The encyclopedia · Advertising & PR · Marketing decision · 2021
Three Squirrels pulled an ad after its model's eye makeup was called a racist stereotype
A 2019 product poster resurfaced in 2021 showing a model with small eyes. Accused of uglifying Chinese people, Three Squirrels apologised and replaced it.
Three Squirrels · 2021-12
What happened
Three Squirrels, one of China's biggest online snack brands, ran a product poster in October 2019 shot in the 'guochao' or national-trend style then in fashion. Two years later, in December 2021, the image resurfaced on Weibo. Critics focused on the model's makeup — small, stylised eyes and full lips — and accused the brand of deliberately uglifying Chinese people by leaning on a Western stereotype of Asian eyes.
The complaint spread quickly, landing in the middle of a wider online debate about how Chinese brands and photographers portray Chinese faces. Three Squirrels issued a statement on 26 December. The model in the poster, it said, was Chinese, and her makeup 'was based on her personal features, with no deliberate uglification.' The brand apologised for the discomfort the image had caused.
Three Squirrels said it had replaced the page immediately and was checking its other product pages to make sure it did not happen again. The model herself pushed back, writing that she felt helpless: doing the job a client asked for, she said, was not the same as humiliating her country, and she asked people to stop the personal attacks. The brand's bigger problem was that a two-year-old image could still define it overnight.
Why it happened
- A stylised 'national trend' aesthetic that read as edgy in 2019 read as a racial caricature two years later, once the mood around how Chinese faces are portrayed had hardened.
- The brand kept old product pages live without reviewing them, so a single resurfaced image could speak for the whole company.
- Its first defence — that there was 'no deliberate uglification' — answered intent while the public was reacting to impact, which prolonged the argument.
The lesson
Your back catalogue is still your marketing. An image that fit the mood when you posted it can define you the day the mood changes. When it does, answer the impact on the audience, not your intent.
Aftermath
Three Squirrels said the 2019 shoot had chosen the 'guochao' style to give consumers a national-trend visual feel, and stressed it was unrelated to a separate photographer controversy that same month. The episode was part of a broader reckoning in Chinese marketing over 'slanted eye' imagery, with several brands and fashion shoots criticised in the same period. For a company built on likeable mascot branding, the lesson was that a snack poster could carry a charge its team never intended.
Sources
- Newsweek — Chinese Model Defends Participation in Ad Some Say Included Derogatory Asian Stereotype
- 澎湃新闻 — 三只松鼠就模特妆容道歉：基于其个人特征打造，无刻意丑化
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