Swatch's model pulled his eyes into a 'slant eye' pose — China pulled the brand

In August 2025, Swatch published promotional images on Chinese social media showing an Asian male model pulling the corners of his eyes into what commentators identified as the racist 'slant eye' gesture, historically used to mock Asian people. The images promoted the Swatch Essentials collection and appeared on platforms including Weibo.

The backlash was immediate. Chinese consumers called for a boycott, and products were pulled from Chinese e-commerce platforms. Brand sentiment data from CARMA showed Swatch's positive sentiment falling from 32.3% to 17.6% while negative sentiment rose from 11.9% to 44.7%, across more than 1,900 global mentions.

On 16 August, Swatch apologised in statements on Instagram and Weibo, saying it had 'taken note of recent concerns regarding the portrayal of a model' and confirmed it had removed all related materials worldwide. The apology did not prevent the commercial consequences: the brand faced a sustained boycott in one of its largest markets.

Swatch pulled the products and apologized in two languages, but the boycott cost them a top market.

The creative was approved without a cultural-sensitivity review that would have identified the gesture's history as a racial caricature

A global campaign was localised for China without a local review stage that could have flagged the specific sensitivity

The gesture echoed a pattern: Dior faced similar criticism in 2023 for an ad showing an Asian model pulling up the corner of her eye

Swatch's China revenue dependence meant the boycott had immediate commercial consequences, not just reputational ones

A gesture that reads as playful in a studio can read as a racial caricature in the market — local review is not a translation step, it is a cultural-sensitivity gate.

Swatch removed all related materials worldwide and issued apologies in English and Chinese. The brand's sentiment recovered slowly. The case was cited alongside Dolce & Gabbana's 2018 chopsticks controversy as an example of Western brands repeatedly failing to anticipate Chinese consumer sensitivity to perceived cultural disrespect.