Swatch apologizes for ad accused of racist imagery

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Swatch apologizes for ad accused of racist imagery

Published: 18 Aug. 2025, 14:48 Updated: 18 Aug. 2025, 14:55

Audio report: written by reporters, read by AI

A Swatch ad image accused of racism [SCREEN CAPTURE]

Swiss watch brand Swatch has issued an apology after accusations surfaced that a recently released advertisement contained racist imagery of East Asian people.

“We have taken note of the recent concerns regarding the portrayal of a model in images for the Swatch Essentials Collection,” Swatch wrote on its Instagram account on Saturday.

“We treat this matter with the utmost importance and have immediately removed all related materials worldwide. We sincerely apologize for any distress or misunderstanding this may have caused.”

The controversy centered on a photo showing a male model pulling at the corners of his eyes in an exaggerated manner, a gesture widely regarded as a racist mockery of East Asian people. The image has since been deleted from Swatch’s Chinese website and other platforms.

The company also apologized on Weibo, China’s major social media platform.

This is not the first time such a gesture has sparked backlash. In April 2023, French luxury brand Dior faced similar accusations of racism for an advertisement featuring an Asian model in a comparable pose.

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY MOON SANG-HYEOK [[email protected]]