This German Advertising Campaign Is Under Fire For Their Representation Of Asian Women
On March 27, South Korean Twitter user @omniaamo wrote a thread about a new advertising campaign from the German DIY chain Hornbach. In the thread, the Twitter user, called Sung Un, revealed how the commercial ad shows an extremely problematic and sexualized image of Asian women.
The commercial shows 5 white old men working in their gardens, they look rough, dirty and sweaty as they removed soil and plants with their bare hands. The remove their underwear and passed them to two men in white lab coats. The underwear gets vacuum sealed and distributed in vending machines in what appears to be Japan.
An women then enthusiastically buys one of the bags with underwear that are on display, opens it and smells it with joy. The commercial ends with the phrase “That’s how spring smells” in German.
Sung Un explains that the Asian woman that appears on the commercial is represented as tool to make the white males that consume the brand feel better about themselves. The video wants to be humorous but it’s plain humiliating to Asian women and Asians in general.
4. The 46-second commercial movie shows how an Asian woman buys a bag of dirty underwear, opens it up, and smells it. She feels extasy by the odor. The scene is accompanied by a moaning female voice. pic.twitter.com/HKiOOKXvT8
— 요녀석 (@omniaamo) March 27, 2019
5. The advertising slogan "So smells the spring" appears, and the woman gets a closeup at the end. Her eyes are almost completely twisted, a typical imagery of sexual ecstasy in European art tradition. pic.twitter.com/gywbh15pGD
— 요녀석 (@omniaamo) March 27, 2019
She continues by saying that even though white men are a majority in Germany, in contrast to Asian women who are a minority, they still want to be represented in a good light versus how they are typecasting Asian women with a prejudiced point of view.
20. While the Asian are an absolute minority in the German society and media. Therefore, an Asian actor in a German advertisement quickly evokes the impression that it's about the category "Asian," rather than an individual.
— 요녀석 (@omniaamo) March 27, 2019
A hashtag started spreading on Twitter to receive a reply from the German company about this subject.
I’m really sorry that you spend such huge amount of money on making this racist shit and lost tons of customers and potential customers. But good to know that Hornbach is a total waste, I will never go!#Ich_wurde_geHORNBACHt
— 𝕞𝕚𝕞𝕚 🏹 (@yes_ja_o_ui) March 28, 2019
#Ich_wurde_geHORNBACHt
Asian women are not a tool to fulfill your underdeveloped self-esteem. We Asians do not make shit out of white men getting horny from some odorous crap that you call “the spring smell”.— 봉봉 (@b0n9b0n9_) March 28, 2019
No matter what you say, the ad was inappropriate. Asian women in Western society have gone through numerous sexual assaults based on racial slurs. If diversity is the thing you @Hornbach_tweets meant, please know representing poc doesn’t work like that. #Ich_wurde_geHORNBACHt
— Cassandra | #saveodaat (@Ca33andraaa) March 27, 2019
This is yet another proof that you are racist/sexist against Asian women. How many more asian female voices will you need to take us seriously and be aware of your thoughtless deeds and apologize? or just one white male voice would do? #Ich_wurde_geHORNBACHt
— Mia (@resilientmia) March 26, 2019
The author of the thread started a petition for the“So riecht das Frühjahr” campaign to be cancelled and for the commercial ad to be removed from all channels. She also demands the publication of the screening process and a diversity report of Hornbach AG.
I started a petition. Please do share and take part in!#Ich_wurde_geHORNBACHthttps://t.co/H631874Lb4
— 요녀석 (@omniaamo) March 28, 2019
Hornbach released the following reply to the commercial’s controversy.
Einladung zu HORNBACH für einen offenen Dialog zu „So riecht das Frühjahr“ pic.twitter.com/w1oQaDbdAq
— Hornbach (@Hornbach_tweets) March 28, 2019
After reading the replies to Hornbach’s letter we are not sure this fire will extinguish any time soon. Meanwhile the thread has been translate to Korean, Japanese, Chinese and German and has appeared in various online media outlets.
