Kylian Mbappé is a famous football player from France. He plays for the club Real Madrid. In China he had many contracts for ads. Firms printed his face on bottles.
Two big firms stop the work now. One firm sells sport drinks. The other firm sells milk. Both firms say: Mbappé did insult the people in China.
A video on the internet is the cause. In the video Mbappé talks about funny images. People call these images Memes. He saw a picture of a dictator.
Someone put the face of Mbappé on the dictator. Mbappé said the picture is very funny. In China many people think: He meant Mao Zedong. He is the founder of China.
In China people must not make jokes about Mao. That is strictly forbidden there. The government checks the internet very closely. People call this Zensur, which means state control of media.
Television in China reacts too. A channel shows no games from Spain anymore. Mbappé plays there for his club. The firms delete all pictures with the football star now.
