Chinese laundry detergent ad called ‘most racist TV commercial ever made’

Laundry detergent isn’t polarizing stuff, and the ads for it usually trade on innocuous facts of life (i.e. children can be messy). But one Chinese company has ventured into territory that’s being described as racist.

The Qiaobi laundry detergent ad, which is being called "The Most Racist TV Commercial Ever Made," is causing a stir online. Several versions of it can be found on YouTube, with one having more than 5,000,000 views.

In it, a Chinese woman is approached by a black man, who is covered in what appears to be paint splatters. The woman is initially flirty before putting a detergent pack in the man’s mouth and stuffing him in to a washer. After a time elapse, a Chinese man comes out of the washer.

According to What's On Weibo, a site which tracks Chinese social media, the commercial was the No. 1 topic recently on Reddit.

The ad has been airing in China since at least April, the New York Times reported.

Xu Chunyan, an agent for Qiaobi based in the Suzhou, China, told the Times that the ad was meant to be provocative.

“We did this for some sensational effect,” she told the newspaper. “If we just show laundry like all the other advertisements, ours will not stand out.”

This story was originally published May 28, 2016 at 12:41 PM with the headline "Chinese laundry detergent ad called ‘most racist TV commercial ever made’."