Swatch says ‘slanted eye’ ad was a ‘faux pas by a young team’

The Swatch ad caused uproar on social media, with some in China calling for a boycott of the group's products. Keystone / Christian Beutler

After a botched ad campaign in China, the Swatch Group says it is back on track – yet some fundamental questions remain to be answered.

In August, Swatch chose a rather unlikely image as part of its ad campaign in China: an Asian model pulling at the corners of his eyes. It quickly became apparent that this was not a good idea.

The well-known Swiss watch brand fast found itself at the centre of online uproar and widespread accusations of racial stereotyping.

The company hastily withdrew all the images and apologised “for any distress or misunderstanding this may have caused”.

As the furore in China and other Asian countries was already dying down, speculation was rife in Switzerland about the damage to the brand, with all kinds of rescue measures being bandied about.

One marketing expert even declared prominently that Swatch CEO Nick Hayek should apologise for the slip-up.

Under pressure: Swatch Group CEO Nick Hayek. Keystone / Peter Klaunzer

The reactions show the scepticism which the firm’s management faces in its home country, with company shares having fallen massively in value since a high ten years ago.

A vicious circle of discrimination

Now, a few days have gone by, the online outrage continues. The Swatch Group, at least, sees itself as vindicated: the outrage has calmed down and stores in Asia have not been hit commercially. So what remains of the case?

There are two big questions. The first and most simple one, initially not answered by Swatch, is how on earth did the ad ever make it through internal checks in the first place?

When contacted by Swissinfo, Swatch wrote that it was not an advertising campaign in the true sense of the word, but rather an internal project using individual images.

“The aim was seemingly to capture unusual gestures. Admittedly, the result was not very successful. It was a faux pas by a young and motivated team which apparently didn’t realise the implications of the gestures involved.” 

Swatch Group HQ in Biel/Bienne, northwestern Switzerland. Keystone / Jean-Christophe Bott

Bad experiences

The second and more complicated question is about how to gauge the reactions in China. And here, the digging needs to go a bit deeper.

Firstly, it is interesting to note that Swatch is not the first European company to fall into the “slanted eye” trap. On the contrary, there is a long list of cases – three of them from 2021 alone.

For example, German carmaker Mercedes-Benz withdrew – after massive protests – an advertising video in which an Asian model was shown wearing make-up which enhanced the shape of her eyes. 

French luxury brand Dior pulled an image for the same reason. Chinese fashion photographer Chen Man, who took the photo, apologised and said: “I condemn myself for my immaturity and ignorance”.

Even Chinese brands are not immune to accusations of racial stereotyping. In the same year, snack manufacturer Three Squirrels felt compelled to apologise after having hired a model with particularly narrow eyes for a campaign.

On social media, the model herself wondered “does this mean I’m not Chinese, because I was born with small eyes?” Her response sparked a fresh wave of debate.

Zhu Wei, Deputy Director of the Communication Law Research Centre at the Chinese University of Political Science and Law, told the pro-government Global TimesExternal link that in the case of the snack manufacturer ad, it was not the model that was the problem, but the Oriental narrative –  i.e. the adoption of a Western perspective in framing a Chinese person.

It is a difficult distinction to make, especially as stylisation is inherent to advertising – not to mention fashion. Some brands have therefore started to only book models with more “Caucasian eyes”, but this has also been criticised as simply promoting the European standard of beauty. In short, advertising in China is caught in a vicious circle of discrimination on both sides.

Underestimated sensitivities

The Swatch example shows that persistent sensitivity in Asian countries about these stereotypes is underestimated in Europe. This may have something to do with the fact that the classic European gesture of superiority was based on ideas of racial doctrine which are now outdated.

However, the relationship between Europe and Asia is not just burdened by history: anti-China resentment also increased after the outbreak of the Covid pandemic, when criticism of Chinese politicsExternal link sometimes spilled over to the country as a whole.

Meanwhile the Swatch Group has turned its attention back to daily business. It has enough problems to be dealing with, such as the market struggles of its low-cost Swatch brand.

Flagship brands Omega, Longines and Breguet, which also belong to the group, are weakening too, while other Swiss luxury watch brands such as Rolex and Patek Philippe, which are not traded on the stock exchange, are flourishing. The Swatch stagnation is perhaps best illustrated by comparison with the luxury group Richemont, which owns the watch brand IWC, among others.

The Swatch Group media office writes in an unusually clear tone that the situation in China was unfortunate, but did not amount to a crisis. “A crisis is what Switzerland is facing with Donald Trump’s 39% tariffs in the US,” it writes.

Edited by Balz Rigendinger; translated from German by DeepL/dos