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GOT7’s Jackson Wang cuts ties with Adidas Originals for his love of China
GOT7’s Jackson Wang cuts ties with Adidas Originals for his love of China
K-pop boy band GOT7 member Jackson Wang has cut ties with Adidas Originals to support cotton products in Xinjiang, China, which has become a hot issue over allegations of forced labor that resulted in Chinese citizens retaliating by boycotting Western brands.
Last year, Jackson was featured in Adidas’ “Change is a Team Sport” ad campaign for its Adidas Originals Superstar shoes.
Jackson is one of the many Chinese celebrities who have severed ties with global companies such as H&M, Nike and Adidas to show their support to China’s stance against companies which raised issues over Xinjiang cotton.
On the Chinese microblogging platform Weibo, Team Wang, an agency that Jackson established, announced that “from now on, this studio and Mr. Jackson Wang will terminate all cooperation with the brand Adidas Originals. The country’s interests are above all else. This studio and Mr. Jackson Wang are firmly opposed to all malicious acts that discredit China.”
Jackson posted the statement only on his Weibo account but not on Instagram and Twitter.
A Modern Slavery Act Transparency Statement issued by Adidas (UK) Ltd. and Reebok International Ltd. in October 2019 stated that “in 2019, for example, on learning of allegations against several companies sourcing from Xinjiang, China, where ethnic minorities were reportedly subject to forced labor in spinning mills we explicitly required our fabric suppliers not to source any yarn from the Xinjiang region. Adidas has never manufactured goods in Xinjiang and has no contractual relationship with any Xinjiang supplier.”
According to China’s Global Times newspaper, more than 30 Chinese stars including EXO’s Lay Zhang and Wang Yibo have cut ties with famous brands such as Adidas, H&M and Nike over the Xinjiang cotton controversy. K-pop girl group f(x)’s Victoria also cut ties with H&M.
This is not the first time that Jackson supported China. Jackson expressed his support to China over the Hong Kong issue, declaring himself as one of the 1.4 billion guardians of China’s flag. He was born in Hong Kong.