14 DAY TRIAL // Actress and humanitarian Sharon Stone is well-known for her occasional ability to make extremely offensive comments at precisely the wrong moment - and if so far this has only affected her overall public perception and credibility, this time her words have had a dramatic impact on her bank account and on one of the giant cosmetics retailers in the world. You may be familiar by now with Sharon's outrageous comments regarding the recent devastating earthquake that killed tens of thousands of people in China. What you may not know yet is that her ill-advised remarks have caused cosmetics giant Dior's China branch to remove any and all images of Stone from their 68 Chinese outlets.
Stone signed a very lucrative deal with Dior in 2005 and has fronted the ad campaign for the group's Capture Totale skincare line. However, in the aftermath of her mind-boggling remarks, news of which spread like wildfire throughout the world via video sharing sites such as YouTube, Dior China has issued a hasty apology and has banned images of Stone in all their Chinese shops, fearing a retail disaster. "We absolutely disagree with her hasty comments and we are also deeply sorry about them... We will never support any opinion that hurts the feelings of the Chinese people", reads the French company's press statement.
Outrage was sparked last week when Sharon Stone, who claims she is a practicing Buddhist, spoke to a Hong Kong television channel while attending the Cannes Film festival and implied that the whole tragedy of the devastating Sichuan earthquake was "karma", that is retribution for China's policies in Tibet. Stone has since issued a public apology, stating that "due to my inappropriate words and acts during the interview, I feel deeply sorry and sad about hurting Chinese people. I am willing to take part in the relief work of China's earthquake, and wholly devote myself to helping affected Chinese people". In the meantime, Dior turned out not to be the only one doing damage control, as the owner of UME Cineplex, one of China's biggest urban cinema chains, has also banned all the actress' films from the cinemas.