Hornbach - So riecht das Frühjahr / This is what spring smells like (2019) :45 (Germany)

Hornbach knows what spring smells like. It smells like sweaty men doing difficult landscaping jobs and fixing up the house. As a twist on the old urban myth that they sell school girl panties in vending machines in Japan, the sweaty musky man-working shirts - and shorts, ugh - are vacuum packed and sold in vending machines in a fictional grey urban south-east Asian country. A woman who probably hasn't seen anyone working on landscaping since forever in this city buys a bag and inhales the sweaty musky scent of spring. 

Funny. Or not, depending on your point of view. This ad upset a bunch of people who believe that the face the lady makes is inspired by a typical hentai orgasm. Yes, anime porn. And soon people accused Hornbach of being addicted to it, as well as being racists. 

Korean twitterer 굉여 who lives in Germany wonders "Why do Asian women buy sweaty clothes for white men? Because of you, I'm scared to ride the bus, S-Bahn, U-Bahn in summer."

Hornbach responded to her:

Our ad is not racist. View the ad as a discourse on the increasing urbanization and decreasing quality of life in cities. The smell of the spring only available in vending machines. For everyone. Not only asian people. pic.twitter.com/XhlOhhgpwI

— Hornbach (@Hornbach_tweets) March 26, 2019

굉여 still argues that the Asian actress' facial expression is different from the blond woman and the man, while the German firm defended the commercial, tweeting that it was not racist and that it showed the “decreasing quality of life in cities”.

Can you see the difference? What is the fashion and facial expression of that stereotype of Asian women? You have fascinated Asian women. Gay men too. Is not it just so interesting that only Heterosexual women have a natural look? If many people raise the issue, there is a reason pic.twitter.com/LUwuDsGGwc

— 굉여 (@oooohhhh00) March 26, 2019

This guy is also very fascinated. They all smell grass, flowers, fresh soil. It smells of new beginnings and the desire to get active in the great outdoors. pic.twitter.com/wC1VhDf023

— Hornbach (@Hornbach_tweets) March 26, 2019

But the Korean lady insists that the facial expression the Asian actress makes is what makes the ad racist. A petition is now asking Hornbach to apologise for the ad. 

How do you feel about it?

Client: Hornbach