British hygiene brand Dettol has apologised for an advert in China that it claims was meant to call out sexism, but has instead backfired.

The five-minute long advert for a multipurpose disinfectant, styled like a micro drama, starts out with a man looking for a partner who is "clean" and "not tainted by other men".

A plot twist comes late in the advert when his new girlfriend calls him out for his misogyny and breaks up with him. Dettol is then presented as the solution against "toxic men [who] are just like bacteria".

The advert sparked an uproar on the Chinese internet, with some users saying it objectifies women and others calling for a boycott of the brand.

Dettol said the advert, which has been removed following the backlash, was intended to criticise gender stereotypes, but that snippets of it that later circulated online distorted its core message.

"We recognise that it has offended many people, especially women. We take responsibility for any negligence in creating and reviewing the content of the advert," Dettol said in a statement on Monday.

The company also said it would review its content moderation processes.

Dettol was founded with a mission to "protect the health" of families, it said, adding: "But we are well aware that true protection also lies in safeguarding the dignity of every individual and their right to be treated equally."

The advert has sparked heated discussions across Chinese social media platforms over the last few days, with many people angered by its attempts to compare a person's "purity" with the disinfecting abilities of Dettol products.

"What a trashy advertisement. It's left me speechless," a user wrote on Weibo, China's X-like platform.

"What a hopeless company. What is their senior management doing?" read another comment. "I'm never using Dettol again. There are so many brands in the market after all."

Manya Koetse, who runs the Eye on Digital China newsletter, described the campaign as "quite a mess for a brand whose entire business revolves around cleanliness".

"Even if the intention was to portray the male character as being in the wrong, the message was conveyed so poorly that it backfired spectacularly," she said.

This is not the first time Dettol, which is owned by British consumer goods company Reckitt, has found itself at the centre of controversy in China.

It drew backlash last year with an advert that featured the line: "The woman was 'returned' just before her wedding; it must be because she was not clean." (BBC)

Update news