Kodak’s Instagram post infuriates people of China, the company deletes it and apologizes
Jul 20, 2021
Dunja Đuđić
Dunja Djudjic is a multi-talented artist based in Novi Sad, Serbia. With 15 years of experience as a photographer, she specializes in capturing the beauty of nature, travel, concerts, and fine art. In addition to her photography, Dunja also expresses her creativity through writing, embroidery, and jewelry making.
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An Instagram post from Kodak recently infuriated Chinese people. In fact, it caused so much backlash that Kodak deleted the post and issued a public apology. The company shared a photo by French documentary photographer Patrick Wack, showing the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. They linked the photographer’s account which mentions the mass detentions of the Uyghur people in the area, which caused a fierce backlash.
Patrick Wack took photos in the areas of Central Asia known as East Turkistan or Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. It’s located in the Northwest of China and is under the current Chinese administration. What caused the backlash was Wack’s description of his upcoming monograph DUST.
“In recent years, the region has been at the centre of an international outcry following the mass-incarceration of its Uyghur population and other Muslim minorities,” Wack writes. “This body of work captures a visual narrative of the region and is a testimony to its abrupt descent into an Orwellian dystopia.”
Kodak shared one of Wack’s photos of East Turkistan, which is how the whole scandal began. Global Times writes that the post was accompanied by the same description as the one on Wack’s Instagram. Reportedly, it contained the phrases “mass arbitrary detention system being set up in the region,” and that the project is “a testimony to its [Xinjiang’s] abrupt descent into an Orwellian dystopia.”
However, as PetaPixel points out, this is very unlikely. When sharing photographers’ work, Kodak writes their Instagram username, what Kodak product they used to make the photo, and a hashtag #MadeWithKodak. This is consistent throughout its account. So, it’s more likely that Chinese netizens clicked on Wack’s username in the description and saw his caption that mentions “mass arbitrary detention system” and the “Orwellian dystopia.”
All in all, the photo in question has been deleted from Kodak’s Instagram. A statement replaced it, reading:
“Content from the photographer Patrick Wack was recently posted on this Instagram page. The content of the post was provided by the photographer and was not authored by Kodak. Kodak’s Instagram page is intended to enable creativity by providing a platform for promoting the medium of film. It is not intended to be a platform for political commentary. The views expressed by Mr. Wack do not represent those of Kodak and are not endorsed by Kodak. We apologize for any misunderstanding or offense the post may have caused.”
[via PetaPixel; image credits: Miyake Juin, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0]
Dunja Đuđić
Dunja Djudjic is a multi-talented artist based in Novi Sad, Serbia. With 15 years of experience as a photographer, she specializes in capturing the beauty of nature, travel, concerts, and fine art. In addition to her photography, Dunja also expresses her creativity through writing, embroidery, and jewelry making.
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22 responses to “Kodak’s Instagram post infuriates people of China, the company deletes it and apologizes”
And we are somehow surprised that the CCP objects to the truth? Kodak = NBA?
What truth? A Fox News truth, like when they show you a video of a pro-Government rally in Cuba, and tell you it’s an anti-Government protest? Or maybe a CNN truth, like when they show you a truck full of dead Chinese immigrants, who are actually from Vietnam? Or maybe an AP truth, like when they show you photos from the anti-Government protest in Cuba, which are actually taken in Florida? Or maybe a Jen Psaki truth, like when she said that Russia and Assad bombed a hospital, and when presented with photos and satellite images, all she can say is “I have nothing more for you”?
Is that the truth you are talking about?
https://www.insider.com/uighur-activists-mass-rape-chinese-men-xinjiang-2019-12
No, it is the kind of truth, that you write down all the things you have written down and nobody ever hears about you ever after.
Because if you wrote this with Xinhua news agency in China, than that would happen.
Are you saying that in China you can’t say that Fox, CNN and Jen Psaki are lying, and that you will disappear if you do so?
Was the photo edited to make them fake? No, so why the fuss.
Cuz the CCP is commiting a genocide and want the Uighurs purged.
So Huawei and Tiktok can be banned because they are loyal to the Chinese government (they oblige the the Chinese constitution…) but it is OK if an American company is loyal to the Chinese government.
https://youtu.be/u4cYE6E27_g
https://youtu.be/pqlzunwilGM
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/meghara/china-camps-prisons-xinjiang-muslims-size?origin=tuh
To be clear, this infuriated the government of China, not necessarily the people.
The people of China have no clue what goes on outside their borders other than the sanitized version they get from the government. The protest and revolution in Tiananmen square is being erased systematically from their history books. Kodak bends over for them and its disgusting. I’ll think twice about spending anything with Kodak ever again.
Sad to see Wumao spamming this post when Disqus is blocked in China.
https://www.voanews.com/south-central-asia/china-uses-rape-torture-tactic-against-uighur-detainees-victims-say
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDezFj3CJm0
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-02-03/uyghur-renew-calls-for-action-report-rape-abuse-xinjiang-camp/13118190
https://www.forbes.com/sites/ewelinaochab/2021/02/03/behind-the-camps-gates-rape-and-sexual-violence-against-uyghur-women/
Companies will do anything for profits.
Sure…even sell out America.
I think I won’t be buying any Kodak products or services from now on
A big step for Kodak to the total irrelevance of its products.
Beside being a photographer, I run an archive. A good portion of it is online. I seldom make personal comments on the material. I generally post it with just a basic description and let people make their own judgements.
If you say too much, someone, someplace will be offended. And in this day and age there is no more freedom of speech. China rules the world now, we have to accept that.
Ballerina…after and before…
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/4ea52bcb0fcbaa65023f05f599ee92257b2eaef7df501a3afc5f68571e6f20ae.jpg
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/68ca9fd53104925bc4eae7896d589c44e91a94cc445f50f227f88e71b02fee1b.jpg