Chinese brands Dongpeng and Mengniu have ended their partnerships with French football captain, Kylian Mbappe following the circulation of a video in which the Real Madrid forward appeared to joke about former Chinese leader Mao Zedong.
The decision followed widespread criticism on Chinese social media, where comments perceived as disrespectful towards Mao, who died in 1976, remain highly sensitive because of his status as the country’s founding leader.
Dongpeng, a major Chinese beverage manufacturer, announced the termination of its partnership with the 27-year-old footballer in a statement.
“Our company firmly opposes and has a zero-tolerance policy towards any behaviour that offends national sentiments,” the company said, adding that “with immediate effect we are terminating all cooperation with Kylian Mbappe.”
The beverage company had previously promoted its sports drinks in China using AI-generated images of Mbappe drinking its products during this year’s World Cup.
Mengniu, China’s largest dairy producer, also announced its decision to end its commercial relationship with the France international, who had enjoyed considerable popularity among Chinese football supporters and amassed millions of social media followers in the country.
“With immediate effect, our company is terminating all cooperation with Kylian Mbappe,” Mengniu said in a statement.
“Mengniu firmly opposes and has a zero-tolerance policy towards any words or actions that hurt the feelings of the Chinese people,” it added.
The controversy erupted after a video circulated online showing Mbappe describing an internet meme featuring his face superimposed on that of a historical figure as the funniest meme he had encountered. In the clip, he appeared to refer to the person in the image as “some guy — I think he’s a Chinese dictator.”
The remark appeared to refer to a meme depicting the footballer as Mao, although the authenticity of the video could not immediately be verified by AFP Fact Check.
The development quickly gained traction on Chinese social media platform Weibo, where “Dongpeng Beverage ends cooperation with Mbappe” became a top-trending topic.
Some users described the alleged remarks as unacceptable, while others called on Dongpeng to remove the footballer’s image from its energy drink bottles.
Dongqiudi, one of China’s leading online football platforms, also criticised the comments in a statement on Monday evening, describing them as “offensive to China and the Chinese people” and saying they “have hurt the feelings of Chinese football fans and the Chinese people.”
The incident followed Mbappe’s earlier comments about memes portraying him as a military dictator.
In a September interview with French sports newspaper L’Equipe, the forward acknowledged that some of the jokes were humorous but expressed concern about comparisons with historical figures responsible for widespread suffering.
“There’s a part of it that’s funny. You can tell that, for some people, it’s all in good fun. But there is another part that’s a bit less funny because of the damage such people have caused throughout history,” he said.
“Being compared to individuals who murder others, or who have brought misery to millions upon millions of people — well, I don’t think I’ve ever done anything like that in my life,” he said.
The backlash in China came a day after Mbappe lost out to England captain Harry Kane in the Ballon d’Or race, football’s most prestigious individual award.
International sports figures have previously faced commercial consequences in China over remarks involving politically sensitive issues, including Taiwan, Tibet and Hong Kong.
In 2023, former NBA player Dwight Howard sparked criticism on Chinese social media after referring to Taiwan as a country in a video featuring the island’s vice president at the time, Lai Ching-te, who is now its president.
Beijing considers Taiwan part of its territory and has threatened to use force to bring it under its control.
In another incident, Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey triggered a diplomatic and commercial dispute in 2019 after posting a message supporting protests in Hong Kong.
The controversy prompted China to suspend sponsorship agreements with the NBA and remove league games from Chinese television for a year.
