US jeweller removed an image of the Chinese model covering her right eye

Angry mainland buyers believed it was in solidarity with the Hong Kong protests

The pose was adopted by pro-democracy activists to protest police violence

Tiffany is the latest company to bend to the powerful force of China's market

Tiffany & Co. have removed a tweet showing a woman covering one eye after Chinese consumers accused the jeweller of supporting the Hong Kong protesters.

The photo posted on Monday showed Chinese model Sun Feifei wearing a Tiffany ring on her right hand as she covers her right eye.

ADVERTISEMENT

Angry Chinese buyers believed it was a deliberate echo of the pose adopted by Hong Kong's pro-democracy demonstrators to denounce police violence in the semi-autonomous city after protesters were struck in the eye.

Tiffany is the latest US brand to buckle under the persuasive forces of the Chinese market, the NBA has come under fire today after it expressed 'regret' for a tweet by the general manager of the Houston Rockets in support of the Hong Kong protests.

Tiffany has removed a tweet showing Chinese model Sun Feifei covering one eye (pictured) after the country's consumers accused the jeweller of supporting the Hong Kong protesters

Angry Chinese buyers believed it was a deliberate echo of the pose adopted by Hong Kong's pro-democracy demonstrators to denounce police violence. Students are seen covering their right eye in a show of solidarity after a protester was hit in the eye at a ally on August 22

A Tiffany's spokesman has claimed their image of the model was created in May - before the protests erupted - and 'in no way intended to be a political statement of any kind'.

'We regret that it may be perceived as such, and in turn have removed the image from our digital and social media channels and will discontinue its use effective immediately.'

The campaign also included model Carolyn Murphy covering her right eye with one of Tiffany's distinctive blue jewellery boxes.

Chinese consumers said the brand had been inconsiderate in posting the photos during a sensitive time.

'I used to be your hardcore fan, but now I'm a Chinese first and foremost. I love my country and I won't allow her to receive any defamation or violation,' one person posted on China's Twitter-like platform Weibo.

Click here to resize this module

'Whoever buys their products is blind,' another post read.

It follows the Houston Rockets' general manager, Daryl Morey, apologising on Monday for a swiftly deleted tweet over the weekend that included an image of the activists' rally cry: 'Fight for freedom, stand with Hong Kong.'

His support for the protests in the Chinese-ruled city angered Beijing, Chinese fans and the team's business partners in a key NBA market.

The Rockets are widely followed in China, partly because they drafted Yao Ming in 2002, who became a star for Houston and helped build the NBA's following in China.

Following the reaction from China, the NBA said in a statement it recognized Morey's views 'deeply offended many of our friends and fans in China, which is regrettable'.

However, the NBA's attempt to diffuse the situation resulted in fans, as well as Texas Senator Ted Cruz and Democratic presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke, lashing out.

The U.S. lawmakers argued that the NBA's response was shameful and showed how China was using its economic power to censor speech by Americans in the United States.

A protester covers an eye during a demonstration at Hong Kong International Airport in Hong Kong in solidarity with a protester being hit in the eye by a so-called beanbag round

Tiffany's CEO Alessandro Bogliolo said in August that continuous business disruptions in Hong Kong had impacted the company, estimating six full selling days were lost due to unplanned store closures during the second quarter of this year.

ADVERTISEMENT

Bogliolo said the city was the brand's fourth-largest market by sales - after the US, Japan and mainland China.

New York-based Tiffany opened its largest-ever product exhibition in Shanghai in September, a move it hoped would attract young Chinese customers.

The company's sales grew more than 25 percent in mainland China between March and June - a stark contrast to a three-percent drop in the company's global turnover in the same period.

Tiffany has 35 shops in mainland China, and plans to open branches of its Blue Box Cafe in Hong Kong and Shanghai.