Brand has been accused of bowing to China after it scrapped concert featuring pro-democracy cantopop singer Denise Ho

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

Lancôme, the face-cream company owned by the French cosmetics giant L’Oréal, shut its main stores in Hong Kong on Wednesday as protesters accused it of bowing to China by cancelling a promotional concert featuring a pro-democracy singer.

Carrying yellow umbrellas, a symbol of Hong Kong’s democracy movement, and colourful banners in Chinese, English and French, dozens of protesters packed tightly inside Times Square’s plush Lane Crawford store in Causeway Bay and shouted: “L’Oreal! No self-censorship.”

They also called for a boycott of L’Oréal products.

Lancôme cancelled the concert starring cantopop singer Denise Ho after an online post by the Global Times, a tabloid published by the Chinese Communist party’s People’s Daily newspaper, criticised Lancôme for working with Ho and sparked calls online in China to shun Lancôme’s business on the mainland.

Ho has expressed support for Hong Kong’s democracy movement and the Dalai Lama, the exiled spiritual leader of Tibet denounced in Beijing as a dangerous separatist.

On Wednesday she said she had been saddened by the cancellation of her concert.

“I am quite shocked that a global brand such as Lancôme … would succumb to the pressure from Chinese tabloid news or the Chinese market,” she told the BBC.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Protesters, holding up a portrait of a Denise Ho, demonstrate outside the shopping mall in Hong Kong. Photograph: Bobby Yip/Reuters

“We … in Hong Kong … have been going through really rough times … Most of the celebrities, we wouldn’t dare to speak out for ourselves because we know that self-censorship is really serious right now in Hong Kong. But I wouldn’t think that worldwide brands such as Lancôme or L’Oréal … would succumb to this kind of pressure.”

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L’Oréal, which has a market capitalisation of €95bn (£74bn), counts China as its number two market in sales, behind the US. The company said it had cancelled the concert due to safety concerns.

Student-led protesters blocked streets in Hong Kong for 79 days in the 2014 umbrella revolution, calling for Beijing to allow a fully democratic vote for the leadership of the former British colony in 2017, the biggest political challenge to China’s Communist party leaders in years. Beijing refused to budge.

Ho, one of the main celebrities endorsing the umbrella revolution, had been due to perform on 19 June. She wrote on her Facebook page on Monday that Lancôme’s decision was due to self-censorship.

“When a brand like Lancôme has to kneel down to a bullying hegemony, we must face the problem seriously as the world’s values have been seriously twisted,” she said.

The Hong Kong office of L’Oréal, whose brands include Body Shop and Armani perfume, would not comment on Wednesday.

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Suzanne Wu, chairman of the Labour party, one of the organisers of the protests, said: “We support her [Ho] because we shall not give in under the pressure of the Communist party.”

Ho has been a particular thorn in Beijing’s side, posting photos online of herself with the Dalai Lama in May and speaking openly about the need to fight for democracy and social justice.

Hong Kong, a special administrative region of China, returned to Chinese rule in 1997 under a “one country, two systems” formula, allowing it freedoms not enjoyed on the mainland.

Reuters contributed to this report.