Nanning subway station removes controversial ad featuring fan artwork

Nanning Rail Transit has taken down a controversial Chinese New Year ad featuring a fan artwork shown in the Nanning subway station after some netizens said it resembled a Japanese military flag.  

According to its official statement, Nanning Rail Transit said since the outdoor ad was launched throughout the Chinese Spring Festival, the ad design aimed to celebrate the festive season by using the festive Chinese red as the main colour, as well as Chinese design elements such as lanterns, fireworks and firecrackers, dragon and lion dances, folding fans, plum blossoms, peach blossoms, pear blossoms, amongst others.  

“However, we cherish the opinions of every commuter and citizen, that's why we immediately took down the ad after we received such opinions. Moving forward, we will elevate our ad management level.” 

This comes as the ad in Nanning subway station drew mixed reactions from netizens, with some saying it resembled the Japanese military flag, which has a red circle in the centre signifying the sun but with 16 red rays coming from it. The flag was used as the military flag when Japan occupied Korea and part of China during the 19th Century. 

Social monitoring firm Meltwater saw a total number of 1.22k mentions over the past few days. Keywords associated with the incident include “intelligence”, “character”, “ad”, “Chinese tradition”, “folding fan” and “controversial”. 

A check by MARKETING-INTERACTIVE saw Chinese digital newspaper The Paper’s report on the incident garner over 26k likes and over 1.6k comments, with some saying the folding fan has nothing to do with the Japanese military flag.  

MARKETING-INTERACTIVE has reached out to Nanning Rail Transit for more information. 

It's not surprising to see Chinese people being critical of the Japanese government given the tension between China and Japan due to geopolitical and historical factors. 

In fact, the tension between the two regions have elevated after Japan started discharging the nuclear-contaminated water from the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant into the ocean, ignoring the warnings and protests of other countries that it may affect marine life and contaminate the oceans.

Don't miss: Chinese sportswear brand Li-Ning faces heat for Japanese military-like collection

Nanning Rail Transit isn't the first brand that came under file for showing Japanese military-like ads. Back in October 2022, Chinese sportswear Li-Ning has been called out as items as part of its latest airport collection are said to resemble Japanese military outfit during World War II.  

On its official Weibo account, Li-Ning recently unveiled its latest airport collection including several navy green jackets and hoodies which were then questioned by netizens who said the clothing imitates Japanese military outfit and was “offensive”, a check by MARKETING-INTERACTIVE saw on Weibo. 

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