Actor John Boyega has cut ties with perfume brand, Jo Malone, after the company replaced Boyega with a Chinese actor for a campaign in China.
What We Know:
- Jo Malone, a British perfume owned by Estée Lauder, assumed John Boyega as a global ambassador. However, the Star Wars star has stepped down from his position following the company’s decision to replace Boyega in a Chinese campaign.
- The original advertisement, called The London Gent, starred John Boyega in various settings, some that reference his Nigerian heritage. The advertisement featured Boyega’s friends, family, and hometown. Although, for the Chinese campaign the actor was replaced with Chinese star Liu Haoran.
- Boyega has faced this form of racial censorship before when a Star Wars advertisement in China removed the actor and some of his non-White costars from the country’s movie posters.
https://twitter.com/JohnBoyega/status/1305638663632703488?s=20
- Following the Jo Malone Chinese campaign, Boyega took to Twitter saying “While many brands understandably use a variety of global and local ambassadors, dismissively trading out one’s culture this way is not something I can condone.”
- John Boyega is no stranger to speaking out against systemic racism and others issues of race. He has been very vocal following the recent deaths of Black and Brown people at the hands of police brutality. The actor even spoke at a Black Lives Matter protest in London’s Hyde Park.
Jo Malone has since removed the Chinese advertisement featuring Liu Haoran and apologized.
