A controversial TV add where a black man had to say that "most Chinese people have never been around a foreigner"  triggered a backlash throughout China. The message was hardly subtle.

The man was seen "wolf-whistling, paint-splattered and with a lascivious wink" as he got nearer into a lovely Chinese girl in a kitchen. The girl then filled the man's mouth with a detergent capsule, dumping him in the washing machine, Time reports. The man comes out looking any better, transformed into a porcelain-skinned Chinese guy.

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The TV ad was shown to Chinese audience last week, sparking criticism and outrage across the world's most populous country. The company responsible for the ad, Qiaobi,  was forced to issue not one but two apology notes to the public.

"We regret that our advertisement led to controversy," the statement goes, noting that it "strongly oppose[s] and condemn [s] racial discrimination."

Then followed a video where a black American man narrates about the things that made him "uncomfortable" in China.

"Don't call me Heiguai [black devil]," New Yorker Ellis Penn said in Chinese.

He then lamented some questions that also triggered negative reactions from Chines: "Aren't they all white in America?" and "Are you big down there?" - he asked.

The video became viral, earning over 9 million views eliciting profound reactions.

 "I have no clue how some people can say that black people look disgusting after seeing this cute guy, you know you are causing China to lose face?" one netizen commented on Ellis's video.

Ellis clarified in an interview with Time that the video was made after some of his Chinese friends asked him to do so. In fact, his remarks on the video do not represent his experiences in China, where Ellis spent three years in Chongqing.

 "Most Chinese people have never been around a foreigner or a black person and probably don't think the questions they are asking are rude. I wouldn't call my experiences in China negative," he said.

Tagschina, TV ad, ellis penn