Swatch apologizes for ‘slanted eye' ad after online backlash in China
The images for the Swatch Essentials collection were widely condemned online in China, where many said they appeared to mimic racist taunts about Asian eyes.
Shares in the company fell as much as 4% on Monday before paring losses to trade 3.1% lower.
3 The images for the Swatch Essentials collection were widely condemned online in China, where many said they appeared to mimic racist taunts about Asian eyes.
Swatch
'It is very significant for a brand of that scale to misfire in this way,' said Mark Borkowski, who runs a public relations consultancy in London. 'This carelessness is really quite a fundamental mistake.'
In an apology posted in both Chinese and English on its Weibo social media platform on Saturday, Swatch said it had 'taken note of the recent concerns' and removed all related materials worldwide.
'We sincerely apologize for any distress or misunderstanding this may have caused,' the statement said. It also posted the same apology on Instagram.
Swatch declined to comment beyond its statement.
The campaign resulted in a backlash on social media.
3 In an apology posted in both Chinese and English on its Weibo social media platform on Saturday, Swatch said it had 'taken note of the recent concerns' and removed all related materials worldwide.
Swatch
'When I saw this news, I was quite shocked. Swatch has been in the Chinese market for many years, and I feel like most people are familiar with the brand,' said 23-year-old student Justin Zhao. 'I don't know why they did it. They were able to somehow release this after going through numerous approvals.'
Borkowski said Swatch needed to investigate how the ad received the go-ahead from executives.
The incident is the latest setback for a firm whose shares have fallen by more than half since early 2023 and which is facing a 39% tariff on its exports to the United States.
Swatch, which also makes Omega, Longines and Tissot watches, relied on China, Hong Kong and Macau for around 27% of group sales last year.
3 Swatch, which also makes Omega, Longines and Tissot watches, relied on China, Hong Kong and Macau for around 27% of group sales last year.
REUTERS
Revenue for the watchmaker slumped 14.6% to 6.74 billion Swiss francs ($8.4 billion) in 2024, hit by a downturn in demand in China, where Swatch said it was seeing 'difficult market conditions and weak demand for consumer goods overall.'
Peter Xu, a fashion influencer in China with over seven million Weibo followers, said he believed the controversy would impact Swatch's business in China, but given the speed of the apology, the fallout was likely to be short-lived.
'It was pretty stupid to release images like those ones,' he said.
($1 = 0.8065 Swiss francs)
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CNBC
33 minutes ago
- CNBC
OpenAI's Altman warns the U.S. is underestimating China's next-gen AI threat
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman warned that the U.S. may be underestimating the complexity and seriousness of China's progress in artificial intelligence, and said export controls alone likely aren't a reliable solution. "I'm worried about China," he said. Over Mediterranean tapas in San Francisco's Presidio — just five miles north of OpenAI's original office in the Mission — Altman offered a rare on-the-record briefing to a small group of reporters, including CNBC. He warned that the U.S.–China AI race is deeply entangled — and more consequential than a simple who's-ahead scoreboard. "There's inference capacity, where China probably can build faster. There's research, there's product; a lot of layers to the whole thing," he said. "I don't think it'll be as simple as: Is the U.S. or China ahead?" Despite escalating U.S. export controls on semiconductors, Altman is unconvinced that the policy is keeping up with technical reality. Asked whether it would be reassuring if fewer GPUs were reaching China, Altman was skeptical. "My instinct is that doesn't work," he said. "You can export-control one thing, but maybe not the right thing… maybe people build fabs or find other workarounds," he added, referring to semiconductor fabrication facilities, the specialized factories that produce the chips powering everything from smartphones to large-scale AI systems. "I'd love an easy solution," added Altman. "But my instinct is: That's hard." His comments come as Washington adjusts its policies designed to curb China's AI ambitions. The Biden administration initially tightened export controls, but in April, President Donald Trump went further — halting the supply of advanced chips altogether, including models previously designed to comply with Biden-era rules. Last week, however, the U.S. carved out an exception for certain "China-safe" chips, allowing sales to resume under a controversial and unprecedented agreement requiring Nvidia and AMD to give the federal government 15% of their China chip revenue. The result is a patchwork regime that may be easier to navigate than enforce. And while U.S. firms deepen their dependence on chips from Nvidia and AMD, Chinese companies are pushing ahead with alternatives from Huawei and other domestic suppliers — raising questions about whether cutting off supply is having the intended effect. China's AI progress has also influenced how OpenAI thinks about releasing its own models. While the company has long resisted calls to make its technology fully open source, Altman said competition from Chinese models — particularly open-source