Mbappe dropped by Chinese brands for 'offending national sentiments'

Kylian Mbappe was dropped Tuesday by two major brands in China after a video circulated online in which the French football superstar apparently joked about late founding leader Mao Zedong.

"Our company firmly opposes and has a zero-tolerance policy towards any behaviour that offends national sentiments," drinks giant Dongpeng said in a statement, adding that "with immediate effect we are terminating all cooperation with Kylian Mbappe".

Adverts showing AI-generated images of the 27-year-old France captain drinking a Dongpeng sports drink were regularly shown in China during this year's World Cup.

Mengniu, China's largest dairy producer, also cut ties with the Real Madrid forward, who until this incident was hugely popular among Chinese fans with millions of followers on social media.

Mbappe is fondly nicknamed "Guigui", the Chinese translation of "Turtle", due to his popularity as a character in a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles meme.

"With immediate effect our company is terminating all cooperation with Kylian Mbappe," Mengniu said in a statement.

"Mengniu firmly opposes and has a zero-tolerance policy towards any words or actions that hurt the feelings of the Chinese people," it added.

The announcements came after a video emerged online with Mbappe talking about the funniest internet meme he had seen, which was an apparent reference to a meme of him superimposed on an image of Mao, one of several using the footballer's face and other historical figures.

The authenticity of the video could not immediately be verified by AFP Fact Check.

"Dongpeng Beverage ends cooperation with Mbappe" was the top-trending topic on Chinese social media site Weibo.

One Weibo user said that the "extremely serious wrong remarks... crossed the red line. They are completely unacceptable".

Others urged Dongpeng to remove Mbappe's image from their energy drink bottles.

Dongqiudi, one of China's biggest online football outlets, said in a statement on Monday evening that Mbappe's remarks were "offensive to China and the Chinese people" and "have hurt the feelings of Chinese football fans and the Chinese people".

The furore in China came a day after Mbappe lost out to Harry Kane for the Ballon d'Or, the most prestigious individual award in football.