Swatch out! Controversional ad pulled

They say that any publicity is good publicity, but Swatch has pushed that theory to its limit this week.

The colourful Swiss watchmaker was forced to withdraw an advert after an online backlash accused the brand of racism.

The post in the image was said to resemble too closely the slanted eye image that historically has been used against Asian people, for which Swatch has apologised.

“We sincerely apologize for any distress or misunderstanding this may have caused,” a company statement said.

“We treat this matter with the utmost importance and have immediately removed all related materials worldwide.”

Threats of a boycott of the brand among some Chinese social media users are unlucky to cause too much alarm at Swatch HQ for now, but they’ll hope to avoid similar faux pas in the future.