It is the day after Christmas: all of sudden Chineses on twitter are gasping at the anti-small-eye compaign on Weibo. I thought, again? Because this is not the first time.
But let me start with this new story.
Three Squirrels is a food company. I have never heard of them. Till today. Their ads seem to have offended lots of Chinese people on social media.
Do you see any problem with it?
Well, it is about the size of her eyes, and much more.
Let me translate some screenshots from social media:
First, someone is very angry, he asked people to boycott Three Squirrels:
(rough translation) The sour-and-spicy noodles and the snail-noodles ads also had long narrow eyes. They are attacking people from Chongqing (the fourth largest city in China) and Guangxi (a province west to Guangdong). This is a brand that sells overpriced food to the bourgeois, and they dare to play like this. They are asking for death.
So much of making her eyes long and narrow. I guess that, because of COVID, many art students in the USA came back to China, and started making trouble together.
Note the hinted USA influence. I will come back to this later
Very few people naturally have face like this. These are make-up results, deliberate.
This is war. The war between distortion of the aesthetics of the masses and fighting against such distortion. A seller of snacks dares to join in. Let's fight then.
Boycut Three Squirrels, starting from you and me.
This was posted on Dec 25th around 2pm.
The movement grew through the day, and made it to the Weibo top list.
Some Chinese people found the movement uncomfortable, some pointed out that those ads were actually made in 2019. They wonder why so many people are making it a thing today?
Some asked:
(rough translation) So, Chinese people are not allowed to have a face like this? Did those models that look like this violate any laws?
Responses:
Models have to show what is beauty. Her looks and make up must agree with the aesthetics of the masses. Of course, speciall occasions are exceptional. If her make up and look become controversial, then she does not meet the aesthetics of the masses.
Then I wish your whole family look like this.
Some also asked: (rough translation) Why do you discriminate against the characteristics of our own country fellows?
Reponses:
Your whole family has these characteristics. But these characteristics are not Chinese. I have no idea which country you are from.
So I, as a Chinese, am represented by you now?
Chinese people are always represented by its government officials without being asked, people are sensitive about “being represented” by anyone.
Things got so big that by noon the next day, Three Squirrels published an apology for the “discomfort” caused by the model. (rough translation of the apology) Serious Statement:
In response to allegations from some netizens that the make-up of the model on some of our product pages does not meet aesthetics, and the question regarding our position on the matter, we would like to make the following statement.
The product was launched in October 2019, and the model in the page is Chinese, and her makeup is based on their personal characteristics and not deliberately made ugly.
In response to the allegations from netizens that the model's makeup does not meet the aesthetics of the masses and has caused discomfort, we apologise and have replaced the page immediately, and have arranged to check other product pages of the company to prevent similar situations from happenning.
Three Squirrels is a national brand, a local enterprise. Over the years, we have been committed to serving the community and actively practicing social responsibility in helping farmers to alleviate poverty and revitalise the countryside.
And the model, Cai Niangniang, disclosed that she received lots of insults and curses in her mailbox.
But, shortly after the apology, someone said, no, this is more than a pair of small eyes:
(rough translation) Some people say everyone is over-reacting to the narrow eyes of the model of Three Squirrels. It is just that in 2019 the brand followed the trend. Some people say, if you are really confident, you should accept narrow eyes. People are born with these eyes. Don't make it ideological.
I think people on our side are too nice. They think for others all the time and compromise every time.
You have to take a look at the western pirate culture. They are very "me" centered, they have a set of political correctness.
A pirate culture is about taking what you want with force without ever admitting wrongness or apologising
Whoever violated it will suffer.
Even JK Rowling was kicked out of Harry Potter because she said wrong things.
So, the question is: since every one has his political correctness, why we had to obey by their rules and they don't obey by our rules?
When we offended others, we apologize.
When others offended us, we still apologize.
This is too nice. This is typical PUA.
PUA: Pickup artist
So, I think we should discuss this topic of discriminations with confidence. We don't want to kill some brands. We just want to express: "I am important. You want to sell me things then you must consider my feelings. "
Remember, earlier the hint that it was USA influence. It’s because the foreigners have bad taste!
Here is an article in English that explains it, with the following comparison:
(extract from the article) This girl on the left, Lü yàn, is a top model, who’s extremely famous in China. She’s often considered the most beautiful and popular Chinese model by foreigners. Lots of westerners view her as a super beauty, maybe because of her typical classical oriental looks. She looks exotic, and exotism often appeals, as it’s new and different.
However, the Chinese tend to think that she is kind of “ugly” and “strange”, especially because of her long and narrow eyes , her big lips and very large face. Her face is quite singular and unique and as such she doesn’t quite fit with the traditional Chinese beauty standards.
In the eyes of the Chinese society, the girl on the right in the picture is prettier, as her big eyes, are definitely the number one thing every Chinese girl wants.
Okay, I got it. “Foreigners like Chinese women with small eyes while we Chinese prefer big eyes. And fuck people who disagree with us. We decide ourselves what is insulting us .”
So “if you are not Chinese, I don’t want to know what you think any more.”
Earlier, I said this is not the first time. Because I remember about a month ago, this happened:
Chen Man is a visual artist and top fashion photographer in China. Not only she works with famous international brands, she also often works with the most famous celebrities of the world.
In 2008 she made Young Pioneer photo series:
And in 2012, she made 12 covers for i-D Magazine.
In Nov 2021, Chinese netizens demanded her apology for them.
After more than 10 days of silence, Chen Man, whose studio is in Beijing, issued an apology. She said she “accepted all of the criticism and will keep learning and never forgot the spirit of the time as the source of her creativity”. You can read the BBC report in English here.