Recently, the Italian luxury brand Bulgari has been questioned by some netizens because it lists China and Taiwan side by side on the marks of countries and regions. At the same time, although the word "China" was added before Hong Kong and Macao, it was not added before Taiwan.
In addition, on its map labels, all countries are marked in bold English letters, and the logo of Taiwan is also bold.
This practice aroused the dissatisfaction of a large number of netizens and quickly caused heated discussions. In addition to expecting Bulgari's official explanation, people also expect its domestic brand spokesperson to come forward or terminate the contract.
Soon after, Bulgari officially issued an apology statement, stating that Bulgari respected China's sovereignty and territorial integrity, always so and resolutely. He also explained that the error was caused by the negligent management of overseas websites, and that the problem was corrected as soon as it was discovered.
Although Bulgari's apology statement appeared flawless on the surface, careful netizens found many problems. First of all, Bulgari's apology statement was signed as "Bulgari China", not "Bulgari Global" or "Bulgari Headquarters". This made netizens begin to wonder whether this apology statement was only aimed at Chinese netizens, and if it was really sincere, it should be issued globally.
Secondly, netizens noticed that Bulgari wrote in its apology statement: "Bulgari respects China's sovereignty and territorial integrity", but did not clearly state that "Taiwan is a part of China". Netizens hope that Bulgari's apology statement can be more direct, not play word games, and if they can honestly say that "Taiwan belongs to China", it may be accepted by netizens.
Looking at the comments below Bulgari's apology statement, a large number of netizens did not accept their apology. Some netizens boiled down to Bulgari's apology as just a means for them to continue to make profits in the Chinese market.
At the same time, netizens also listed Bulgari's star spokespersons in China, including Shu Qi, Liu Yifei, Liu Wen, Yang Yang, Wu Lei, Tong Liya, Wen Qi, Fan Chengcheng, Zhao Lusi and so on. But until now, these stars have not come forward to respond to this incident, let alone terminate the contract.
Now that Bulgari has officially come forward to apologize, the spokespeople don't have to worry anymore.
This is not the first time that brand endorsers have faced suspected abuse of China, and celebrities have different attitudes in handling such incidents. For example, in the turmoil of termination in 2019 and 2021, Liu Wen terminated the contract with the brand involved at the first time, even if she faced the risk of compensating a huge amount of liquidated damages. Similarly, Yang Mi, Wang Yibo, etc. also gave up cooperation with a brand involved in the first time, and Eason Chen gave up a lifelong cooperation contract with a sports brand.
Most celebrities have adopted a "zero tolerance" attitude like netizens when facing issues involving the position of the country, and their statements have also been deeply moved by netizens. But in this Bulgari incident, the spokesperson was "invisible" and watched the whole time, and did not appear until Bulgari officially apologized, which made netizens feel a little disappointed.
There is also a saying that some foreign luxury brands dare to repeatedly make mistakes that offend our national position because domestic consumers have a short memory and will not cause substantial losses to them.
Whether it's ordinary people or celebrities, we need to stick together so that they can truly respect and fear us.
Overall, the incident demonstrates the strong sense of national pride and responsibility of Chinese netizens and some celebrity spokespersons when confronted with issues involving national dignity and territorial integrity. They expressed their dissatisfaction and protest against Bulgari's actions through online platforms, deeply interpreted the company's apology statement, and expressed disappointment at the silence of its spokesperson. This incident reminds us that the power of consumers is strong and that the dignity and territorial integrity of the nation cannot be violated, which should be the basic compliance and respect of every company and individual.