“Sorry that we Asian women don’t have freckles – or only a small proportion of us have"
Chinese model Li Jingwen’s freckles has broken the internet after they were seen in a Zara advert.
As reported by SCMP, a Zara advert featuring Chinese model Li Jingwen and her freckles has come under fire for “uglifying China”.
Released on Friday, the advert for the Spanish company has made its rounds on Weibo, attracting a great deal of controversy.
In the advert, the Guangzhou model’s face is shown from the front and side, promoting the Spanish company’s cosmetics. Li has modelled for many luxury and high street brands such as Calvin Klein and H&M.
“Does it mean that us Asian women all have dull eyes and have faces fully covered by freckles?” asked one Weibo user.
“Sorry that we Asian women don’t have freckles – or only a small proportion of us have,” wrote another user. “You spent such an effort finding a model with freckles, just like searching for a needle in the sea. How hard you’ve been working on this!”
Another asked, “selling products in China had better respect Chinese people’s aesthetic taste. I don’t understand why Zara showed this face with a lot of freckles?”
However, some also defended Zara’s advert on Weibo. “I think this model looks not bad. She has a kind of beauty of confidence,” a supporter wrote.
“I think Li Jingwen’s image is much better than those pale, glossy and perfect faces that have been processed by photo software,” said another.
Zara responded to the criticism, defending the advert. “Spanish people have different beauty standards and they did not intend to make this model look ugly,” said a Zara spokeswoman. “They usually don’t modify the photos of models. That’s what the model looks like.”
In January, Burberry was heavily criticised for its “creepy” Chinese New Year advert.
Last year, Italian fashion giants Dolce & Gabbana reached an all time low in its branding in China following branding its racist ad scandal.