systems like DeepSeek — was a factor in OpenAI's recent decision to release its own open-weight models. "It was clear that if we didn't do it, the world was gonna head to be mostly built on Chinese open source models," Altman said. "That was a factor in our decision, for sure. Wasn't the only one, but that loomed large." Earlier this month, OpenAI released two open-weight language models — its first since GPT-2 in 2019 — marking a significant shift in strategy for the company that has long kept its technology gated behind application programming interfaces, or APIs. The new text-only models, called gpt-oss-120b and gpt-oss-20b, are designed as lower-cost options that developers, researchers, and companies can download, run locally, and customize. An AI model is considered open weight if its parameters — the values learned during training that determine how the model generates responses — are publicly available. While that offers transparency and control, it's not the same as open source. OpenAI is still not releasing its training data or full source code. With this release, OpenAI joins that wave and, for now, stands alone as the only major U.S. foundation model company actively leaning into a more open approach. While Meta had embraced openness with its Llama models, CEO Mark Zuckerberg suggested on the company's second-quarter earnings call it may pull back on that strategy going forward. OpenAI, meanwhile, is moving in the opposite direction, betting that broader accessibility will help grow its developer ecosystem and strengthen its position against Chinese rivals. Altman had previously acknowledged that OpenAI had been "on the wrong side of history" by locking up its models. Ultimately, OpenAI's move shows it wants to keep developers engaged and within its ecosystem. That push comes as Meta reconsiders its open-source stance and Chinese labs flood the market with models designed to be flexible and widely adopted. Still, the open-weight debut has drawn mixed reviews. Some developers have called the models underwhelming, noting that many of the capabilities that make OpenAI's commercial offerings so powerful were stripped out. Altman didn't dispute that, saying the team intentionally optimized for one core use case: locally-run coding agents. "If the kind of demand shifts in the world," he said, "you can push it to something else." Watch: OpenAI's enterprise bet pays off as startups in Silicon Valley switch to GPT-5
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
1 Unstoppable Artificial Intelligence (AI) Stock to Buy Before Aug. 27
Key Points Domestic AI hyperscalers are increasing their data center capital expenditure plans. A 15% tax for access to the Chinese market is a small price to pay for Nvidia. 10 stocks we like better than Nvidia › Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) has been one of the must-own artificial intelligence (AI) stocks since the arms race kicked off in 2023. It produced incredible returns in both 2023 and 2024, although 2025 has been a bit of a "slow" year for Nvidia's stock, rising around 35% so far. However, all of that could change on Aug. 27 when Nvidia reports Q2 results. There is going to be some interesting commentary made regarding exports to China that could send shares soaring, especially with news of Nvidia paying a 15% export tax on its products. Still, the return of the Chinese markets for Nvidia cannot be understated, and I think it will be a massive catalyst for the stock following the results. Nvidia's domestic demand is growing Nvidia makes graphics processing units (GPUs), which are the most popular computing units for performing difficult tasks, such as engineering simulations, mining cryptocurrency, and training AI models. Nvidia's dominance in the data center market share is incredible, with many estimates setting its market share at 90% or greater. The data center market has been booming thanks to rising demand from AI hyperscalers, like Meta Platforms (NASDAQ: META) and Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOG) (NASDAQ: GOOGL). During each company's Q2 earnings call, each told investors to expect capital expenditure growth for 2026, mainly focused on data center buildout. These data centers are being filled with high-powered computing units, with many of them coming from Nvidia. With this outlook rising, it bodes well for Nvidia's stock in the near and short-term, encouraging investors that domestic GPU demand is still strong. But it's also looking strong overseas. A unique deal to gain access to China could mean huge growth for Nvidia In April, the Trump administration revoked Nvidia's export license for H20 chips, which were specifically designed to meet export restrictions to China. That caused Nvidia to miss out on $2.5 billion in revenue for Q1, but also required Nvidia to pull revenue guidance from H20 chips for Q2. Still, management projected 50% revenue growth to $45 billion for Q2, but that figure would have been 77% to $53 billion if projected H20 sales were included. However, it seems like China's market is back in play with Nvidia's export license set to be approved, and the company likely needs to pay a 15% export tax on the GPUs it sells. This would eat into the margins Nvidia has on these chips, but some sales are better than no sales. Nvidia is well positioned to profit from the increased business in China, which will provide a boost for Nvidia. We'll have to see what CEO Jensen Huang says regarding the progress of these deals and how they affect the company