Japan's 7-Eleven apologizes for 'China, Taiwan' label

日本7-11為「中國台灣」標籤道歉

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Japan's 7-Eleven official X account posted a photo of store employees' uniforms from different countries on Friday, erroneously labeling a uniform as “China, Taiwan.”

The social media post triggered criticism from Taiwanese and Japanese netizens. 7-Eleven eventually decided to delete the post late at night the following day, admitting it was ill-informed and apologizing to everyone it had angered, per CNA.

The post by Japan's 7-Eleven was originally part of a survey of different 7-Eleven uniforms worn around the world. It invited netizens to vote on their favorite uniforms.

The social media post features 14 different uniforms, including those from the US, Australia, Sweden, Denmark, Taiwan, Malaysia, Guangdong, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Cambodia, India, and Vietnam.

Uniforms worn in Hong Kong were listed as "China (Hong Kong)," and similarly, those worn in Taiwan were listed as "China (Taiwan)." As soon as this post was released, it immediately triggered protests and criticism.

Taiwanese netizens threatened to boycott the convenience store chain. Japanese netizens also threatened to join in.

In response, Japan 7-Eleven issued the following statement, “We have received many comments regarding the spelling of some countries and regions included in the image of ‘7-Eleven Uniforms around the World’ that was posted on our official social media accounts on July 11 of this year. We sincerely believe that this post was insensitive and have deleted it. We sincerely apologize to everyone who was offended."

The company added that it will reflect on this incident and be even more considerate in its future posts.