The Coca-Cola Company is considering scrapping its sponsorship of Taiwanese pop star Chang Hui-mei (張惠妹), better known as A-mei, after she was blacklisted by Beijing.
The soft drink giant was forced to pull a series of ads for its Sprite drink which featured A-mei, after the Chinese government banned the singer for performing the Taiwan national anthem at the inauguration of President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁).
Coca-Cola spokeswoman Brenda Lee said that A-mei's contract, which is due to expire at the end of the year, was now "up in the air."
"We'll review the plan because we can't use her in China," she said. "I can only tell you there are a number of possibilities."
Lee said Coca-Cola had been warned before A-mei's performance that it might anger Beijing, and that they company had discussed the matter before her performance on May 20. The company insisted it did not advise her against singing.
Beijing authorities, meanwhile, says they banned A-mei because the public urged them to do so.
China's state-run Xinhua News Agency yesterday claimed that "some listeners and viewers demanded that stations stop showing Chang Hui-mei."
Managers at the Central Public Broadcasting Station and Central Television Station were quoted as saying that the "temporary bans" were imposed out of consideration for the strong negative feelings of listeners and viewers.
In Taiwan, legislator Fung Hu-hsiang (馮滬祥) claimed that A-mei was not banned because of her performance at the inauguration, but because of a copyright lawsuit.
China's Apollo Group has alleged that A-mei's "Sunrise" song, which is featured in Sprite's hugely successful advertising campaign, was copied from its corporate advertising theme tune.
The company, a health-care products maker based in Guangzhou is now suing Coca-Cola for 30 million yuan (US$3.6 million).
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