"I was appalled that Amazon would happily use a photo that was racially abusive to help sell a product.”
Amazon has come under fire for a Chinese costume advert showing white children gesturing with slant eyes.
The Mirror reports that the online retail giants displayed images which were used by third-party sellers to advertise outfits. One outfit was described as “Chinese boy fancy dress costume” and retailed between £21.86 and £22.02.
Sold by Atosa and Fyasa on Amazon, the pictures showed white children making slant eye gestures whilst wearing the costumes.
Social media users were quick to share the images and posted screenshots to Amazon’s Facebook page and Twitter.
Whilst Amazon has pulled the advert, the retailer has not apologised nor explained how or why the images surfaced in the first place.
One customer, Lily Ladow, described the adverts as “racially abusive” to Chinese people.
“I was very hurt to see the pictures,” Ladlow wrote on Amazon’s Facebook page. “It clearly insinuated the ‘slitty eyes’ racial insult that we Chinese often get. I was appalled that Amazon would happily use a photo that was racially abusive to help sell a product.”
“I feel Amazon are sending a message publicly that it is acceptable to be casually racist to Chinese people,” she continued. “And by refusing to acknowledge or apologise for the incident, I feel that they do not treat us Chinese people with any respect and feel that we can be ignored and dismissed of.”
Arman Sablan also wrote on Facebook, “I just want to say as a long time customer, you disappointed me with this. A Caucasian boy to represent Asian wear? Doing the slant eye?”
Tak Yeung posted: “Amazon I am so shocked. My friend sent me this photo from your website.”
Another wrote, “How can you support such racism!!!”
“I know it’s from a third party company but how can you support such racism?” said another.
“Totally unacceptable and offensive especially to the Chinese,” one comment read.
Jenni Pyw posted, “Seriously Amazon, I’m so shocked! How can you support such racism!!! Unacceptable and offensive especially to the Chinese.”
“Maybe it’s just a case of very poor judgement when marketing the seller’s products on your site, but it would be appreciated by many if the inappropriate pictures were removed. Thank you.”
Lousie Wan wrote, “I see a few has put something up. And yes I find this very offensive and racist. This should be removed. Action needs to be taken seriously and immediately please.”
Neither of the third party retailers have responded, whilst Amazon simply said, “The products in question have been removed.”
