Chinese ministry reportedly takes down 'racist' advert after global furore

A social media post containing a "racist" Chinese government ministry's advert, which was aimed at teaching people about road safety, was taken down, BBC mentioned in its report. The ad showcased blackfaced performers dancing to Bollywood tunes, triggering furore globally.

The video was first posted from the official account of the Ministry of Public Security (MPS) on its Weibo account reportedly last week and the one-minute clip was later shared on Twitter by a user.

Media reports stated that the video was created by Hao Ge Ge, who is an influencer on Douyin, an video sharing app in China, similar to TikTok.

The Chinese performers can be seen in the video wearing turbans and colourful clothes as seen in an Indian song from the 1990s,

The ministry's posted the video with a caption which read, "Motorcycle da da da #Police reminder: Seat belts should also be worn in the rear seats. Remember when riding a motorcycle, you can't go on the road without a helmet!"

The video has garnered over 1.2 million likes on the short video platform but faced massive flak from Indian users on Twitter as they labelled it racist and inappropriate.In the video, the performers were seen dancing, while the man can be seen asking the girl to ride on his bike.

Watch the video here:

There was a mixed reaction in China as some users liked and shared the post, and defended the video, saying that the famous song was "monumentally" popular in China and an example of "Indian soft power".

One user wrote on Twitter, "This is hilarious at best. From Chinese colleagues know for sure that Chinese people are more into Indian movies & accept Indian movies as better. Believe the level of appreciation is the same as Mainland appreciation for Hong Kong movies. They are in fact promoting Indian movies!"

One user raised concerns and wrote that "this will definitely cause trouble if you put it up in India, they won't find it humorous."

The video was shared by a user named Aadil Brar, who wrote: "They are very much mocking India, Bollywood and Indians. He said it was "insane" that the ministry had used such content.

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