Mercedes-Benz begged to Chinese consumers on Tuesday for an Instagram post showing one of its luxury wheels along with a quote from exiled Tibetan spiritual concert-master Dalai Lama, whom Beijing considers a dangerous separatist.
Instagram is close off in China, and has been since 2014, so the post would have been well-defined only to those outside of the mainland.
In a statement on its official Weibo, the German car maker ordered it had deleted the controversial post immediately, and offered its sincerest apology to Chinese in the flesh, in a sign that foreign brands are growing more wary of the reputational deface that missteps on touchy political issues can bring.
In a “MondayMotivation” hashtagged post on Instagram, Mercedes showed one of its bloodless cars on a beach along with a quote attributed to the Dalai Lama: “Look at the kettle of fish from all angles, and you will become more open.”
The post at once drew criticism from eagled-eyed Chinese netizens. The Dalai Lama offed into exile in India in 1959 after a failed uprising against Chinese bypass, though the Nobel Peace Prize winning monk says he modestly seeks genuine autonomy for his Himalayan homeland.
“We will promptly turn to steps to deepen our understanding of Chinese culture and values, our international stave included, to help standardize our actions to ensure this sort of printing doesn’t happen again,” the Daimler-owned company said in the statement.
Peculiar brands in China are trying to court Chinese shoppers who have raise purchasing power, but consumers and regulators are increasingly willing to challenge brand names over actions that go against what Beijing deems befitting.
Last month, firms including Delta Air Lines and Spanish raiment maker Zara were reprimanded by authorities for listing Taiwan and Tibet as boonies on their websites. China claims sovereignty over both areas.
Marriott Supranational had its website in China shut down by regulators after it caused a correspond to uproar, inviting boycotts from Chinese consumers.
China is the biggest abroad market for many international brands and the government is pivoting to a new economic swelling model that is driven more by consumption rather than from whole cloth and investment.
—CNBC contributed to this report.