China State TV has called for a boycott of H&M, Nike and other big Western brands as Beijing lashes out at foreign clothing and footwear brands. This follows Western sanctions on Chinese officials accused of human rights abuses in the Xinjiang region.
The ruling Communist Party criticized H&M for saying in March 2020 that it would stop buying cotton from Xinjiang. The Swedish multinational company has, as a result, had products pulled from major e-commerce stores in China. Prominent Chinese celebrities have also cut ties with the brand, which is the world’s second-largest clothing retailer.
The party also criticized statements Burberry, Adidas, Nike, New Balance and Zara made about Xinjiang, over a year ago.
China State TV stated on social media site, Weibo that, “For enterprises that touch the bottom line of our country, the response is very clear: don’t buy!”.
It added that the H&M in the Swedish name stood for Chinese words meaning “lie and falsehood”.
“Spreading rumors to boycott Xinjiang cotton, while trying to make a profit in China? Wishful thinking!”
China State TV
Xinjiang is one of the world’s top cotton-producing regions and supplies many western garment brands with textiles.
Boycott of H&M Products
China State TV’s comments sparked a flood of criticism directed at H&M from Chinese social media users. This resulted in a viral hashtag, “I support Xinjiang cotton”, which was read more than 1 billion times.
The massive backlash even prompted Chinese e-commerce giants, Alibaba and JD.com to remove all H&M products from sale. H&M’s brick-and-mortar stores have also disappeared from search results in a popular Chinese map app owned by Baidu.
H&M had 520 stores and $1.4 billion in sales in China in 2019, the last year it reported annual figures from the country. China is its third-largest market after Germany and the United States.
Addressing its predicament in a statement, H&M noted that it has always maintained high standards, as well as transparency, in its global supply chain.
“This does not represent any political position… H&M Group always respects Chinese consumers. We are committed to long-term investment and development in China,”
H&M statement
Celebrities cut ties with Nike over Xinjiang comments
Chinese TV stars, Wang Yibo and Tan Songyun also announced they will end all promotional partnerships with Nike. The company had said in a statement over a year ago that it was “concerned about reports of forced labor in, and connected to, Xinjiang”.
“Nike does not source products from Xinjiang and we have confirmed with our contract suppliers; They are not using textiles or spun yarn from the region.”
Excerpt of Nike statement from a year ago
Soon after Nike’s statement appeared on Weibo, Chinese singer and actor, Wang Yibo said he has cut ties with Nike. Wang added that he “firmly opposes any remarks and actions that smear China.”
Tan’s manager echoed Wang’s sentiments saying she “resolutely opposes any bad behaviour of smearing and making rumours about China”.
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