Football: Chinese sponsors drop Mbappé over Mao Zedong joke

Published on 27 October 2026 - 13:02 GMT+1

Kylian Mbappé has lost two of his biggest sponsorship deals in China after a video circulated online in which he appears to joke about Mao Zedong, the founder of the People’s Republic of China.

Energy-drink maker Dongpeng and dairy group Mengniu both ended their partnerships with the Real Madrid forward with immediate effect.

“Our company is firmly opposed and applies a policy of zero tolerance towards any behaviour that offends national feelings,” Dongpeng said, announcing the end of “all forms of cooperation” with the player.

Mengniu said in its own announcement that it was ending all cooperation with the captain of the French national team.

Why did the video caused such a reaction?

The decision came after the clip spread on social media across China, where jokes about Mao, who died in 1976, are seen as disrespectful and touch on a sensitive political and national issue.

Both companies’ statements stressed the need to protect national feelings and clearly distanced themselves from Mbappé.

The split is a sharp reversal for the 27-year-old, who until now has been hugely popular with Chinese fans and has millions of followers on the country’s social platforms.

Mbappé’s commercial profile in China had been especially high. During this year’s World Cup, Chinese viewers regularly saw Dongpeng adverts featuring AI-generated images of him drinking the brand’s energy drink.

He is also affectionately known in China as “Guigui”, which translates as “turtle”, a nickname linked to a meme inspired by the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.