Grumpy Mao Ad Provokes Protests in China

BEIJING, Jan. 21, 2008 — -- The late Chinese leader Mao Zedong has made a mini-media comeback this winter. In December, he was portrayed smiling and donning a Santa cap on the cover of The Economist. This month, the Chairman was featured wearing a scowl in a Spanish newspaper advertisement for the French automaker Citroen.

But scowling Mao did not go over as well as Santa Mao.

Citroen, a subsidiary of Peugeot Citroen, has apologized for running a full-page advertisement in several Spanish newspapers featuring a doctored image of the former Communist party chairman.

The advertisement featured a red hatchback Citroen vehicle in front of a creatively edited version of the Mao Zedong portrait that overlooks Beijing's Tiananmen Square. Mao's lips are scowling and his eyes are squinting.

The Global Times, a state-run Chinese newspaper, reacted by stating that "the image has been wantonly distorted by the advertisement's designers. Mao looks very strange."

Citroen's Mao image also incited anger among Chinese Internet users.

"Chairman Mao is the symbol of China, and what Citroen did lacks basic respect to China," read one post on Tian Ya, a web portal and blog.

Another blogger said, "As a Chinese, I felt greatly insulted when I saw this advertisement. It's not only insulting Chairman Mao, but the whole Chinese nation."

In a statement issued to ABC News by Citroen in Beijing, the company said it "apologizes to all who may have been hurt by the advertisement."

"Citroen reiterates its friendliness towards China and reinforces its respect for Chinese representatives and symbols."

Citroen immediately rescinded the advertisements from the Spanish newspapers, including El Pais, the most widely circulated daily newspaper in Spain.

Citroen's print ad also claims it is a leader in car sales.

"It's true, we are leaders, but at Citroen the revolution never stops," the advertisement states, invoking Mao's Cultural Revolution.

"We are once more going to put in motion all the machinery of our technological ability, in order to repeat in 2008, the successes obtained in previous years," the advertisement said.