moving forward. Nvidia's Q3 has already started, so it won't be able to enjoy a full quarter of H20 sales, but it could still be a positive benefit to the company in the back half of the quarter. Nvidia has two positive growth catalysts going for it right now, and none working against it. This could cause management to guide for revenue reacceleration, which would likely send shares soaring. Additionally, Nvidia's stock may not be cheap, but it's still valued at a lower level than it was at this point last year. This could open up the door to the stock popping following its earnings announcement, and buying shares today ensures that you get in on that action. However, I still think there's an excellent long-term investing opportunity here, and even if you wait until after the earnings announcement, Nvidia will likely maintain its status as one of the top stocks to buy. Should you buy stock in Nvidia right now? Before you buy stock in Nvidia, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the for investors to buy now… and Nvidia wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $668,155!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $1,106,071!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor's total average return is 1,070% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 184% for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join Stock Advisor. See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of August 13, 2025 Keithen Drury has positions in Alphabet, Meta Platforms, and Nvidia. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet, Meta Platforms, and Nvidia. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. 1 Unstoppable Artificial Intelligence (AI) Stock to Buy Before Aug. 27 was originally published by The Motley Fool Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
China's First Crewed Tiltrotor Aircraft Is Flying
A new tiltrotor aircraft has appeared in China and is already undergoing flight testing — the first of its kind to take to the air in that country, at least that we know about. While the program remains generally mysterious, it's further evidence of growing Chinese interest in this class of aircraft. Although previous similar Chinese projects have typically been pitched for civilian missions, tiltrotors have clear military applications as the People's Liberation Army (PLA) continues to expand its reach across the Indo-Pacific region and seeks to assert control over the South China Sea. The designation of the new tiltrotor, as well as its design agency, remains unknown. However, there are unconfirmed rumors that Hafei Aviation Industry, best known as a manufacturer of light airplanes and helicopters, is responsible. Hafei is a subsidiary of Harbin, which is based in the city of the same name, but also has a presence in Beijing. In the past, models of similar-looking tiltrotors have been presented by the Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC), the country's state-owned aerospace and defense conglomerate, which includes various different companies. ???Sure, why not at this Captain小潇 — Rick Joe (@RickJoe_PLA) August 18, 2025 It's also unclear when and where the available images originate from, but they began to circulate on social media recently. One image shows the new tiltrotor parked in a hangar, with another prototype of the same aircraft parked directly behind it. Overall, the Chinese tiltrotor is broadly similar in basic configuration and appearance to the Leonardo AW609, an aircraft we have looked at in detail in the past. The layout includes a cabin slung below a straight wing, with turboshaft engines in nacelles mounted at the wingtips. Each rotatable pod has a proprotor that can be positioned at various angles for different flight modes and regimes. The design has adopted Bell's new-generation tiltrotor technology, as used in the V-280 Valor, where instead of the whole nacelle rotating, only the front portion pivots. This solution is said to decrease complexity and increase reliability, as well as performance, compared with earlier tiltrotor concepts where the whole nacelle rotates, like on the V-22 Osprey — currently, the only in-service tiltrotor aircraft. The empennage on the Chinese design comprises a conventional high-mounted T-tail. It has a rudder, a feature that's absent from the AW609, which instead relies on its proprotors to control yaw. There is a small door providing access to the flight deck on each side of the fuselage, with a larger door on the right-hand side providing cabin access on the opposite side. The tricycle undercarriage is retractable, with a single wheel on each unit. In terms of size, the new Chinese tiltrotor appears to be in the same class as the AW609. The Italian design is considerably smaller than the U.S.