The encyclopedia · Advertising & PR · Marketing decision · 2021
A two-year-old 'slanted-eyes' poster resurfaced and Three Squirrels apologised
A 2019 Three Squirrels promo poster, with a Chinese model in a slanted-eye look, resurfaced in 2021 and was read as racial stereotyping, forcing an apology.
Three Squirrels · 2021-12
What happened
On 26 December 2021 the topic shot onto Weibo's hot search: netizens reposted a Three Squirrels product poster photographed in 2019, showing a Chinese model with a deliberately exaggerated slanted-eye look, and many read it as intentional caricature of Chinese faces.
Three Squirrels replied that the product launched in October 2019, the model was Chinese and the make-up was based on her own features, with no intent to caricature, but it apologised for the discomfort caused and said it had already replaced the page and was auditing its other product pages.
The backlash did not stop at the statement. Netizens flooded the brand's Taobao livestream and attacked the host, who had to go offline within half an hour, and critics linked the poster to a wider 2021 argument over 眯眯眼 imagery in Chinese advertising.
The episode was a reminder that advertising from years earlier can be dragged into a fresh controversy, because screenshots never expire and the audience's mood has moved.
Why it happened
- A make-up choice that read as a racial stereotype triggered a national debate, because the 眯眯眼 look carries a charged history in China.
- The poster was two years old, so the claim that it was simply 国潮风格 could not stop the screenshots from travelling.
- The statement owned the discomfort without conceding damage, which fed the backlash that stormed the livestream.
- It landed right after the 陈漫/Dior 眯眯眼 argument, so the audience was primed to read the pose as offensive.
The lesson
Advertising is dated the moment it is made, but it never expires. A 2019 poster carried Three Squirrels into a 2021 racism row, and no statement could undo the screenshots.
Aftermath
Three Squirrels replaced the poster, apologised, and promised to audit its other product pages, but the phrase 三只松鼠眯眯眼 stayed on the internet and the incident became a fixture in China's ongoing argument over 眯眯眼 imagery in advertising.
Sources
- 封面新闻/中新经纬 via Sina: 三只松鼠回应眯眯眼海报事件 (the poster, the statement)
- 澎湃新闻: 三只松鼠'眯眯眼'海报引争议背后的审美之争 (the 2021 controversy, the wider debate)
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