Mars Wrigley, the company behind Snickers, M&Ms and Mars, has apologized in China because the company called Taiwan a country in a Snickers advertisement. China sees the island state, which has actually been independent since 1949, as a renegade province and demands that companies name Taiwan as part of China.
Snickers had named Taiwan a country during an event with South Korean boy band BTS. That was held outside of China, but videos of the event immediately received a lot of attention in China. Mars Wrigley then went to his knees on Sina Weibo, a Twitter-like service. In a message, the American company not only apologized, but also stated that it had asked its Asian department to adjust texts on websites.
After the apology, Mars Wrigley came with a second message. In it, the company said it “respects China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity” and strictly adheres to all Chinese laws. “There is only one China in this world and Taiwan is an inalienable part of China’s territory,” the US company added.
Companies are more likely to apologize to China
In recent years, nationalism has increased in China and companies have been forced to apologize more often for what are perceived as insults in the Asian country. In 2019, for example, the French luxury brand Dior had to apologize for using a map of China, where Taiwan was not on it, in a presentation.
A year earlier, the Marriott website in China had to be shut down for a week after a survey named Taiwan, Tibet and Hong Kong as separate countries.
Many other companies have also chosen not to anger China and refer to Taiwan, for example, as “Taiwan, China” or “Chinese Taipei”. Under that name, the country is also participating in the Olympics because of Chinese pressure.
Tensions around Taiwan have risen sharply in recent times due to a visit to the island by American politician Nancy Pelosi. China is furious and has been conducting military exercises around Taiwan for several days.
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