{"id":1700,"date":"2026-10-27T10:30:50","date_gmt":"2026-10-27T10:30:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/2026\/10\/27\/china-brands-drop-mbappe-for-offending-national-sentiments\/"},"modified":"2026-10-27T10:30:50","modified_gmt":"2026-10-27T10:30:50","slug":"china-brands-drop-mbappe-for-offending-national-sentiments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/2026\/10\/27\/china-brands-drop-mbappe-for-offending-national-sentiments\/","title":{"rendered":"China brands drop Mbappe for \u2018offending national sentiments\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"China<\/p>\n

Kylian Mbappe was dropped on Tuesday by major Chinese brands after a video circulated of the Real Madrid and France superstar apparently joking about Mao Zedong.<\/p>\n

There were also signs of broader repercussions, with state-run The Paper reporting that public television was suspending broadcasts of matches from Spain\u2019s La Liga.<\/p>\n

The offending video shows Mbappe saying that the funniest internet meme he had seen involving him was of his face photo-shopped onto that of \u201csome guy \u2014 I think he\u2019s a Chinese dictator\u201d.<\/p>\n

This was an apparent reference to a meme of Mbappe superimposed on an image of Mao, one of several using the footballer\u2019s face and other historical figures.<\/p>\n

The authenticity of the video could not immediately be verified by AFP Fact Check.<\/p>\n

In China, jokes about Mao, the country\u2019s founding leader who died in 1976 \u2014 and whose drastic policies are also blamed by historians for mass starvation and millions of deaths \u2014 remain taboo.<\/p>\n

Beverage giant Dongpeng, which during this year\u2019s World Cup ran adverts with AI-generated images of Mbappe consuming its sports drink, said it was terminating all cooperation with the France captain.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur company firmly opposes and has a zero-tolerance policy towards any behaviour that offends national sentiments,\u201d Dongpeng said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Mengniu, China\u2019s largest dairy producer, and cheesemaker Milkground also said that they were cutting ties with Mbappe, who until now was hugely popular among Chinese fans with millions of followers on social media.<\/p>\n

Mbappe is fondly nicknamed \u201cGuigui\u201d, the Chinese translation of \u201cTurtle\u201d, due to his popularity as a character in a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles meme.<\/p>\n

\u201cDongpeng Beverage ends cooperation with Mbappe\u201d was the top-trending topic on Chinese social media site Weibo with 430 million views.<\/p>\n

One Weibo user said that the \u201cextremely serious wrong remarks\u2026 crossed the red line\u201d.<\/p>\n

Others urged Dongpeng to remove Mbappe\u2019s image from their energy drink bottles.<\/p>\n

Dongqiudi, one of China\u2019s biggest online football outlets, said in a statement on Monday evening that Mbappe\u2019s remarks were \u201coffensive to China and the Chinese people\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u2013 Furore \u2013<\/h2>\n

In an interview with French sports newspaper L\u2019Equipe, the 27-year-old Mbappe in September addressed a previous meme depicting him as a military dictator.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a part of it that\u2019s funny\u2026 but there is another part that\u2019s a bit less funny because of the damage such people have caused throughout history,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Asked on Tuesday about the controversy, China\u2019s foreign ministry said that it was aware of the reports.<\/p>\n

\u201cWords and actions that hurt the feelings of the Chinese people will naturally be met with unanimous rejection from all sectors of Chinese society,\u201d spokesman Guo Jiakun told a regular briefing.<\/p>\n

State media outlet The Paper cited sources at the state broadcaster saying that CCTV has suspended all broadcasts of La Liga matches, and that all advertisements involving Mbappe have also been removed.<\/p>\n

On the CCTV website all searches for \u201cMbappe\u201d drew no result, although there were still results for \u201cReal Madrid\u201d, and La Liga matches this weekend were still on its online viewing schedule.<\/p>\n

\u2013 Drawing China\u2019s ire \u2013<\/h2>\n

Global sports stars who have commented on sensitive topics such as Taiwan, Tibet and Hong Kong have previously caused controversy in China and been dumped by sponsors there.<\/p>\n

China suspended sponsorship deals with the NBA while the state broadcaster pulled NBA games off Chinese television for a year in October 2019.<\/p>\n

This followed Houston Rockets executive Daryl Morey tweeting \u201cFight for freedom, stand with Hong Kong\u201d, referring to protests Beijing called separatist and seditious.<\/p>\n

Adam Zhang, founder of the Beijing-based sports consultancy firm Key-Solution Sports Consulting, said that Mbappe\u2019s team needed to act quickly to manage the growing crisis.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s crucial to make a sincere statement. The sooner, the better,\u201d Zhang, who has advised many companies on sports advertising strategies, told AFP.<\/p>\n

Fans made their feelings clear.<\/p>\n

\u201cI used to really enjoy watching Mbappe play on the pitch,\u201d Zhang Jingqi, 30, who works at a mall in central Beijing, told AFP.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut ever since this news broke yesterday I have lost that admiration, sorry to say.\u201d<\/p>\n

AFP<\/p>\n

\n

The post China brands drop Mbappe for \u2018offending national sentiments\u2019<\/a> appeared first on Vanguard News<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Source: <\/p>\n

Vanguard News<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kylian Mbappe was dropped on Tuesday by major Chinese brands after a video circulated of the Real Madrid and France superstar apparently joking about Mao Zedong. There were also signs… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1701,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1700","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1700","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1700"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1700\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1701"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1700"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1700"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1700"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}