The China unit of Mercedes-Benz, one of the world’s largest automakers, was forced to issue an apology to China over a quote of Dalai Lama.
The German automaker had uploaded a social media post on its official Instagram handle showing a car and the quote “Look at situations from all angles, and you will become more open”, attributed to the Tibetan spiritual leader. It garnered around 90,000 likes.
The post, which has now been removed, also included the message, “Start your week with a fresh perspective on life from the Dalai Lama”.
According to reports, the post triggered an outcry in China. Nationalists took to Weibo, the country’s equivalent of Twitter, to express their anger at Mercedes-Benz. Ironically, Instagram is banned in China which technically means that people in China didn’t see the post.
Some of them said that foreign companies have no understanding of China’s “national conditions”, history and culture.
In a statement Mercedes-Benz China said on Tuesday, 6 February, that the company is “fully aware that the post deeply hurt the feelings of Chinese people, including our Chinese colleagues”. The company issued “the sincerest apology” for sending “an extremely wrong message” on the company’s international social media account.
Reacting to the apology, Chinese Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday, 7 February, “Admitting and correcting mistakes is a basic principle of doing business.”
China considers The Dalai Lama a separatist. The Nobel Peace Laureate fled to India in 1959 following persecution in Tibet.
Mercedes-Benz has 500 dealerships across China and is constantly expanding in local production capabilities.
In 2015, China emerged as the largest single market for the automaker and was responsible for a fourth of the global sales of the company’s products in 2016 alone.
A similar controversy had erupted when Marriott hotel chain listed Tibet as a separate country in a questionnaire. The incident made the Chinese foreign ministry issue a warning to overseas companies in China.
And not just corporate houses, Beijing also imposed a lifetime ban on British band ‘Placebo’, which was scheduled to perform in China, after they posted a photo of the Nobel winner on Instagram.