HONG KONG (AP) – H&M disappeared from the Internet in China as the government increased pressure on footwear and clothing brands and announced sanctions against British officials on Friday in a growing battle over complaints about wrongdoing in the Xinjiang region.
H&M products were missing from major e-commerce platforms, including Alibaba and JD.com, following calls from state media to boycott the Swedish retailer’s decision to stop buying cotton from Xinjiang. This detracts from H & M’s ability to reach customers in a country where more than a fifth of purchases are made online.
Shockwaves spread to other brands as dozens of celebrities turned down endorsement deals with Nike, Adidas, Burberry, Uniqlo and Lacoste after state media criticized the brands for raising concerns about Xinjiang.
Brands are struggling to respond to pressures abroad to move away from abuses without triggering Chinese retaliation and losing access to one of the largest and fastest growing markets. That pressure is mounting as human rights activists lobby sponsors to withdraw from the Beijing Winter Olympics scheduled for February 2022.
Tencent, which operates games and the popular WeChat messaging service, announced that it would remove Burberry-designed costumes from a popular mobile phone game.
In a high-tech version of airbrushing used by China and other authoritarian regimes to remove political enemies from historical photographs, H & M’s 500 or so stores in China did not appear on Didi Chuxing’s app or Alibaba and Baidu’s map services. . The smartphone app has disappeared from app stores.
It was not clear whether companies have received orders to erase H & M’s online presence, but Chinese companies are expected to keep pace. Regulators have wide powers to punish companies that do not support official policies.
The ruling Communist Party’s youth league launched attacks on H&M on Wednesday following the European Union’s decision to join the United States, Britain and Canada in imposing sanctions on Chinese officials blamed for abuse in Xinjiang .
On Friday, the Chinese government announced sanctions against nine British and four institutions. They are prohibited from visiting China or making financial transactions with its citizens and institutions.
According to foreign governments and researchers, more than 1 million members of the Uyghurs and other predominantly Muslim ethnic minorities are held in detention camps in Xinjiang. The authorities there are accused of imposing forced labor and coercive birth control measures.
The Chinese government rejects complaints about abuses, saying the camps are for vocational training to support economic development and combat Islamic radicalism.
State media accused H&M and other brands of taking undue advantage of China while criticizing it. That prompted Chinese retailers and internet companies to distance themselves from the Swedish retailer, although other brands were still available on e-commerce platforms.
“It’s a form of self-preservation,” said Shaun Rein, director of China Market Research Group in Shanghai.
Rein said the outpouring of anger at H&M is the hardest he has seen against a foreign brand. He said companies are particularly sensitive because this comes at a time when Chinese anti-monopoly and other regulators are intensifying scrutiny of internet operators.
“If they don’t try to criticize, they’ll get in trouble,” Rein said.
The Communist Party often pressures foreign clothing, travel and other brands because of actions by their governments or in an attempt to force them to take its position on Taiwan, Tibet and other sensitive issues.
Most are satisfactory because China is one of the largest, fastest growing markets for global fashion, electronics and other consumer brands.
China is H & M’s fourth largest market after Germany, the United States and Great Britain and accounted for about 5% of sales in 2020.
Greater China is Nike Inc.’s third largest market after North America and Europe.
Greater China accounted for 23% of Nike’s worldwide sales in the quarter ended February, compared to 36.5% for North America. But Chinese revenues were up 51% from a year earlier as consumer demand recovered from the coronavirus, while sales in North America fell 10%.
An H&M branch in Shanghai only had a handful of customers on Friday afternoon.
‘I was not aware of the backlash. I came here to buy a jacket for spring because H&M is reasonably priced and fashionable, ”said Wang Yuying, a 52-year-old retiree who was shopping in the store.
“I will still buy something because I am already there, but if this backlash lasts a long time, I will buy less from this brand.”
One salesperson, who asked not to be named because of the sensitivity of the case, said there were far fewer customers than on a normal Friday. The seller said he understood why consumers were angry, but said that if the backlash continues, it will hurt the livelihoods of local employees of the brands it targets.
Two Burberry-designed character outfits in Tencent’s hit mobile game Honor of Kings have been removed, the game’s social media account said Thursday. It was no reason.
Celebrities, including at least one Uyghur, announced they were ending endorsement deals with foreign footwear and clothing brands.
Gulnazar, an actress from Xinjiang, said she was severing ties with Puma. On her social media account, Gulnazar said she “resolutely opposes all attempts to discredit China.”
Hong Kong singers Eason Chan and Angelababy announced they were severing ties with Adidas. Actress Zhou Dongyu split from Burberry. Actors Ni Ni and Jing Boran broke up with Uniqlo.
Song Qian, a singer and former member of the Korean pop group f (x) also known as Victoria Song, and actor Huang Xuan previously announced they were ending endorsement deals with H&M.
In Hong Kong, pro-Beijing lawmaker Regina Ip said in a Twitter post that she would stop buying Burberry, one of her favorite brands.
“I support my country in boycotting companies that spread lies about Xinjiang,” she said.
Not all brands have shied away from Xinjiang sourcing.
South Korean sports shoe brand FILA said on Friday that the company buys cotton from Xinjiang and will continue to do so.
On its social media account, FILA China said it has begun to withdraw from the Better Cotton Initiative, an industry group that promotes environmental and labor standards.
H & M’s announcement last year that it would no longer use Xinjiang cotton referred to the BCI’s move to stop licensing cotton from the region, as it was difficult to track how it was produced.
It was unclear why the party was targeting H&M, whose concerns about Xinjiang were similar to those of other companies. But his home country, Sweden, could be seen by Chinese leaders as more sensitive to pressure due to its small size.
Relations between Beijing and Stockholm have been strained since 2015, when a Chinese-born Swedish publisher disappeared from Thailand and turned up in China. The Chinese ambassador angered the Swedish government by calling her a ‘lightweight boxer’ in a TV interview.
McDonald reported from Beijing. Associated Press researchers Yu Bing in Beijing and Chen Si in Shanghai contributed.