Tencent, Sina reprimanded for spread of Uniqlo fitting room sex tape
Staff Reporter 2015-07-16 14:53 (GMT+8)
People taking selfies outside the Sanlitun branch of Uniqlo in Beijing, July 16. (Photo/CFP)
On July 15, the State Internet Information Office questioned executives from internet giants Sina and Tencent with regard to a video of a man and a woman having sex in the female changing room of the Sanlitun branch of Uniqlo in Beijing, which surfaced online on July 14 and quickly went viral, according to Duowei News, a media outlet run by overseas Chinese.
A representative from the office said that Tencent's WeChat social messaging service and Sina's Weibo social media platform were the main ways that the viral video, which was filmed by the man involved, spread and that many internet users had taken the opportunity to spread advertisements and even computer viruses. The representative urged both companies to take their social responsibilities more seriously as well as requesting that the public refrain from spreading pornographic videos.
Screenshots of the video circulating online show a naked woman leaning against the door of the changing room, while the man stands behind her filming. The intercom of the Sanlitun store can be heard in the background of the video, informing customers that there are no changing rooms on the first floor of the store, while the man tells the woman to kiss him, that he'll be her husband and asks her to say they'll be together, according to CNN.
The video, which was labeled to make it look like an advertisement in some instances, has provoked a range of reactions online, with some internet users suggesting it might be a marketing ploy by Uniqlo. Uniqlo has denied this, however, and called for customers to behave themselves in the changing rooms of their stores.
One internet user even jokingly suggested that Hong Kong Canadian actor and musician Edison Chen might have been the instigator of the sex tape, as, by coincidence, he'd posted a promotional message to his Weibo on July 12 reading, "Who is in Beijing tonight? Sanlitun? JUICE BEIJING? I'll see you at 12:30pm at the branch!"
Chen had to step back from the Hong Kong film industry in 2008 after photographs of him having sex with several well-known Hong Kong actors, including Gillian Chung, Bobo Chan, Rachel Ngan and Cecilia Cheung, surfaced online.
The Weibo accounts of the alleged perpetrators have also been published online, although the two account holders in question reject claims they are the ones in the video.
Subsequently a WeChat chat log, reportedly between the woman featured in the video and a close friend, was revealed, suggesting that the woman and man featured in the video were not dating and that it was their first encounter.
The store was operating as normal the day after the footage was shot, despite the stream of people outside taking selfies with the storefront logo. The customer flow returned to normal shortly after an initial surge at 11am, the store's opening time. An Australian tourist was among the crowd of people taking selfies, saying he'd just heard about the story after recently arriving in Beijing.
Despite the relative calm in the store, netizens reported staff feeling nervous and that the changing rooms are now being strictly regulated. Netizens reported that the space in the fitting rooms is quite narrow, but, at about 2 meters squared, it could just about fit two people. The curtain of the changing rooms button from the inside, making them hard to open from without.
Uniqlo is a Japanese apparel retailer founded in 1984 by Tadashi Yanai. The company's net profit for the period from September 2014 to May 2015 was up 52% on compared to the previous nine month period. The contribution of overseas stores, particularly in China, Taiwan and Hong Kong, is significant, as all three have exceeded their targets. This has led to speculation that Uniqlo staged the video in order to remain a hot topic in the Chinese market, despite the official denial.
Just after midday on July 15, the official Weibo account of the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau stated that the account had received several reports from people online and the bureau's Chaoyang district branch was looking into the incident.
Changing rooms are a grey area between private and public space, but it is likely that if located, the perpetrators would be charged with disturbing public order. If the video was leaked by them deliberately, this is equivalent to spreading pornography, and they would also be punished on this account. If Uniqlo is behind the video then these crimes would also fall on their shoulders.
Uniqlo's spokesperson is Serbian tennis ace Novak Djokovic, currently ranked world No. 1 in men's singles tennis, and he sported the Uniqlo logo for the first time during the French Open in May.
With the publicity around Djokovic after his recent win at Wimbledon, it's unlikely that Uniqlo would need to resort to such vulgar means to increase its profile in China, however.
A police source told Duowei that public security agencies will begin the investigation by looking into the source of the video online and if it really constitutes a pornographic video. The person who first spread the video online will be held responsibile for uploading pornography, whether it was one of the two people in the video or another web user, he said.
Han Xiao, a lawyer at Jingrun & Partners, said that, if Uniqlo is convicted then they could face a fine of anywhere from 200,000 yuan (US$32,214) to 1 million yuan (US$161,000) and their retail license could be revoked.
Consensual sex between two unmarried adults is legal in China. However, doing so in a public place amounts to public exposure and the two could be faced with five to ten days in prison.
