Quote · The Prof G Pod with Scott Galloway
China Decode: Hong Kong's AI Crackdown, Lululemon’s Marketing Backlash, and World Cup Fever
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Lululemon's Great Wall Disaster
At 24:10 · chapter starts 21:21
Lululemon staged what should have been a brand triumph: a yoga event at the Great Wall of China, with top Chinese actor Zhu Yilong playing a large ceremonial drum. What unfolded instead was a nationalist wildfire [1] — Alice Han "Lululemon staged an ambitious yoga event on the Great Wall to celebrate Chinese culture. It backfired when a drum in the imagery was identi…" 21:21 . Chinese netizens identified the drum as a Japanese wadaiko, and the clip went viral at exactly the wrong moment — Japan-China relations are near their worst since the Senkaku Islands dispute of 2010-11. The Chinese firm that supplied the drum tried to defuse the situation, arguing it was a replica of an ancient Jie drum from the Tang Dynasty — a Chinese artifact that the Japanese may have later borrowed. But as James Kynge observes, the factual question became irrelevant the moment the online nationalists built momentum. Lululemon apologized and pulled the campaign, consistent with the playbook every foreign brand eventually follows in these situations.
The Lululemon Great Wall yoga campaign triggered a nationalist backlash that topped 50 million views on Weibo after a drum in promotional imagery was perceived as Japanese.
Lululemon staged an ambitious yoga event on the Great Wall to celebrate Chinese culture. It backfired when a drum in the imagery was identified by netizens as a Japanese wadaiko. The brand apologized — but the episode is just the latest in a long string of Western brand disasters in China.
Dolce & Gabbana's chopsticks ad in 2018 destroyed the brand's China presence. Versace, Coach, and Givenchy sparked fury with T-shirts listing Hong Kong as a separate country in 2019. The pattern is relentless. Western brands consistently underestimate how quickly Chinese online nationalism can erase years of investment.
