Blue Moon's Mother's Day ad told moms to do laundry — China called it sexist

In May 2024, Blue Moon, China's best-known laundry detergent brand, placed posters in apartment elevators across the country to promote a Mother's Day livestream event. The ads showed silhouettes of women doing household chores and carried the slogans 'Make laundry easier, more effortless, and more worry-free for mom' and 'Mom, you use it first.'

The backlash was immediate. On Weibo, users called the campaign sexist for framing laundry as a mother's job. The hashtag amassed over 12 million views. Residents defaced the posters with stickers reading 'Housework isn't a gift, men can also do laundry' and posted photos online. Blue Moon's first apology — saying it 'has always advocated that housework should be shared by the whole family' — was criticised as insincere and was deleted.

Three days into the crisis, Blue Moon withdrew the campaign and launched a public contest on Xiaohongshu for a replacement slogan, offering a 100,000 yuan prize. The new posters still drew criticism for implying women do the washing. The controversy wiped approximately HK$500 million off Blue Moon's market capitalisation.