Kylian Mbappe has seen at least three major sponsorship deals in China cancelled after he appeared to describe Mao Zedong as a dictator during an online chat show appearance.
Drinks manufacturer Dongpeng, dairy company Mengniu and cheesemaker Milkground announced on Tuesday that they had ended their partnerships with the Real Madrid forward. Each company said they reject "any words and actions that hurt national sentiment," though they did not provide further reasoning for their decision.
Comments on 'The Bridge' spark backlash
The move follows footage that emerged online of Mbappe on "The Bridge," a French online chat show. In the clip, Mbappe was asked about his favourite meme of himself and replied that it was "a video someone made of a guy...I think he was a Chinese dictator." The footage then showed a doctored image of Mbappe's face on the blue-suited figure of Mao Zedong, China's communist leader from 1949 until 1976.
Football fans online often refer to the star, who is said to overshadow many of his team-mates and the sides he plays for, as a dictator. Memes portraying him as Mao or other authoritarian leaders circulate widely on social media.
Official and platform responses
The Associated Press was immediately unable to contact Mbappe's representatives for comment. China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Guo Jiakun responded to the controversy by stating that "words and actions that hurt the feelings of the Chinese people will naturally be met with joint opposition from all sectors of Chinese society."
Social media platform RedNote also released a statement confirming it had maintained a content partnership with Mbappe that ended on December 31, 2024, and that it would "remove related promotional materials." The platform expressed its opposition to "any conduct that hurts national sentiment." By Tuesday, Mbappe's RedNote account had ceased accepting new followers.
Previous campaigns and online reaction
Mbappe had previously been the face of multiple advertising campaigns across China, endorsing products ranging from electrolyte drinks to milk and cheese. In one Dongpeng advert, he delivers a slogan in Chinese, while a commercial for Mengniu features him alongside Argentine football legend Lionel Messi.
Chinese social media was already flooded with criticism. The hashtags "Dongpeng ends partnership with Mbappe" and "Several brands end partnerships with Mbappe" quickly rose to the top of Weibo's trending charts. Meanwhile, "Football fans boycott Mbappe" also gained substantial momentum, with many users expressing anger at his comments or calling on him to stay away from China.
