John Boyega
The Hollywood Reporter of the United States said on the 12th that the well-known British perfume brand Zu Marlon faced the Chinese market because it followed the advertising script of black actor John Boyega, but replaced the protagonist of the new film with Chinese star Liu Haoran, which was denounced by European and American network public opinion as "racial discrimination". Under pressure, Zu Marlon issued an apology statement to the two parties on the 12th.
John Boyega shot an ad for Zur Marlon
In July last year, John Boyega, a well-known British African-American actor and star of the science fiction film Star Wars, became Zu Marlon's first male ambassador, and the two sides collaborated on an advertising short film with the theme of "London Gentleman". At the beginning of September this year, Liu Haoran became the brand's first fragrance spokesperson in China, and Zu Marlon also released a new product promotional video on social media platforms. The media soon found that the content scenes of the two films were highly similar. According to the Hollywood Reporter, the "London Gentleman" commercial was conceived and directed by Boyega himself, and he himself did not know about the remake, or later learned about it through Twitter. What makes internet public opinion and the "rights activists" group deeply offend is that the remake version not only completely fails to see Boyega's shadow, but the racial composition of the extras is far less diverse than the original.
John Boyega at the protests
Under pressure, Zu Marlon issued an apology statement on the 12th, expressing "deep apologies" for the remake of Boyega's work and removing the Chinese version of the advertisement. As of the afternoon of the 13th, the remake version could not be watched on the Twitter platform, and the company also apologized to Liu Haoran. Even so, there are still supporters of Boyega who say that "apologies are not enough" and "racism is racism". There is also a view that The remake of Zu Marlon is at best a commercial dispute and does not need to rise to the level of race. According to the British "Daily Mirror" revealed, Boyega himself is also a fanatical supporter of African-American rights issues, and he has made many radical remarks in support of the "black life is also life" movement in Britain.
Global Times reporter Gao Wenyu
Source: Global Times