Prada sever ties with Chinese actress after surrogacy controversy | Show biz

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Chinese actress Zheng Shuang was kicked out of her post as Prada Ambassador barely a week after being appointed. – Photo Oriental Images via Reuters

BEIJING, January 20 – Italian luxury brand Prada has ended cooperation with Chinese actress Zheng Shuang, a week after making her brand ambassador, after being embroiled in a surrogacy controversy that fascinated the Chinese public.

Prada made the announcement last night, after coming under heavy criticism on Chinese social media for cooperating with Zheng, 30, whose former partner Zhang Heng accused her of trying to abandon the two young children of the couple through a US-based surrogate mother. .

It is the latest global brand to succumb to public pressure in China, where customers are increasingly vocal about their expectations of the behavior of companies and celebrities, especially foreign ones.

“The Prada Group has ended all cooperation with Ms. Zheng Shuang,” the company said on its official Weibo account, without providing further details.

Prada did not respond to Reuters questions on Wednesday. Zheng and Zhang also did not respond to Reuters requests for comment.

China has become an increasingly important market for luxury brands during the global pandemic and its buyers are expected to account for about half of all global spending on premium brands in 2020, up from 37% in 2019, according to McKinsey & Company.

Prada said the group’s sales in China jumped 60% in June and 66% in July.

“The blow to Prada’s image is huge,” said Huang Shengming, professor at the China University of Communication in Beijing. “Their decision to stop working with Zheng is an effort to cut their losses and it is the right decision.”

Controversy over surrogacy

Controversy erupted on Monday after Zheng’s former partner Zhang Heng said on social media that the couple turned to a surrogate mother to give birth to two children in the United States and posted voice recordings. of a woman who he said was Zheng, lamenting that children could not be aborted. .

Zhang said he was stranded in the United States because he had to care for the two children born in 2019 and 2020.

Zheng quickly became the target of public criticism, with Weibo users calling her “irresponsible” and “vicious.” Controversy has been a hot item on the Twitter-like site over the past three days, with 600 million views and over 100,000 comments.

Thousands of users have also left comments on Prada’s Weibo account to question and ridicule the brand for hiring her.

Yesterday, the actress said on her Weibo account that she had not broken any laws in either China or the United States, but did not say whether any of the accusations were true.

“It’s a very sad and private matter for me,” she said.

Surrogacy is banned in China, but going abroad to have surrogate children in countries like the United States has increasingly become an option for some Chinese couples, especially the wealthier.

Chinese state media weighed in on the Zheng controversy. Changan’s Sword, an online media site backed by the Central Committee on Political and Legal Affairs, accused him of abusing the law and “corrupting human ethics”. – Reuters

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