Sex doesn’t sell in China: Mac’s controversy

What happened Since late March, netizens have been debating a new billboard featuring Exo’s Kai promoting Mac Cosmetics’ Studio Fix Fluid Foundation. Located on Julu Road in Shanghai, the ad features a giant 3D bottle positioned between his legs, with copy reading “super, super long-lasting” — imagery that some argue is sexually suggestive. But the debate has quickly widened, still running two weeks after the first post on March 28. There are divided opinions on whether the campaign transferred a sexual innuendo. However, the “I Only Wear Mac” Studio Fix campaign in Q4 2025 suggests otherwise. Featuring talent such as Doja Cat and Gabbriette, who appeared nude and wearing only the foundation, the campaign leaned heavily into deliberate provocation and suggestive styling. In this case, Chinese netizens have pointed to earlier campaigns by Jackson Wang, which some netizens had also described as sexually suggestive. One Xiaohongshu user writes, “The Mac marketing department must be having a meltdown; netizens are a whole other level of savage!” Another says, “It’s at most sloppy for not avoiding public controversy, but the poster isn’t actually that risky.” The Jing Take The netizen backlash reflects a dynamic global brands must navigate carefully in China: regulatory and cultural pressure against sexualized imagery in public media is significant, and ambiguous advertising can cross a line that might go unnoticed elsewhere. Regulators have long required advertising, social platforms, and entertainment to reflect “socialist core values,” with content deemed “vulgar” or suggestive liable to be flagged as socially disruptive. Even ambiguous campaigns can draw scrutiny — brands operate in a system where public interpretation can quickly become regulatory pressure. In cases like this, scrutiny falls on the brand rather than the ambassador. South Korean-Chinese K-pop group Exo has amassed more than 3 billion impressions on Xiaohongshu, reflecting the group’s vast fanbase in China, while #kaimacbrandambassador had accumulated 335,000 impressions — notable given that Kai was only announced as brand ambassador in February 2026. Localizing brand voice Xiaohongshu comments ranging from “leave our Kai alone” to “I just feel so bad for Kai” show fans rallying to the star's defense — a dynamic that poses its own reputational risk for Mac, as consumer sympathy for the ambassador can quickly translate into anger toward the brand. The episode is a pointed reminder that localization in China goes beyond translation. The long-standing Western assumption that suggestive advertising drives sales does not apply uniformly in a market shaped by strict content regulations — and with the billboard still up and debate still running, the reputational risk for Mac remains live. Calvin Klein’s Chinese campaigns, for example, tend to favor fitness, lifestyle, and celebrity endorsement over the overtly sexual aesthetic the brand deploys in Western markets. In 2023, Chinese regulators intensified enforcement against “obscene” or suggestive content online, effectively barring female models from wearing lingerie on livestream shopping platforms and ordering streams shut down for violations. What might have been a striking campaign image has instead sparked a debate that risks undermining Mac’s sales performance in China — a market where the line between edgy and offensive is drawn by regulators and consumers alike. The Jing Take reports on a piece of the leading news and presents our editorial team’s analysis of the key implications for the luxury industry. In the recurring column, we analyze everything from product drops and mergers to heated debate sprouting on Chinese social media.

Sex doesn’t sell in China: Mac’s controversy

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Sex doesn’t sell in China: Mac’s controversy

How Bottega Veneta weaved China’s forever it bag