People's Daily Online, Seoul, October 21. Recently, an advertisement by the well-known Japanese clothing brand Uniqlo was suspended after being protested and accused by Korean netizens because it contained sensitive content that insulted "comfort women." Uniqlo stated on the 20th

People's Daily Online, Seoul, October 21. Recently, an advertisement by Uniqlo, a well-known Japanese clothing brand, was suspended after being protested and accused by Korean netizens because it contained sensitive content that insulted "comfort women." Uniqlo stated on the 20th that the advertisement has nothing to do with any political or religious events, beliefs, or groups. However, because it caused discomfort to everyone, it decided to immediately interrupt the broadcast of the relevant advertisement.

According to Korean media reports, in the advertisement, a teenage girl asked a 90-year-old grandmother, "How did you dress when you were my age?" The old lady replied, "I can't remember things from so long ago (I can' t remember that far back)". The controversial part of the advertisement is that the Korean subtitles of this English answer are translated as "How can I remember things that happened more than 80 years ago?" More than 80 years ago, South Korea was under Japanese colonial rule, and many Korean women unfortunately became "comfort women" for the Japanese army. Many Korean netizens questioned that this advertisement was a dig at issues related to South Korea's "comfort women".

As the advertisement sparked heated discussions on Korean social media and online communities, most Korean netizens expressed strong dissatisfaction with it, saying, "It seems that Uniqlo has not reflected at all" and "Uniqlo should continue to boycott Uniqlo" and so on. As South Korea once again launched a boycott campaign against Uniqlo, Uniqlo immediately took a series of measures such as interrupting advertising broadcasts, and many stores also launched large-scale discount promotions.

It is reported that since South Korea asked Japan to compensate for forced labor during World War II at the end of last year, the relationship between South Korea and Japan began to deteriorate, and the relationship between the two parties reached its lowest point with the outbreak of the South Korea-Japan trade war in July. At the same time, South Korean people also spontaneously launched a boycott of Japanese products, including Uniqlo. During this period, three Uniqlo stores have closed and sales have also dropped significantly. (Intern Liu Qian)

→→