A commercial made by a Chinese detergent manufacturer recently caused a stir both domestically and internationally for being blatantly racist.

In the commercial, a black man was stuffed into a washing machine by a Chinese lady after she put a detergent packet into his mouth while he tries to flirt with her. A moment later, a young Asian man comes out of the machine instead.

The commercial soon went viral on the internet among Western media outlets during the past few days, including more than 7 million views on YouTube within 3 days, and was widely criticized for being racist.

"We have no intention to discriminate against people of color. The color of one's skin should never be a factor in value judgment," the detergent manufacturer Qiaobi said, "We strongly condemn any act of racism." It also said in a statement, "due to the spread of the commercial and overreaction of the media, the feelings of those who are of African descent have been hurt, for which we offer our sincere apology."

Shanghai Leishang Cosmetics Co Ltd, the manufacturer of Qiaobi has cancelled usage of the commercial and deleted relevant videos online.

Professor Huang Shengmin from the Advertising School at the Communication University of China thinks racism is a very sensitive yet overlooked topic in China. It is very inappropriate to use it in a commercial and should be deleted right away. According to the Advertisement Law of the People’s Republic of China, any ethnic, racial, religious, or sexual discrimination is not allowed in commercials.