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Ad showing woman avoid sexual assault by using make-up remover withdrawn after it causes outrage online

  • Chinese company Purcotton’s ad showing a young woman wiping away her make-up to scare off a male pursuer was attacked for ‘demonising’ sexual assault victims
  • Purcotton apologised and tried to defend the ad, before saying sorry again and pulling it. ‘How can you make fun of a woman being followed,’ a Weibo user wrote

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Stills from a Purcotton video ad showing a woman pursued by a masked man using a make-up removal wipe to scare off her pursuer. The ad outraged Internet users who said it blamed female victims of sexual assault. The Chinese company apologised and withdrew it.

A Chinese company’s video advertisement for women’s make-up remover wipes has been panned by online critics, leading the company to withdraw it and issue two apologies.

Purcotton, owned by Winner Medical Co. released the video last week on Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, showing a young woman scaring off a would-be attacker with her naked, make-up-free face after using the cleansing wipes.

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Chinese ‘victim-shaming’ ad for make-up remover pulled

Chinese ‘victim-shaming’ ad for make-up remover pulled

The 26-second ad was pulled after online users denounced it for “demonising” female sexual assault victims.

The offending ad showed a young woman walking down a street at night and being followed by a masked man. As the stalker gets closer, the woman pulls out a cleansing wipe to quickly remove her make-up and “scare off” the would-be assailant with her naked face.

A still from the Purcotton video ad shows a woman pulling out a cotton make-up removal pad as a masked man pursues her.
A still from the Purcotton video ad shows a woman pulling out a cotton make-up removal pad as a masked man pursues her.

As he grabs her from behind, she turns to show him her now make-up-free face, which causes the visibly disgusted attacker to flee.

Phoebe Zhang is a senior reporter with the South China Morning Post. She has a master's degree in journalism. She likes to write human-interest stories and has written many about people living on the fringes of society. She believes there's no story or person that's too small.
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