Mbappé's Mao meme costs him his Chinese sponsors

Mbappé says "dictator" and China pulls his advertising

A meme. That's all it took. Kylian Mbappé, Real Madrid forward and runner-up to Harry Kane in the Ballon d'Or voting, responded to people calling him a "dictator" on social media by saying his favourite meme was "the one where they use my face on a Chinese dictator", referring to Mao Zedong without naming him. According to EFE, the joke has cost him advertising contracts in China and the suspension of El futbol español broadcasts on state television CCTV.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun set the frame on Tuesday: words and actions that "hurt the feelings of the Chinese people will be rejected by all sectors of society." In China, satire about former leaders of the Communist Party is prosecuted under the crime of "defaming heroes and martyrs." This is no rhetorical warning.

Who has dumped Mbappé, and for how much

Dongpeng Beverage Group, through its main account and its Bu Shui La brand, confirmed the immediate severing of its commercial ties with the player in statements on Weibo, without specifying the exact facts. Mengniu and Milkground announced that same Tuesday the end of their cooperation and voiced their rejection of any behaviour that hurts the feelings of the Chinese people.

The blow stings because Mbappé's ads for Bu Shui La had flooded billboards, buses and lifts in Chinese cities over the summer, coinciding with the 2026 FIFA World Cup. The advertising machine was fully oiled. Now it is being dismantled.

CCTV cuts El futbol español and the ads disappear

Chinese state television suspended broadcasts of the Spanish league and matches involving Mbappé from Monday night, and also removed ads and videos antiestéticaturing the footballer, according to The Paper, which cites sources linked to the public broadcaster. The punishment doesn't stop at sponsorship: it reaches the sports schedule.

It is not the first clash between Spanish football and Beijing. In September, official Chinese media criticised Real Madrid over a message that mentioned Nepal and the Tibet region together after a flood, a wording deemed "incorrect" for equating the two territories. In April, FC Barcelona apologised after the Taiwanese flag appeared on a page run by a third party linked to its international academy. And in February, Real Madrid published apologies attributed to its defender Dean Huijsen on Weibo after he reposted content deemed racist and offensive towards Asian citizens.

The Chinese business as a minefield

The pattern repeats itself: a club or a player touches a sensitive symbol, the response comes in the form of a statement and lost visibility in the largest market on the planet. The question hanging in the air is how much a meme is worth. For Mbappé, the answer is measured in broken contracts and matches no longer watched in China. For Real Madrid, in a global brand exposed to another country's politics.

Some argue the footballer was simply going along with an internet joke and that the reaction is disproportionate; against that weighs the fact that any public figure with commercial interests in China knows the rules of the terrain. The full calculation of what the player stops earning, contract by contract, is the part nobody has put on the table yet.

For now, the score is clear: one sentence without a name in it, three companies out the door and a television station switching off the signal. The meme was free. The bill was not.