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BEIJING, March 26 (Reuters) - Chinese celebrity endorsers
have abandoned several foreign retail labels, including six U.S.
brands such as Nike, as Western concerns over labour
conditions in Xinjiang spark a patriotic backlash from
consumers.
New Balance, Under Armour, Tommy Hilfiger
and Converse, owned by Nike, have come under fire in China for
statements that they would not use cotton produced in the
farwestern Chinese region due to suspected forced labour.
Activists and U.N. rights experts have accused China of
using mass detainment, torture, forced labour and sterilisations
on Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang. China denies these claims and
says its actions in the region are necessary to counter
extremism.
At least 27 Chinese movie stars and singers have declared in
the past two days that they would stop cooperating with foreign
brands.
Their decision was widely praised by Chinese internet users
for being patriotic and trended high on the popular Twitter-like
microblog Weibo.
"I have bought these kinds of products in the past and this
situation doesn‘t mean that I will now throw them away, destroy
them or something like that," said graduate Lucy Liu outside a
Beijing shopping mall.
"What I'll do is just avoid buying them for the moment."
Some of the brands are members of the Better Cotton
Initiative, a group that promotes sustainable cotton production
which said in October it was suspending its approval of cotton
sourced from Xinjiang, citing rights concerns.
Among the celebrities who ended their pacts with foreign
brands were a few Uighur artists.
Other brands affected include Burberry, Adidas
, Puma, H&M and Fast Retailing's
Uniqlo.
"I can confirm that Uniqlo's Chinese brand ambassadors have
terminated their contracts," said a Fast Retailing spokesperson.
"Regarding cotton, we only source sustainable cotton and
this has not changed."
The other companies did not immediately respond to Reuters
requests for comment.
Hong Kong pop singer Eason Chan said on Weibo that he would
stop cooperating with Adidas and he was "firmly against all
actions that tarnish China".
The post has been liked by nearly 800,000 Weibo users.
"I know you won't let us down!" one of them wrote. "I'm from
Xinjiang."
Student Wang Xue, 21, visiting Beijing, said she liked to
buy comfortable clothes that made her happy.
"As long as they (these brands) are not insulting China,
then I'm okay with them," she said. "But if they are, then I
will definitely boycott them."
(Reporting by Ryan Woo and Beijing newsroom; Editing by Nick
Macfie)
