Spanish under fire for Olympic ad

The pre-Games advert for Spanish courier company Seur, an official sponsor of the Spanish Basketball Federation, occupied a full page in the country’s best-selling newspaper, sports daily Marca, and featured photographs of both the men’s and women’s squads with every single player pulling the skin by their eyes in a clumsy imitation of Asian features.
 
The ad has not gone down well in Beijing. “Very ignorant - an obviously uneducated decision,” said resident Audrey Yu, a marketing executive. “It only makes the Spanish team lose face."  

"It's impolite to Chinese people. I cannot understand why they would do this,” added Jason Cheng, an IT worker.

The Spanish side - who beat China 85-75 in a close fought match on Tuesday evening - are also sponsored by Chinese sportswear manufacturer Li Ning. Speaking the same day, Spanish basketball star and Toronto Raptors guard Jose Calderon, defended the controversial advert, saying the pose was simply an “affectionate gesture”.

“During a photo session one of our sponsors asked as to pose with a ‘wink’ to our participation in Beijing and we made an oriental expression with our eyes,” explains Calderon on his website. “It seemed to us to be something appropriate and that it would always be interpreted as an affectionate gesture. However some European media did not see it as such.”