CHINESE BRANDS END AGREEMENTS WITH KYLIAN MBAPPE

Dongpeng, Mengniu and Milkground said on 27 October that they were ending agreements with Kylian Mbappe. Their announcements followed the circulation of a video in which the French footballer appeared to refer to Mao Zedong as a dictator. Dongpeng said it had a “zero-tolerance policy towards any behaviour that offends national sentiments”. Mengniu said it opposed words or actions that hurt “the feelings of the Chinese people”. The companies did not specify what prompted their decisions.

In the clip, Mbappe answers a question about his favourite meme of himself before an altered image shows his face on Mao’s body. He describes it as “a video someone made of a guy ... I think he was a Chinese dictator”. Mao, a founding leader of Communist China, died in 1976. Dongpeng had shown adverts in China featuring AI-generated images of Mbappe drinking its sports drink during the 2026 World Cup. Mbappe had also appeared in Chinese advertising for milk and cheese products.

RedNote said separately that it would “remove related promotional materials” featuring Mbappe. The social media platform said its content partnership with him ended in 2024. Memes depicting the Real Madrid and France forward as Mao or other leaders have circulated online. The video and the companies’ decisions drew discussion among Chinese football fans on social media. Mbappe’s representatives had not provided a response when contacted for comment.