Image: Instagram
Chinese Social Media users have criticised, Coach and Versace after both brands have referred to Hong Kong and Taiwan as countries.
On Monday, Chinese social media users circulated an image of Coach’s English language website showing both regions could be selected under a menu titled country.
China claims Taiwan as part of its territory.
In a statement on Weibo, China’s version of Twitter, Coach has apologised for the error, adding that the mistake has since been rectified. The American brand said it “is committed to long term development in China and respects the feelings of the Chinese people.”
Coach was the most searched topic on Weibo on Monday.
The incident came a day after Italian brand Versace was forced to issue a deep apology after outraged social media users posted images apparently showing that one of its T-shirt labelled Hong Kong and Macau as countries.
Image:Twitter
The Italian brand says it has removed the T-shirt from shops. Both Hong Kong and Macau are semi-autonomous special administrative region of China.
The two brands join a number of other brands who have came under intense criticism for appearing to flout Beijing’s territorial claims with website or product labels, highlighting the political risk for foreign businesses operating in the Asian country.
