CONTROVERSIAL UNIQLO AD STIRS OUTRAGE

[Anchor Lead]

Japanese clothing company Uniqlo is again standing in the center of controversy, after releasing a TV commercial in which Koreans believe was an attempt to make a political statement regarding the victims of Japan's wartime sexual slavery. The company later decided to pull its advertisement following scathing criticism and public outrage within Korea. The affordable apparel brand is instead launching all-out promotional events to overcome Korea's boycott of Japanese labels.

[Pkg]

This is the latest ad by Uniqlo. When a girl asks an old lady how she dressed when she was her age, the woman answers "I can't remember that far back." But her answer was translated in the Korean version as "How can I remember something that happened more than 80 years ago?" It was the expression "something that happened more than 8 decades ago" which was not in the original script, that caused the controversy. Critics pointed out the Japanese clothiing brand was mocking the wartime sex slavery issue. Uniqlo decided to pull down the advertisement. The digital ad was halted over the weekend and TV stations will stop airing it starting today. Uniqlo had no plans to modify the ad immediately after the controversy erupted, but the apparels brand must have reconsidered, given the enraged public opinion and reignited boycott.

[Soundbite] (UNIQLO EMPLOYEE) : "The ad clearly was not intended that way, but since many people were uncomfortable and concerned about it, we took the issue seriously and decided to stop the ad."

Currently, the Japanese firm stepped up promotional events such as an all-out sale with prices knocked down as much as 50%. The company explained the discount was a planned event and has nothing to do with Korea's boycott. Meanwhile, some products were sold out at the Uniqlo online mall, an indication that offline customers aware of disapproval shopped on the internet instead. More than 100 days have passed since Korean consumers started boycotting Japanese products. But Uniqlo has 1 new store compared to a year ago.