Asian Women's Solidarity:  Over 100 participants demand an apology from Hornbach and removal of the commercial in all countries

Hi,

on the 27th of April, 2019 a protest initiated to show solidarity with Asian women took place at Oranienplatz, Berlin. Under the motto "We Break the Silence" more than 100 people from South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, China, Vietnam, and Germany came together. With ten speeches, performance and the march to the advertising agency Heimat Berlin, the demonstrators demanded a sincere apology from the DIY chain and the immediate removal of the commercial Europe-wide.

The protesters criticized the company’s refusal, even after international criticisms and the complaint of the German Advertising Council (A_2019-190_Hornbach AG), to remove the commercial entirely. The commercial "So smells the spring" is still on Austrian, Dutch, Swiss, and Czech YouTube channels. Whereas, the advertising has been deleted on German and Romanian channels.

The internationality of the participants was remarkable. The participants shouted the slogans "We break the silence! I am not your marketing tool! Hornbach, excuse me!" in English, but the speeches were delivered in English, German, Korean and Chinese.

The demo was eventful. Lena Chen, the Chinese-American performance artist, together with four Korean and Chinese women, burned a piece of paper with the names of the people in charge of the corporation and the advertising agency and let them go to heaven. This performance was inspired by a traditional ritual from China to drive out evil and cleanse the damage. A German man tried to interrupt the free speech of a participant. The demonstrators cried out. "Look, that's exactly what we experience every day! But we want to pronounce!" The police intervened and removed the man from the place.

Activists announced that they will participate in the Berlin feminist initiative We Rise on 18.05.2019 at Hermannplatz to criticize the company for its racist and sexist advertisement.

Best,

Sung Un

P.S. Thanks Vicky for your English translation!
P.P.S. The picture is courtesy of Asian Women's Solidarity. Only those who agreed on being photographed for press are on the picture. By the way, the building on the background is home to Heimat Berlin :)