Swatch, the world’s largest watchmaker, has found itself at the center of a cultural firestorm after releasing a global advertisement that many in China and beyond condemned as racist. The ad, intended to promote the Swatch Essentials Collection, featured an Asian male model pulling the corners of his eyes upward and backward—a gesture widely recognized as a derogatory stereotype aimed at Asians. The backlash was swift, fierce, and, as it turns out, deeply consequential for the Swiss company’s reputation and bottom line.
It all began on August 19, 2025, when Swatch’s new campaign image appeared across its social media platforms worldwide. According to Swiss public broadcaster SRF and reporting from the Macau Daily Times, the image immediately drew criticism, especially from Chinese consumers and influencers. Social media in China lit up with outrage. High-profile Weibo users, some with over a million followers, accused Swatch of racism and called for regulatory sanctions. One user, quoted by the Daily Mail, wrote, "This brand image has been destroyed. Swatch thinks it's enough to apologize and everything is over? It's not that easy."
The response from the public was not limited to social media venting. Calls for a boycott of Swatch and its associated brands—Blancpain, Longines, and Tissot among them—quickly gained traction. As reported by IDEX Online and The Guardian, many consumers questioned how such an ad could have made it through Swatch’s internal review process. Others urged Chinese authorities to impose sanctions on the company.
Swatch’s leadership moved to contain the damage. The company issued apologies on both Instagram and China’s Weibo platform, in Chinese and English, stating, "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 apology, however, did little to quell the anger. As one Instagram comment cited by BizPac Review put it, "You should not bring discrimination against Asians into your product posters. This will only cause you to lose more Asian customers and bring no benefit. This cannot be forgiven."
Swatch’s official explanation, shared with Reuters, offered a behind-the-scenes glimpse into how the controversial image came to be. The company described the ad as "a faux pas by a young, motivated team who were not aware of the extent of the gestures. At no time was it the intention to offend or hurt anyone with the pictures." While Swatch’s rapid move to pull the ad and apologize was noted by some branding experts as prudent, it did not stem the tide of criticism or stop the calls for a boycott.
For Swatch, the timing could hardly have been worse. The company’s financial performance in China, one of its largest and most important markets, was already under significant strain. As reported by IDEX Online, Swatch experienced a 14 percent drop in sales during the first half of 2025, a decline attributed almost entirely to a massive reduction in demand for luxury goods in China. Other sources, including BizPac Review and the Daily Mail, cited figures between 7.1 and 11.2 percent for the same period, but all agreed that China was the primary driver of the downturn. Swatch itself acknowledged in a July statement that "the decline in sales is exclusively attributable to China." The company expects the Chinese market to remain challenging for the entire luxury goods sector through the end of the year.
This incident is not occurring in a vacuum. Swatch’s misstep is part of a broader pattern of foreign brands stumbling into controversy in China and other Asian markets. In 2018, Dolce & Gabbana faced a massive boycott after releasing videos deemed culturally insensitive in Shanghai, prompting a public video apology from its founders. More recently, Dior and other fashion houses have drawn criticism for ad imagery considered disrespectful or tone-deaf. According to the Daily Mail, even a Chinese photographer had to apologize after a photo for a French label was deemed insensitive two years ago. The lesson, it seems, is that global brands must tread carefully in markets where cultural imagery carries deep meaning and the margin for error is razor-thin.
Industry observers see Swatch’s blunder as emblematic of a new era in marketing—one marked by edgier campaigns and greater risks. As reported by Reuters, companies are increasingly willing to push boundaries in the hope of capturing attention in a crowded, fast-moving digital landscape. But as Allen Adamson, co-founder of the marketing consultancy Metaforce, told Reuters, "Marketers are between a rock and a hard place. They know that the more inclusive they are, the less likely they are to get some social media buzz." The recent rollback of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs in the U.S., along with shoppers’ constrained budgets and short memories, has led some brands to green-light riskier ads that can quickly backfire.
Swatch is far from alone in facing the consequences of controversial marketing. American Eagle Outfitters and Dunkin Donuts have both released ads in recent months that were criticized for racial insensitivity or for hiring celebrity endorsers with problematic associations. Branding experts, including Angeli Gianchandani of New York University, warn that while such ads may generate short-term buzz, they risk long-term damage to brand reputation and can alienate growing consumer bases among non-white shoppers. "Whether it’s the Black consumer, the Asian consumer, the Latin consumer, when American Eagle does an ad like that, they’re excluding and they’re leaving money on the table," Gianchandani told Reuters.
Some companies, like American Eagle, have stood by their controversial campaigns, but Swatch chose a different path—issuing a swift apology and removing the offending image globally. Whether this will be enough to repair its image in China and beyond remains to be seen. As noted by multiple sources, public anger and calls for boycotts have not abated, and Swatch’s sales figures reflect the high cost of cultural missteps in the world’s most lucrative luxury market.
The Swatch case serves as a cautionary tale for global brands navigating the complexities of cross-cultural marketing. In today’s hyper-connected world, a single image can spark outrage, damage reputations, and impact the bottom line—all in a matter of hours. For Swatch, the hope is that its apology and quick action can begin to rebuild trust. But the incident is a stark reminder: in an era of heightened sensitivity and instant feedback, there’s little room for error.
