SINGAPORE: Hair removal salon chain Strip said that social media users in China “may have drawn some wrong conclusions” from its use of an orangutan in an advertisement in the country.
Images of the ad for Strip’s salons in Shanghai went viral in China earlier this month, angering social media users who accused the company of shaming women who do not remove their body hair, the South China Morning Post reported on Wednesday (Feb 8).
A screenshot of a Weibo post about the ad published by SCMP showed an orangutan and a model wearing similar dresses at the doorway of a Strip outlet.
In a statement on Wednesday, Strip said that the orangutan is the company’s “brand mascot” and “is not a comparison to the female form”.
“Our mascot was inspired by the beloved tourism icon of Singapore and has been present since the brand started 20 years ago,” Strip said.
“Strip never engages and will never engage in shame campaigns to push or influence people to accept beauty services that benefit us,” the company continued.
“We are a brand that believes in good humour and setting high standards in all our campaigns with full respect for females as well as males alike with the most progressive mindset.”
The use of inventive and humorous advertising and marketing campaigns enables the company to take the embarrassment out of a “sensitive subject”, it added.
Strip has, however, decided to stop using images of orangutans in its ads in mainland China and Hong Kong to avoid “misunderstandings and misinterpretations”.
Founded in Singapore in 2002, Strip has outlets in 12 cities including Bangkok, Manila and Mumbai, according to its websites.
Posts on the company’s Facebook page have featured images of orangutans for more than a decade.