On June 13, massive Hong Kong citizens (reportedly 1 million) took it to the street to protest a bill that would allow criminal extraction from HK to Beijing. They collided with police who deployed teargas and rubber bullets. Here is the story on BBC and CNN.
Ubisoft on the same date released this AD for Watchdogs Legion on Facebook, both in English and in Chinese, with slightly different wording. (translation mine)
The AD could be viewed as supporting HK movement is because of the date, wording, and most importantly, the umbrellas. Since the Umbrella Movement (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umbrella_Movement) in 2014 where protestors all used umbrellas to defend against both rain and teargas canisters, umbrella has become a symbol for civil movement, especially against pressure from Beijing.
This time around, protestors also used umbrellas:
The Facebook Ad was distributed by Chinese Weibo users and gamers, and in the comments, they condemn the Ad for having the wrong opinion, call for boycott and firing the community manager who posted the AD because "official account should not express political opinions". Most of them were quickly censored because the whole HK incident is censored on Chinese social media. Here are some highly voted weibo. (Translation mine)
Ubisoft, one day later, released an apology:
Ubisoft on the same date released this AD for Watchdogs Legion on Facebook, both in English and in Chinese, with slightly different wording. (translation mine)
The AD could be viewed as supporting HK movement is because of the date, wording, and most importantly, the umbrellas. Since the Umbrella Movement (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umbrella_Movement) in 2014 where protestors all used umbrellas to defend against both rain and teargas canisters, umbrella has become a symbol for civil movement, especially against pressure from Beijing.
This time around, protestors also used umbrellas:
The Facebook Ad was distributed by Chinese Weibo users and gamers, and in the comments, they condemn the Ad for having the wrong opinion, call for boycott and firing the community manager who posted the AD because "official account should not express political opinions". Most of them were quickly censored because the whole HK incident is censored on Chinese social media. Here are some highly voted weibo. (Translation mine)
Ubisoft, one day later, released an apology:
