CEO of Japanese cosmetics brand DHC in racism row over slurs against Korean models

By Becky Bargh | Published: 18-Dec-2020

The business mogul has been described on social media as a ‘hateful racist CEO’, while one consumer has set up a petition calling for the shoppers to boycott the beauty brand

Japanese cosmetics brand DHC is facing backlash from consumers after using a ‘racist’ term to describe Korean models.

In a post on the brand’s website, Yoshiaki Yoshida described models featured in Suntory’s adverts, another Japanese company, as ‘Chontory’, according to South China Morning Post.

‘Chon’ is a derogatory term for Koreans in Japan.

“For some reason, the models hired to appear in Suntory commercials are almost all Korean-Japanese,” he wrote.

“So that’s why it seems they are mocked on the internet as ‘Chon-tory’.”

The cosmetics mogul went on to say that all of DHC’s models by comparison were all ‘pure Japanese’.

The group has since gone to receive a torrent of abuse, with one consumer calling for a boycott of the brand via a petition, which has garnered more than 14,000 signatures.

Other Twitter users described the leader as a “hateful racist CEO”.

Another said they would no longer use products from a brand that has “blatantly spread racist and misogynistic rhetoric”.

In 2019, Korean actress and model Jung Yu-mi said she would no longer work with the brand in protest of its CEO’s comments.

DHC has not responded to comments made by consumers.

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