I have been working in China’s beauty and luxury market for over 15 years. Every year, I watch international brands make the same mistakes, just with different packaging. Playing with “Chinese style” in advertising is genuinely difficult. Not because Chinese consumers are hard to please, but because brands enter the market without real cultural understanding.
International luxury brands have repeatedly learned that it can be a very delicate task to campaign in a “Chinese style.” These brands strive to convey a friendly message through campaigns and products featuring Chinese elements, but too often the reception is embarrassing. Even after repeated mistakes, brands don’t always learn.
In my experience, the problem is rarely the budget. Brands spend millions on production and still miss the mark. The issue is always the same: they don’t listen to the market before they create. They treat China as a backdrop, not as an audience.
Examples of advertising campaigns criticized by Chinese consumers
When brands try to create a buzz… they don’t always get the kind they were hoping for.
The Dolce and Gabbana campaign
The campaign of Dolce and Gabbana sparked controversy across Chinese social media. The Italian brand was caught in a public relations crisis over photographs shot in Beijing, which showed D&G models mixed into local settings.
These photos, part of the brand’s “Dolce & Gabbana Loves China” online marketing campaign, aimed to create positive buzz ahead of a fashion show. The intention was good. The execution was not.
In the Beijing version, several Chinese models posed beside symbolic monuments such as the Great Wall and the Hutongs, a set of narrow passages and alleys mostly found in Beijing.
In some photos, models posed with locals, such as taxi drivers and tourists.
In others, passers-by were simply included in the frame, often placed at the forefront.
The series of photos was taken by the Morelli Brothers, who had also shot D&G collections in Hong Kong and Japan in a similar style. The majority of Chinese people focused on why Dolce & Gabbana showed only underdeveloped parts of Beijing and poor residents, while neglecting the modern skyline and more contemporary citizens.
One criticism targeted the framing: locals in the foreground, models in the background. Another targeted the photographers’ shooting and editing techniques. “This is not the problem of the content, but the lack of skill of the photographers,” commented a user on Weibo. The editing was criticized for the coloring, which made Beijing look gritty and outdated.
I’ve seen this pattern many times. The brand wants to show they love China. They end up showing they don’t understand it.
Why this still happens in 2026
You might think brands have learned. They haven’t, at least not enough. In 2026, the stakes are higher. Chinese consumers are more vocal, more organized, and faster to react than ever before.
Xiaohongshu (Little Red Book) now has over 300 million monthly active users, and a single critical post from a mid-tier creator can go viral in hours. I’ve watched cosmetics brands lose months of brand equity in a 48-hour window on XHS. The platform is particularly sensitive for beauty and lifestyle content because users there expect authenticity. When they detect a campaign that feels forced or condescending, they say so loudly. And the algorithm amplifies it.
Douyin operates differently but the dynamic is the same. A short video showing a brand using outdated Chinese visual codes, or worse, misrepresenting Chinese beauty standards, can accumulate millions of views on the criticism side within a day. Brands that work with us now get a pre-launch cultural audit before any creative goes live in China. That step did not exist in most brand processes five years ago. In 2026, it is not optional.
For cosmetics marketing in China, the visual codes have shifted significantly. Chinese Gen Z consumers follow their own aesthetic, sometimes called “新中式” (new Chinese style), which mixes traditional elements with clean, modern design. It is precise. It is intentional. Brands that try to replicate it without Chinese creative directors on the team almost always get it wrong.
What has changed in consumer behavior since 2024
Three shifts matter most for cosmetics brands right now.
First, AI discovery. In 2025 and 2026, Chinese consumers increasingly find products through AI-powered search on platforms like Baidu AI Search and within XHS’s own AI recommendation layer. This means your content needs to answer specific questions, not just look good. A campaign that is visually strong but says nothing useful gets filtered out. I tell clients: your campaign content is now also your search content. They are the same thing.
Second, ingredient literacy is at an all-time high. Chinese beauty consumers, particularly women aged 22 to 35, read ingredient lists. They cross-reference on Douyin. They ask KOLs about specific actives. A luxury brand that leads with heritage and brand story but says nothing about formulation will lose ground to a domestic competitor that breaks down exactly why their niacinamide concentration works. Brands that work with us now build a dual narrative: brand story for awareness, ingredient story for conversion.
Third, local versus imported trust is shifting. In 2026, domestic brands like Proya, Florasis, and Judydoll have strong loyalty, especially on XHS. International brands still have a prestige advantage at the high end, but they can no longer assume that “imported” means “trusted.” They need to prove efficacy on Chinese skin tones, with Chinese dermatologists, tested in China. That is the new standard for selling cosmetics in China.
What brands should do differently
The D&G mistake was not unique. I’ve seen similar errors from French skincare brands, American makeup labels, and Korean beauty companies trying to expand beyond their existing China audience. The common thread is the same: creative decisions made outside China, without Chinese input, presented to Chinese consumers as if they should feel honored.
In 2026, that approach fails faster than ever.
Here is what actually works. Hire Chinese creative directors for your China campaigns, not just local translators. Brief your KOLs with real product information, not just talking points. Test your visual concepts with real consumer panels before production. And if you are launching on Douyin, produce content that fits the platform natively, vertical, fast, direct, educational. A campaign made for European Instagram will not land on Chinese Douyin.
I’ve watched brands spend 500,000 USD on a campaign that generated negative sentiment within a week. And I’ve watched smaller brands with a 50,000 USD budget build genuine community on XHS because they listened first. The budget is not the differentiator. The process is.
For KOL marketing China, the selection criteria have also changed. Follower count matters less. Comment quality, community trust, and niche authority matter more. A cosmetics brand that partners with a 200,000-follower dermatology creator on XHS will see better return than one that buys a 5 million-follower celebrity post with no product relevance.
The lesson that keeps repeating
China’s beauty market is one of the most valuable in the world, projected at over 90 billion USD by 2027. The opportunity is real. So is the risk of getting it wrong in public.
Brands that respect the market, build with local partners, and test before they launch do well here. Brands that treat China as a secondary market where they can repurpose global campaigns get criticized, sometimes banned, and always regret it.
I’ve been in this market since 2009. The fundamentals have not changed. Chinese consumers want to feel seen, not used as props. They want brands that understand their culture, not brands that perform it badly for a press release.
Contact us for a free consultation on your China cosmetics strategy.
