Company behind 'racist' Chinese detergent commercial apologizes

Qiaobi, a Chinese brand of laundry detergent that has gained controversial internet fame for an ad many say is racist, is apologizing.

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The ad featured a black man being put in a washing machine by a pale Chinese woman. He then emerges from the machine as a pale Chinese man.

The ad was quickly criticized as racist on various social media, including Twitter and Weibo, a social media site in China.

A spokesperson for Leishang, the company that owns Qiaobi, told the state-run Chinese newspaper Global Times Friday the company "meant nothing but to promote the product, and ... never thought about the issue of racism," and that "the foreign media might have been too sensitive."

The Associated Press reported that the company issued another statement Saturday.

Although similar to its earlier statement, the latest one indicated that outside media have exaggerated the ad.

"We express regret that the ad should have caused a controversy. But we will not shun responsibility for controversial content," the company said. "We express our apology for the harm caused to the African people because of the spread of the ad and the over-amplification by the media. We sincerely hope the public and the media will not over-read it."

Cox Media Group