As the Xinjiang cotton tumult continues to spread across mainland China, a backlash against foreign brands continues to mount at all levels of Chinese society. Official apps from Nike and Adidas are said to have been removed from the app stores of some of the country’s top mobile brands.
According to the Beijing Daily, a local Communist Party newspaper, on March 29, a search for Nike and Adidas in Huawei’s app market shows “service adjustment, not available for download”. Similarly, Xiaomi App Store, Vivo App Store, Oppo App Store and Tencent App Bao also failed to find results related to Nike and Adidas. In addition, H&M is no longer available on China’s major map apps, such as AutoNavi Map and Baidu Map.
Nike, one of the targets of the mainland China boycott, recently reignited Chinese netizens’ anger after its insulting advertising slogans appeared on online shopping platforms.
Nike’s slogan, “Let Trash Do the Talk”, circulated online on JD.com, a Chinese online shopping platform, has been accused of provocative Chinese netizens in response to the Xinjiang cotton scandal.
Some Chinese netizens criticized “Nike is too arrogant,” “this is a naked provocation,” while others admitted that Nike’s sales are still strong, and advised people to “stiffen up your spine, don’t buy yet.”
Some Chinese netizens pointed out that the slogan had appeared in the promotional photos of Taiwan HBL high school basketball league in February this year. They believed that the slogan had nothing to do with the Xinjiang cotton storm.
However, it is worth noting that as many as 50 mainland China and Hong Kong stars have already terminated their contracts with the brands suspected of insulting China, but in the face of such vociferous denunciations, in addition to H&M’s vague statement, Nike, Adidas and dozens of other brands involved in insulting China have all chosen to keep silence, without responding or apologizing.
According to the latest news, after Dewu, a Chinese online shopping platform, announced that it would “remove Nike indefinitely”, the sales of Nike and Adidas on the App increased rather than decreased, prompting many people to buy them.
In addition, the attitude of the Chinese sports community, which has long-term cooperation with Nike and Adidas, has also attracted the attention of mainland China.
According to mainland media reports, Nike is the sponsor of the Chinese men’s football team, the Chinese men’s and women’s basketball team and the Chinese track and field team. Nike is also a sponsor of the Chinese Football Association’s Chinese Super League and has signed up a number of well-known Chinese athletes. Adidas has a close relationship with the Chinese women’s volleyball team.
After the Chinese entertainment circles collectively expressed their intention to cancel the contract, the sports circles in China are collectively silent. So far, only the Chinese Football Association has condemned Nike over its choice of raw cotton.
Chinese media pointed out that the biggest reason for the difficulty in China’s sports industry is that the equipment needs of athletes are completely different from the needs of ordinary people. Nike, Adidas and other basic equipment in China rarely have the same level of substitutes.