-made V-22, with a maximum gross weight of 18,000 pounds compared with 52,000 pounds for the Osprey (in VTOL mode). Equipped with a pressurized cabin, the AW609 can accommodate up to 12 passengers in a high-density configuration, while a V-22 carries double that, or more still, depending on seating arrangement. The Osprey also comes equipped with a rear ramp, an aerial refueling probe, and the ability to transport slung loads. The performance parameters for the AW609 include a cruising speed of 270 knots, a range of up to 1,000 nautical miles with auxiliary fuel, and the ability to carry a useful load of 6,000 pounds, plus a 600-pound door hoist. Nevertheless, as we have discussed in the past, the AW609 has clear military potential, especially for certain specialist missions, despite initially being pitched for civilian work. Military missions in which tiltrotors are especially relevant include combat search and rescue (CSAR), special operations, amphibious assault, as well as humanitarian and disaster relief. Video of the AW609 AC4, fully representative of the final production configuration: China's tiltrotor, once formally unveiled, might well also be publicly described as a platform for commercial operations, but its capabilities mean that, if successful, it will surely catch the eye of the PLA too. The same was the case with China's UR6000, a large tiltrotor drone that appeared in prototype form late last year. While also stated as being developed for civilian missions, at least one rendering on the manufacturer's website now shows the UR6000 in PLA markings, the aircraft joining a growing family of fixed-wing Chinese transport drones that have dual-role civilian and military applications. The UR6000 has a stated maximum takeoff weight of over 13,000 pounds, putting it in broadly the same category as the crewed AW609. For the PLA, a tiltrotor in the class of the newly appeared aircraft would appear to be very well suited to a range of missions, especially in the Indo-Pacific theater. Here, the ability to maintain wartime operations without access to conventional airstrips is a key requirement. At the same time, the PLA has a significant requirement to deliver cargoes to remote locations, including Chinese island outposts in the South China Sea. Other mission areas could include any of the various islands, the ownership of which is disputed between China and other nations in the region. The same kinds of concerns are meanwhile forcing the U.S. military to rethink how best to address expeditionary missions in this environment. For the PLA, meanwhile, fighting in these kinds of areas is fundamental to its doctrine, reinforcing China's broader strategic ambitions to expand its reach across the Pacific, including operations from small island airstrips as well as a growing fleet of amphibious assault ships that would be ideal platforms for hosting a tiltrotor transport. Ultimately, the new tiltrotor would be too small to supplant the Change Z-8/Z-18 medium-lift helicopters that currently provide the most significant aerial lift capacity to China's amphibious forces, which are steadily adding more capabilities and growing in size. However, a navalized version of the tiltrotor could potentially take over some of the missions flown by the smaller Harbin Z-9 and the Black Hawk-like Harbin Z-20, which is fast becoming a more regular presence on PLA Navy vessels. Experience with the smaller tiltrotor would also provide very valuable data that could then inform the development of scaled-up versions or larger aircraft with the same capabilities. Like all tiltrotor designs, the Chinese offering combines the distinct advantages and disadvantages of these types of aircraft. To begin with, the rotors at the ends of its wings ensure the vertical takeoff and landing versatility of a helicopter. With the engine nacelles rotated, the aircraft will offer performance that is much closer to what's possible with conventional fixed-wing turboprop aircraft, especially in terms of speed and range. But ensuring those benefits can be achieved is a very costly endeavor and one that includes numerous penalties in terms of technological complexity. The V-22 had a fairly torturous path to service. Now that it's operational, the V-22's remarkable attributes continue to be balanced against less-than-outstanding readiness figures and a host of technical problems that have hampered its availability. It's also worth recalling that the AW609 has been in interminable development for many years, punctuated by delays and a fatal crash, reflecting the huge challenges of building a practical aircraft in this class. Like the AW609, the Chinese design should be considerably cheaper than the V-22, although it doesn't offer anything like the same level of capabilities in terms of all-around performance and especially load-lifting. China is increasingly successful in selling its aviation products to foreign nations, although it might face more challenges here with a tiltrotor. Even the V-22, combat-proven by the U.S. Marine Corps, has so far only secured a foreign sale to Japan (and that for a very modest number of aircraft). Other countries, including Israel and Indonesia, have shown interest in the Osprey, without buying any so far. Ultimately, another Bell product, the V-280 Valor, might enjoy more export success, with its second-generation tiltrotor technology and the fact it is smaller and potentially more affordable than the V-22, while still offering similar baseline capabilities in some respects. Other, more secretive tiltrotor designs are also under development in the United States, meanwhile. Therefore, it might be some time before the new Chinese tiltrotor enters operational service, whether for civilian, para-public, or military customers. At the same time, the appearance of a flying prototype underscores China's interest in these types of aircraft, which are undoubtedly very well suited to the kinds of island-hopping operations that would likely characterize a future large-scale conflict in the Indo-Pacific. As the first of its kind, as far as we know, this design could also help kickstart a number of other tiltrotor concepts in China, as they move from concept to reality. Contact the author: thomas@ Solve the daily Crossword
