A Chinese laundry detergent ad went viral last week, attracting a lot of criticism for its disgracefully racist storyline. Named by many “the most racist commercial of 2016”, it features a Chinese woman doing her washing. She is soon approached by a black man, with paint spread over his face and T-shirt.

He seems to be making some advances, but she responds by shoving him into the washing machine. He emerges after a few moments as a very clean, light-skinned Chinese man. She appears delighted, and the commercial ends with the payoff Change starts with Qiaobi.

This ad made news all over the world and garnered more than 8 million views on YouTube in just a few days. Clearly the story is indefensible. Trying to explain where the inspiration for this ad might have come from, the Los Angeles Times commented that in the late 1800s “the use of black people as metaphors for filthiness used to be routine in American and British soap advertisements — and in that sense, the Qiaobi commercial also has a distinctly Western heritage”.

At the same time, Shanghaiist and Adweek pointed out that this commercial is actually a blatant imitation of an Italian laundry detergent ad series which was aired about 9 years ago. indeed, though indulging in trivial stereotypes, those Italian ads were surely less racist as the roles were reversed: the skinny white man ended up in the washing machine and a very fit, attractive black man emerged from it.

In any case, there are no excuses for the Chinese commercial: it is offensive and unacceptable. But what can explain its viral success? Surely on the web there is a lot of racist content that does not generate the same level of interest. The fact is, this ad contains many of the ingredients facilitating a viral explosion that I described in my May 6 2016 blog post: the story is built on a double level of meaning (created by the metaphor); it plays on contrasts (by opposing the two men); it includes a surprising, unexpected twist (cramming the guy into the washing machine); it tells the story of a transformation (from black man to Asian man); and it adopts a form of transgression (usually you don’t treat an admirer as laundry).

The Qiaobi story also contains another ingredient: it has a strong emotional impact. Normally, brand stories that go viral tend to convey positive emotions. This case proves that, sometimes, brands can obtain a viral outcome by playing on negative emotions too. However, for Qiaobi, whether the implications on the brand equity will be positive or negative remains to be seen.