-amplification by the media," the company said.

"We sincerely hope the public and the media will not over-read it."

In the ad, the black man is seen carrying a pail of paint, wears dirty clothes and has a stained face.
The woman uses detergent drop on him and pad his body into a top-loading washer. When the cycle completes, a fair-skinned Asian man in a clean white T-shirt appears to the woman's delight.

Speaking to the Chinese nationalist newspaper The Global Times, a Mr Wang of Leishang said the critics were "too sensitive" and the issue of racial discrimination never came up during the video production.