SHANGHAI - Character licensing company Sanrio Co. said Thursday it has decided to end a tie-up campaign with the hit Japanese spy thriller "Vivant," after the drama triggered criticism in China over its portrayal of Chinese agents brutally torturing Japanese operatives.
Sanrio's China unit offered an apology over the collaboration with "Vivant" in a statement posted Wednesday night on social media platforms. Plush toys featuring Hello Kitty, My Melody and other Sanrio characters dressed as the drama's "spy figures" were released in July, according to Chinese media.
The Japanese company explained it decided to cancel the campaign because the drama "contains expressions inconsistent with Sanrio's corporate philosophy" of "everyone getting along together in harmony."
In an editorial titled, "Hello Kitty should not dance with Japan's right wing" published Thursday, the Global Times, a tabloid affiliated with the ruling Communist Party, underlined the need for Sanrio to understand that if the brand "partners with anti-China content," it stands to lose far more than short-term sales.
"The trust and emotional bond it has built up over a long time will also suffer. When it comes to historical perceptions, Sanrio must not play with fire alongside Japan's right wing," the newspaper said.
The high-budget drama series produced by Tokyo Broadcasting System Television Inc., known as TBS, stars Masato Sakai as a corporate employee drawn into the world of international espionage and centers on the top-secret "beppan" unit of the Japan Self-Defense Forces.
Critics have said brutal scenes resembled the wartime torture inflicted on Chinese nationals by Japanese troops and claimed they were aimed at "deliberately smearing" Beijing. The drama showed Chinese agents cutting off the fingers of a beppan member and stabbing him in the abdomen.
TBS Television President Masamine Ryuho said at a press conference on Wednesday that "Vivant" is a "completely fictious entertainment work" that is "not intended to show hostility toward or disparage any specific country."
"We will never deliver a message that would hurt national sentiment," he added.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun told a news conference Thursday the drama exposes the presence of a faction in Japan that "seeks to vilify and smear China" while stoking anti-China sentiment. "Ill attempts to use cultural products should alert the international community," he added.
