A locally issued red scarf, worn by the ‘Young Pioneers of China’ to symbolize loyalty to communism, became the topic of great online controversy this weekend.
The red scarfs worn by students in Heze (菏泽), Shandong, came with print advertising for Wanda, a Chinese multinational private real estate developer.
Photos of the print ad red scarfs, promoting a local branch of the Wanda branch, went viral on September 29. The scarfs were worn by third-grade students of the Danyanglu primary school.
The scarfs were reportedly handed out to the students in light of a road safety campaign on September 25. The school board allegedly did not notice the advertisement.
The ‘Young Pioneers’ (中国少年先锋队) are a youth organization for children from the ages of six to fourteen in China run by the Communist Youth League.
“Isn’t this considered blasphemy to the martyrs of the revolution?”, one popular comment said. Other commenters compared the scandal to being similar to if ads would be printed on the Chinese flag.
“What kind of example are we for the next generation?”, others wondered: “Everything is about money, money, money!”
“How could you place your advertisements on a red scarf?!”, others asked, writing: “We might as well put billboards on Tiananmen now.”
“If you put advertisement on a red scarf, there’s something wrong with your IQ,” others wrote: “They need to be fired as soon as possible.”
But there were also other voices on Chinese social media, writing: “Why shouldn’t we be able to print advertisement on red scarfs? They are a tool for brainwashing, they don’t have any meaning anymore. Print all you want.”
According to the Chinese English-language media outlet ECNS (the English portal of China News Service), the school’s headmaster was punished for the controversy on Saturday, receiving “serious warnings” from the Party committee of Heze.
Also on Saturday, Chinese online news outlet The Paper reported that the Chinese Wanda Group responded to the issue by sacking the CEO of the local Wanda branch. The person in charge allegedly did not receive any permissions to issue the red scarfs with the Wanda advertisement.
By Saturday night (China time), the hashtag “Advertisement on Red Neckscarf” (#红领巾上印广告#) had received more than 37 million views on Weibo.
By Manya Koetse
With contributions by Miranda Barnes
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